Where can I go during Tet?

Where can I go during Tet?

Visiting Hanoi

The capital of Vietnam is the best place to see the traditional Tet celebrations, which take place between the second and seventh days of the festival week.

At midnight, on the eve of Tet, fireworks will be shown in five key areas of Hanoi: Tong Nhat Park, Van Quan Lake, Lac Long Quan Flower Garden, My Dinh Stadium and Hoan Kiem Lake.

On the fifth day of the Lunar month, Hanoi residents flock to Dong Da Hill southwest of the capital to celebrate the Dong Da Festival, which marks the victory over the Chinese invaders (in fact, the hills in this area are mounds covering the remains of more than 200,000 Chinese soldiers buried on the battlefield).

On the sixth day, in the citadel of Co Loa, in northern Hanoi, locals in costumes form a procession, as their ancestors did a long time ago, at the Co Loa Festival. Currently, civilians march instead of former military officers and government mandarins.

Finally, a calligraphy festival is held throughout Tet at the Temple of Literature in ancient Hanoi. The calligraphers (ong do) called to open a shop in about one hundred stalls with a brush in their hand and wrote favorable Chinese characters for paid customers.

Visiting Hue

The Imperial Citadel of Hue, located in the former royal capital of Hue, has survived the rebirth of the traditions of the royal era. Most significant is the rise of Cay Neu, or Tet Pole, in the palace.

Cay Neu is repeated as a traditional bamboo plant in millions of Vietnamese homes, but that of the Hue Citadel is the largest and brightest. The first Cay Neu was traditionally created by Buddha to expel evil monsters.

A complex ceremony lifts the Tet post on the first day of the vacation. The process is repeated on the seventh and last day, marking the end of the Tet. In ancient times, Hue residents took their signals from the palace ceremonies to create and remove their own Cay Neu street at home.

Visiting Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

The mass of motorcycles stuck in Ho Chi Minh City does not disappear during Tet, but part of the city explodes in color during the week-long festival.

On the eve of midnight in Tet, fireworks will be lit in six districts of the city: the Thu Thiem tunnel between districts 1 and 2, Dam Sen park in district 11, Cu Chi tunnels in Cu Chi district, Rung Sac Square in the Can Gio District, the Lang Le-Bau Co Historic Site in Binh Chanh District and the Nga Ba Giong Memorial in Hoc Mon District.

In District 8, the Tau Hu canal becomes the site of a flower market with flowers and ornamental trees grown in the nearby provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre. The products on the market vary widely: from cheap flowers of rooster comb in pots to expensive and yellow apricot trees.

District 1 organizes a Book Festival from the first to the fourth day of Tet along the streets of Mac Thi Buoi, Nguyen Hue and Ngo Duc Ke. Thousands of books and magazines will change hands during the festival.

In District 5, Cho Lon (a traditional Chinatown in Vietnam) offers a lot of color and flavor; While admiring the flowers and decorations that adorn the temples in the area, you can try local products such as bath tet (stewed rice cake, beans and pork) and xoi (colorful sticky rice cakes).

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