Tet, Vietnamese New Year

Tet is not a festival that you watch. It is a holiday that Vietnam does at home, and for a visitor the experience is a mix of busy preparation and unusual quiet. The week before, flower markets fill with peach blossom in the north and apricot blossom in the south, and at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, calligraphers set up outside to write wishes in Chinese characters. Then the cities empty, as people travel to their home towns for the family reunion.

Tet falls on the first day of the first lunar month. In 2027 that is Saturday, 6 February, the start of the Year of the Goat. The government has approved a public holiday from 4 to 10 February. The first three days are the core: families keep harmony in the house, visit ancestors' altars and graves, and clean the home beforehand, since sweeping during Tet is considered unlucky. Bánh chưng, a square sticky rice cake that stands for the Earth, is more common in the north, and bánh tét, a cylinder, in the south. The first visitor across the door on New Year's Day is believed to shape the family's luck for the year, so hosts invite someone of good character. Home firecrackers have been banned since 1995, so the public fireworks are in the big cities.

How to go. Tet is the hardest week of the year to travel in Vietnam and the most unusual. Some shops, restaurants and museums close during the holiday, while others stay open, so check before you go. Trains, buses and flights fill up long before the holiday, so book them early. Hanoi is the place to see the preparations, with its flower markets the week before. During Tet the streets are empty, which is an experience of its own. Hoi An's lantern night falls about two weeks later, on the first full moon after Tet. The Hanoi guide has the city and its Tet notes, and the Vietnam page covers the country.