Festival and public holiday
Almost all plain and mountain villages as well as all temples and pagodas have their own annual festivals. There events always attract a great number of pilgrims and visitors. Besides processions and rituals, there are numerous entertainments during such functions. Taking place mostly in spring (from February to April), they are devoted to the commemoration of deities and national heroes, and to love as well.
Tet (Lunar New year) occurring somewhere in the second week of February (14th February 2010) is probably an biggest occasion for national merry-making: fire works, traditional foods, visits to temples and pagodas, walks by the lake Hoan Kiem on the Eve of Tet and visit to the flower market near the crowded Dong Xuan market, etc
These are other official public holiday in Vietnam
01 January: International New year
30 April: Liberation Day - Sai Gon 1975
01 May: Labor Day
02 September: National Day - the Declaration of Independence in 1945
Note:
10 October 2010: Hanoi 1000 year Celebration.
 There are also many festivals according to lunar calendar. Vietnamese lunar calendar closely resembles to the Chinese one. Each lunar month has 29 or 30 days, resulting in years with 355 days with all elements of life linked to the agricultural seasons. Approximately every third year is a leap year - an extra month is added between the third and the fourth month to keep the lunar year in sync with the solar year. To find out the Gregorian/ solar date corresponding to a lunar date, check any Vietnamese or Chinese calendar. |
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