The history-flavored event included an offering to the Kitchen Gods, a ceremony called “Le Ban Soc” or “Calendar Distribution” from the Nguyen Dynasty, the “Phat Thuc” or cleaning ceremony, and the “Neu Pole” erecting ceremony.

These ceremonies were originally held in the ancient Thang Long Royal Palace to celebrate the prosperity of the nation and wish for peace and prosperity for the people. 

The program will run through February 18 (the 9th day of the 2024 Lunar New Year) with an introduction of Tet celebrations by ordinary people and the royal court.

There is a space recreating a living room of a typical urban family during Tet in Thang Long Imperial City with reenactments of customs such as worshiping ancestors and gods and hanging Tet pictures and Tet parallel sentences. Other activities include the lighting of Tet firecrackers, Chung cake making, and displays of Tet flowers.

The New Year’s Day gathering at the royal court during the Le Dynasty is also reenacted.  

On the same day, a Neu Pole erection ceremony following the royal custom of the Nguyen Dynasty took place at Hue Imperial Citadel.

Nguyen Phuoc Hai Trung, Deputy Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, said the royal ceremony has a special meaning.

“In addition to signaling the opening of Tet, planting a Neu Pole in the Royal Palace with a seal hung on it meant the ceremonial end of administrative work and the beginning of the Tet holiday. When the royal court returned to work, the tree was taken down and the seal would be used to open a new working year,” said Trung.

The ceremony to take down the bamboo pole is often held on the seventh day of the first lunar month.