Tet 2025: Vietnamese Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year 2025 (Year of the Snake) will occur on 29 January 2025 (Wednesday).
When is Vietnamese Lunar New Year 2025?
Vietnamese Lunar New Year, or Tet, is Vietnam's most traditional and biggest festival. When it comes to Tet, Vietnamese think about the delightful time when they can reunite with their family, pay respect to their ancestors and parents, celebrate a new spring and a new beginning, and pray for good luck for the whole year.
Tet falls on the first day of the first month in the Lunar Calendar. This date varies from year to year since there is a repetitive month (also known as “leap month”) every 3 years to reduce the gap between lunar and solar calendars.
How long does it last?
Although the holiday just lasts around 7 days, the time to celebrate this most important festival is always prolonged 22 - 23 days. The Vietnamese Lunar New Year 2025 will be celebrated from 22nd January to 12th February in the Solar Calendar. A series of festive activities with different meanings are organized.
22nd January 2025: Kitchen God Day
On Kitchen God Day, Vietnamese express their gratitude to the gods who protect the family all year long by giving them offerings on the altar and releasing carps - supposed to be the means of transport that these gods come back to heaven.
23rd - 27th January 2025: Clean house, prepare five-fruit tray, visit ancestor’s graves, make Chung Cake
Although people can prepare for Tet a month in advance, some days before New Year’s Eve are the busiest days. Cleaning and decorating the house, especially the ancestor’s altar, visiting and cleaning the ancestor’s grave, and preparing a five-fruit tray not only show gratitude and remembrance to ancestors but also wish good luck and happiness. Besides, making Chung cake or Tet cake when it comes closer to Tet is indispensable. That is a traditional dish to offer guests at the feast as well as to show respect to the homeland and the wish for fullness and prosperity in the new year.
28th January 2025: Lunar New Year’s Eve
On the last day of the year, Vietnamese often reunite with their family and enjoy a feast together. They also set a hearty food tray on the altar as a way to invite ancestors to enjoy Tet and wish for the best things in the new year. At the transition moment, family members often wish for good things and give each other lucky money in the red envelope. An important activity on New Year’s Eve is “xong dat”. It is the first visit of a “chosen” person to the house to bring luck and prosperity to the owner and family in the whole year.
29th January 2025: Lunar New Year Day - Visit father’s relatives
Visiting relatives on the father's side is the first and foremost thing to do on the first day of the year. The young will visit and send the longevity wishes to the elders and the children later will receive the lucky money or present from the elders.
30th January 2025: Visit mother’s relatives
After the father’s side, Vietnamese will visit relatives on the mother’s side and have activities similar to the previous day.
31st January 2025: Visit teachers
In the long-standing Vietnamese tradition, teachers always play an important role in teaching them to become good persons, both in knowledge and personality, just after parents. Therefore, Vietnamese will spend the third day visiting and wishing their teachers a happy new year after visiting father and mother's sides.
12th February 2025: Tet Nguyen Tieu - First full moon
Tet Nguyen Tieu or Ram Thang Gieng is the very first full moon in the year. It is believed that going to the pagoda, sending offerings, and praying at this time are more important than any others. Therefore, whether they are Buddhist or not, many families will pay a visit to some local pagodas or temples to pray for good health, luck, and success.
What is the animal sign of 2025?
2025 is the year of the Wood Snake on the Vietnamese zodiac, starting from 29 January 2025 to 16 February 2026 in the Solar Calendar. Snakes bring a vital spiritual meaning. They symbolize water, fire, soul, introspection, and sacredness. Besides, their dexterity, flexibility, and self-shedding nature also show strength, insidiousness, intelligence, and regeneration.
Due to cultural interference, Vietnam and some Asian countries usually have a representative animal for each lunar year, also known as the zodiac animal. In Vietnam, there are 12 zodiac animals in order: rat, ox, tiger, cat, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. Each person is also attached to a zodiac animal corresponding to that year. Therefore, those who will be born in 2025 and were born in 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965,... will be a snake. Vietnamese believe that if the lunar year coincides with a person's zodiac animal, that year may bring some bad luck and is not favorable for crucial plans like getting married, buying a house, starting a business, etc. Therefore, those in their zodiac year will do some religious actions to limit the bad things that may come.
