Events in Vietnam
Têt is Vietnam’s most important religious and family event. It is the most important festival of the year happening in late January or early February. It lasts a week with rites beginning a week earlier. Visitors may experience difficulties during this period as shops, restaurants and public services close and prices tend to go up in the few shops that remain open. Do note that flights into, out of, and inside the country will most probably be fully booked month in advance for the Têt period.
Generally speaking, special prayers are held at Vietnamese and Chinese pagodas on days when the moon is either full or the merest sliver. Some of the major religious festivals follow a lunar calendar. The new lunar year; Wandering Souls Day (Trung Nguyen), held on the fifteenth day of the seventh moon (August), is the second-largest festival of the year, when offerings of food and gifts are given to the wandering souls of the forgotten dead; Tiet Doan Ngo (Summer Solstice Day) in June sees the burning of human effigies to satisfy the need for souls to serve in the God of Death's army; and Holiday of the Dead (Thanh Minh) in April commemorates deceased relatives.
Public Holidays in Vietnam
from 01-2007 to 06-2007:
Jan 1 - New Year's Day.
Feb 18-20* - Têt, Lunar New Year.
Apr 30 - Liberation of Saigon.
May 1 - May Day.