Festivals in Vietnamese Buddhist temples
Festival days bring the temple to life. They share the same spirit as ordinary visits: gratitude, kindness, and taking a quiet moment. This page describes the meaning and the usual customs. The dates change each year with the lunar calendar, so they live on the calendar page, computed for the current and the next year. Customs vary between temples, regions and traditions; follow the notice of the temple you visit.
Tet, the lunar new year
Tet is the main family festival of Vietnam, and many families visit a temple in the first days of the new year or just before it. The visit is usually calm: people pay their respects, make a wish for the year ahead for family and others, and listen to a short talk or chanting. Temples are often busy, so patience and a gentle pace are part of the occasion. Some people bring flowers or fruit; see offerings. Many temples also hold a service of thanks at the end of the old year and a quiet gathering at the turn of the new one.
First and fifteenth of each month
The first day of the lunar month and the full-moon day (the 15th) recur every month. Many people use them as a regular rhythm: visiting a temple, eating vegetarian food, offering flowers, reflecting on the past month. They are quiet days rather than festivals, and a good time for a first visit because temples are open and welcoming. The dates are on the calendar.
Buddha's Birthday (Phật Đản)
This day marks the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. Temples decorate the courtyard with flowers and lanterns, and place a small statue of the infant Buddha in a basin for the bathing ceremony: people pour a ladle of water or scented water over the statue with respect. Processions with lanterns and short talks are common. The date follows the lunar calendar and differs between countries and traditions; the date shown on the calendar page is the one used in Vietnam.
Vu Lan, the season of filial gratitude
Vu Lan is about gratitude toward parents and ancestors. It comes from the story of the disciple Maudgalyayana (read the story). Temples hold a service, people remember family members, and many take part in a simple ceremony in which they pin a flower to their clothing: a red one for those whose mother is living, a white one for those who have lost her. Some temples now also include a flower for the father. Acts of kindness toward the living, such as calling a parent or sharing a meal, are as much part of the season as the ceremony.
Other days
Temples also keep the Avalokiteshvara days, Bodhi Day (the Buddha's awakening) and other occasions. The calendar page lists them with brief notes, and the stories of Quan Thế Âm and the awakening explain what they remember.
If you plan to go
- Expect crowds and longer queues; arrive early or choose a quieter day.
- Dress as for any visit, and see etiquette for manners that matter more when many people are present.
- Check the temple's announcement for times and any special arrangements.
- Bring a patient mind. Things at festivals are often later or earlier than planned.
Related pages
- Buddhist calendarFull and new moon days, Buddha's Birthday, Vu Lan, Avalokiteshvara days, Amitabha day and Bodhi Day for this year and the next, converted to the Gregorian calendar from the Vietnamese lunar calendar.
- Uposatha, full-moon and new-moon daysWhat uposatha days are, how they are kept in Theravada and Mahayana temples, what the eight precepts of a retreat day are, and how this connects to the first and the fifteenth of the lunar month in Vietnam.
- Offerings: what flowers, fruit, water, lamps and incense meanWhat the common offerings at a Vietnamese Buddhist altar stand for: flowers, fruit, clean water, a lamp and incense, and how the four gifts in the online temple relate to them.
- Maudgalyayana and filial gratitudeThe story of the disciple Maudgalyayana remembering his mother, the origin of the Vu Lan season of filial gratitude.
Keep reading
- Buddhist basics in plain words
- Layout of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple
- The altars of a Vietnamese temple
- How to pay respects at a Vietnamese temple
- Buddhist calendar
- Uposatha, full-moon and new-moon days
- Buddhist glossary for temple visitors
- Avalokiteshvara (Quan Thế Âm), the one who listens
- The Buddha's awakening
- Two Jataka tales
- Maudgalyayana and filial gratitude
- Visiting a Vietnamese temple: common questions
- Temple etiquette: how to behave in a Vietnamese temple
- Offerings: what flowers, fruit, water, lamps and incense mean
- Kisa Gotami and the mustard seed
- The blind men and the elephant
- The poisoned arrow
- Angulimala, the road back
- Ksitigarbha (Địa Tạng) and the vow
- Sujata and the bowl of milk rice