According to the Vietnamese zodiac, the Snake matches the Ox and Rooster the most. Those at their Wood Snake age can wear clothes with red, orange, purple, green, and yellow colors to obtain more fortune and money. On the other hand, they should avoid incompatible colors including navy blue and black.
Things to do for good luck in Lunar New Year
According to ancestor's beliefs, things that happen on the very first days of the year reflect things that may happen throughout the year. Therefore, Vietnamese will do things to bring good luck and avoid bad things on the first days in order to obtain a peaceful, lucky, and successful year.
Do’s
- Burn incense and give offerings for ancestors: Not only to thank ancestors for their great merit in giving birth and educating but also to pray for their blessing.
- “Xong dat” for the house: Choose the most suitable person for the first visit to bring luck to family members in the house.
- Choose red: Red is the lucky color. Wearing red clothes or eating red food such as “gac” sticky rice, watermelon,... will attract fortune and luck.
- Give lucky money and good wishes: Saying good things, giving and receiving lucky money, and sending best wishes bring luck to others.
- “Xuat hanh” - the first outing and lucky leaves: The time to first go out of the house is usually carefully selected. After visiting relatives, they often go to the pagoda to pray. On the way back home, they will pick a branch with verdant leaves as a way to bring fortune home.
- Go to the pagoda/temple: Burning incense in the pagoda to get peace of mind. Some people in their zodiac year will do some spiritual worship to drive away bad luck and pray for peace, health, wealth, and luck.
- Buy salt: Salt is an indispensable spice symbolizing an in-depth relationship in every house and is believed to dismiss evils and bring good things to the family. Many pagodas offer small bags of salt for visitors as a wish for them. Salt is also sold on many streets on the first new-year days.
Don’ts
- No sweeping house on the 1st day: It may bring fortune out of the house.
- No cutting hair: It may bring bad luck, bad health, and wealth.
- No borrowing and paying the money back: To avoid poverty and debt in the new year.
- No quarreling or swearing: To avoid bad luck and unhappiness.
- No breaking things such as bowls, mirrors, plates, cups, etc.: To avoid bad luck and separation in the family or relationship.
- No closing door: It may prevent luck and fortune from entering the house.
How long is Tet Holiday 2025?
The official Tet holiday usually lasts for 7 days including 2 days of the old year and 5 days of the new year in the Lunar Calendar. However, different citizens may have a different holiday ranging from 5 to 9 days depending on the policy of their organizations, enterprises, companies, schools, etc.
Official: Tet 2025 will offer 9 days off for the Lunar New Year, from 25/01/2025 to 02/02/2025 (from the 26th day of the lunar December to the 5th day of Tet).
During the Tet holiday, most businesses, government offices, and non-essential services are closed. Nevertheless, hotels and many restaurants and services are still open to serve a remarkable number of tourists traveling during Tet for vacation and traditional exploration. Employees working on this holiday will receive 300% regular daily salary.
Tet holiday schedule in recent years
| Year | Number of Days Off | Start Date (Gregorian Calendar) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 7 days | 13/02/2010 |
| 2011 | 7 days | 31/01/2011 |
| 2012 | 9 days | 21/01/2012 |
| 2013 | 9 days | 09/02/2013 |
| 2014 | 9 days | 28/01/2014 |
| 2015 | 9 days | 15/02/2015 |
| 2016 | 9 days | 06/02/2016 |
| 2017 | 7 days | 26/01/2017 |
| 2018 | 7 days | 14/02/2018 |
| 2019 | 9 days | 02/02/2019 |
| 2020 | 7 days | 23/01/2020 |
| 2021 | 7 days | 10/02/2021 |
| 2022 | 9 days | 29/01/2022 |
| 2023 | 7 days | 20/01/2023 |
| 2024 | 7 days | 09/02/2024 |
- Notes: The "number of days off" is the total number of official Tet holiday days, including both the days before and after Tet.
