The main stretch of the boulevard has displays of traditional objects and scenes from Vietnamese life, which represent the people’s resilience and the source of a more prosperous future for the country as a whole. Different modes of transport and movement – the cyclo, pinwheels and kites – recall the cycle of the seasons, the passing of the old and the coming of the new. There are clay pigs and flower beds in the shape of ao dai, the national dress. Thatched houses with ponds contain copper coins to offer fortune in the new year and a better life for the poor. Rice haystacks, scenes of rural life and traditional games celebrate the que huong, the rural countryside that most locals call home.

This exhibition is part of a much larger host of festivities in preparation for the new year. The markets have been packed with locals buying food such as sticky rice cakes (banh chung, banh tet), candied sweets (mut) and preserves to host visits by family and friends throughout the holiday. People are decorating their houses with peach blossom trees (hoa mai, hoa dao), lime and kumquat trees and chrysanthemums. For themselves and their children, adults have been buying new clothes. Family and friends have been exchanging gifts and packages of coffee, tea, wines and sweets. Adults li xi youth and children, giving them little red envelopes filled with money for good luck.

Banh chung (square rice cake)

Banh chung (square rice cake)


Hoa mai (apricot blossom)


Hoa mai (apricot blossom)

Hoa dao (peach blossom)

At home, altars have been wiped clean and will be filled with offerings for the gods and deceased family members. On the 23rd of the last lunar month(10th, February), people paid respects to Ong Tao (the Kitchen God) to send him up to Heaven to bring them good will. He will be called back on the 3rd of the new year to bless the family and keep the hearth warm. "A house that has a fire is one filled with family and happiness," explains Nguyen Nguyet, a Vietnamese retired high school teacher. People also pray to Chua Xuan (the God of Spring) and Than Tai (the Guardian of Businesses).

The temples will be filled with people paying respects to locally worshipped deities. It’s traditional to snap off a peach blossom branch from a tree on the grounds for the family shrine. This practice is known as hai loc (picking luck).

This is the most important holiday in Vietnamese culture, and most locals will be going back to their countryside home to be with family (ve que). Many well-to-do locals and foreigners are going to popular resort towns such as Nha Trang, Da Lat and Mui Ne or foreign destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Some foreigners are even going back to their home country since for them this is the longest break in the work calendar.

Expect massive traffic jams going out of the cities and on all the major highways. But not all locals will leave. Some families have settled in the cities for so long that they have little connection with relatives in the countryside. Others will not make the long trips, often due to monetary restraints.

New year eve