2026 Tết Nguyên Đán (Vietnamese Lunar New Year)

The Vietnam Heritage Center is working with amazing vendors, local businesses, and talented artists to bring you an unforgettable celebration.

The Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán, often shortened to Tết) is the biggest national holiday in Vietnam and celebrates the arrival of spring and the first day of the new lunar year. Vietnamese citizens take off work and school for one-two weeks and participate in a variety of special activities, such as preparing bánh chưng and bánh dày —two traditional dishes steeped in legend —and paying respects to ancestors, visiting neighbors with gifts and well-wishes, giving lucky money (lì xì), and beginning new endeavors. Peach and apricot trees are decorated with lucky trinkets and ornaments, homes are given a thorough spring cleaning, and outstanding debts are paid off. To ring in the new year, fireworks will go off at midnight, and there will often be parades, performances, and fun activities in the city center for community members to enjoy.