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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
The following is a list of official public holidays.
January 1 - New Year's Day
January
or February
- Tet; Vietnamese and Chinese New Year celebration; this
is probably the most important Vietnamese festivity of
the whole year, and is celebrated an entire week from
the first to the seventh day of the new year according
to the traditional moon calendar; as the celebration depends
on the phases of the moon, not the sun, it is celebrated
on different dates of the Western calendar
February 3 - Founding Day of the Communist Party of Vietnam; national holiday
March
-
Day to commemorate the Trung sisters, who in the year
41 A.D., led a rebellion against the Chinese rulers. Movable
holiday, as it depends on the lunar calendar.
April 30 - Liberation Day of South Vietnam and Saigon; national holiday
May 1 - Labor Day; national holiday
May 19 - Ho Chi Minh's birthday; national holiday
May 28 - Holiday in commemoration of the birth, the enlightenment and the death of the Buddha; national holiday
August - Trung Nguyen; Day of the Wandering Souls; on this day the souls of the dead are believed to wander to the habitats of their offspring; celebrations in Buddhist temples; food is spread on house altars for the souls of the deceased and fake
money is burnt in honor of them; moveable holiday, as it depends on the moon calendar.
September 2 - National Holiday
September 3 - Day to commemorate the death of Ho Chi Minh in 1969; national holiday
September - Trung Thu - autumn celebration at which children parade through the streets with lanterns; for this celebration moon cakes are baked; moveable holiday, as it depends on the moon calendar.
November - Birthday of Confucius; moveable holiday, as it depends on the moon calendar. |