Vietnamese Lunar New Year in the next 10 years
Since the Lunar Calendar always comes after the Solar Calendar and the "leap month" rule, the Lunar New Year Day varies but will only fall between 21 Solar January and 20 Solar February. To get an overview of Vietnamese Lunar New Year in the next 10 years, check out the table below:
| Vietnamese Lunar New Year | Date | Animal sign |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | January 29 | Snake (Tỵ / Rắn) |
| 2026 | February 17 | Horse (Ngọ / Ngựa) |
| 2027 | February 6 | Goat (Mùi / Dê) |
| 2028 | January 26 | Monkey (Thân / Khỉ) |
| 2029 | February 13 | Rooster (Dậu / Gà0 |
| 2030 | February 3 | Dog (Tuất / Chó) |
| 2031 | January 23 | Pig (Hợi / Heo) |
| 2032 | February 11 | Rat (Tý / Chuột) |
| 2033 | January 31 | Buffalo (Sửu / Trâu) |
| 2034 | February 19 | Tiger (Dần / Hổ) |
Questions and Answers (04)
Hi, I will go to HCMC from Jan 19th - 21st, then stay in Dalat from Jan 22nd-25th and have 1 day transit in HCMC on Jan 25th and go back to my hometown on Jan 26th. My questions are : 1. Will sleeper bus to Dalat still operate on Jan 21st? 2. If I wanna go to museum on Jan 25th such as war remnants museum, HCMC museum, will it be open? Thank you
@Santi, yes, everything will still be open during your travel dates mentioned above. Most businesses and offices in Vietnam will close around January 27, 2025. Happy travels!
Will businesses and banks return to normal on Feb 3?
@Jessica, yes, everything will operate as normal after TET ends; however, expect things to be slower than before, and many small shops may remain closed for the entire Lunar month.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is “xong dat”?
"Xong dat" or "xong nha" is a traditional Vietnamese custom in which the first person enters a house on the first day of the new year and brings positive energy and best wishes to the homeowner and his family. The "xong dat" person has an important influence on the fortune, happiness, and prosperity of the family in the year ahead. Therefore, most families will ask a specific person in advance instead of waiting for the first visitor. The ideal person is the one who has a compatible zodiac age with the homeowner, a good personality, and a successful career.
2. What foods are traditional for Tet?
Depending on each region, Tet feast includes different traditional dishes. However, you can see the following dishes all over Vietnam such as Banh chung (Chung cake), Banh tet (Tet cake), boiled chicken, xoi gac (red sticky rice), gio lua/gio xao (pork rolls), nem/cha gio (fried spring rolls), pickled shallot, pork skin ball soup, and bamboo shoot soup.
3. Why do people give “lucky money”?
As its name says, "Lucky money" (or "li xi" in Vietnamese) brings luck in the new year. People put money in a red envelope and give it to someone to wish them luck, health, and peace. Adults give "lucky money" to children and hope they obey their parents and have a good studying. The young give it to elders to wish them good health and longevity. No matter how big or small the amount of money is, the act of giving and receiving "lucky money" is a small gesture with a big meaning that cannot be missed in the new year.
4. How do families decorate for Tet?
A well-appointed house starts a new year with all the best. One of the most important places for Tet decor must be the altar. After cleaning the altar, they will place fragrant incense, fresh flowers, a bountiful five-fruit tray, and other offers to invite their ancestors back home and enjoy Tet. Meanwhile, the living room is adorned with red couplets and traditional trees and flowers such as kumquat, apricot blossom, or peach blossom. That creates a revitalized ambiance, not only to welcome guests but also to entice more fortune and prosperity to the house. Last but not least, a spotlessly clean kitchen with tidy furnishings and well-organized utensils and spices will ensure joyful feasts and lasting memories for all family members and guests during Tet.
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