Holidays and celebrations

1 January - New Year's Day

January or February – Tet Ngyuen Dan, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is more commonly known simply as Tet. This is the biggest, most important holiday in Vietnam. Though Tet is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, there are some variations due to the time difference between Beijing and Hanoi, which alters the calculation of the timing of the new moon.

Though Tet celebrations last about three days, they generally end up lasting a week as huge numbers of Vietnamese head home to mark the occasion with family. Special foods are cooked, homes are clean and a range of customs is practiced. These include visiting the home of a lucky person, worshipping ancestors, giving lucky money to the elderly and children, and opening new businesses.

3 February – The anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam and a national holiday

February or March – Trung Sisters Day commemorates the Trung sisters. The sisters, Trung Trac and Trun Nhi, led a revolt against Chinese rule in 39 AD; the exact date of the holiday depends on the moon.

April 30 - Liberation Day of South Vietnam and Saigon; a national holiday

April – Phong Singh is a celebration of the birth, the death and the enlightenment of the Buddha. It is a movable holiday that depends on the full moon. Some areas of Vietnam mark the holiday with the release of trained doves in teams of 10 in a competition to see which team has the best aerobatic skills.

1 May – International Workers’ Day (Labour Day); a national holiday

19 May – Celebration of the birth of Ho Chi Minh; a national holiday

August – Tet Trung Nguyen or All Souls Day; the souls of the dead are thought to spend the day wandering the homes of their offspring. Celebrations are held at Buddhist temples, food is laid out at house altars to appease the souls of the dead, fake money is burned to honor the deceased; moveable holiday that depends on the lunar calendar

2 September – National Day; Vietnam marks its independence and the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

3 September – Day to mark the death in 1969 of Ho Chi Minh; a national holiday

September or October – Tet Trung Thu or Mid-autumn Festival; children parade through streets carrying brightly-lit lanterns; incense is burned to honor deities, moon cakes are baked for the festival; a moveable holiday that depends on the lunar calendar

September or October – Celebration of the birth of Confucius; a moveable holiday that depends on the lunar calendar