Tết traditions: from cleaning house to the first visitor

Tết traditions follow a rough timeline: families clean and decorate the house, send off the Kitchen Gods a week before the new year, prepare rice cakes and offerings, gather for New Year's Eve, and then welcome a carefully chosen first visitor on the morning of the new year. After that come days of visits, wishes and lucky money.

Here is that timeline step by step, using Tết 2027 (Saturday, February 6) as the example.

Weeks before: cleaning and shopping

The house gets a deep clean before Tết. The idea is to sweep away the dust and bad luck of the old year so the new one starts fresh. Families:

• Clean every corner, including the ancestral altar, which is polished carefully.
• Repair or repaint where needed.
• Buy new clothes, especially for children.
• Shop at Tết markets for flowers, fruit, candied snacks and decorations.

Cleaning is done before the new year on purpose. Many families avoid sweeping during the first days of Tết, as you can read in Vietnamese Lunar New Year superstitions.

A week before: Ông Táo day

On the 23rd day of the last lunar month (January 30, 2027), families honor Ông Táo, the Kitchen Gods. According to tradition, they ride a carp up to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the household's year.

• Families make offerings at home, often including paper hats and clothes for the gods.
• Many release live carp into a pond, lake or river so the gods have their ride.

This day marks the real start of the Tết countdown. There is more in Ông Táo, the Kitchen Gods' day before Tết.

The final days: rice cakes, flowers and the altar

• Rice cakes: families make or buy bánh chưng (square, Northern) or bánh tét (cylindrical, Southern). Making them can be an all-night family activity, since they boil for many hours.
• Flowers and trees: a branch of hoa đào (peach blossom) in the North or hoa mai (yellow apricot blossom) in the South, and often a kumquat tree.
• The five-fruit tray: mâm ngũ quả is arranged on the altar, with fruit chosen for color and meaningful names that vary by region. See the five-fruit tray.
• Visiting graves: many families tidy relatives' graves and invite ancestors home for Tết.

The last evening meal: tất niên

Tất niên ("tut nee-en") is the year-end meal. Families gather to close out the old year, often with a large spread and an offering to the ancestors first. Workplaces and friend groups sometimes hold their own tất niên parties in the days before.

New Year's Eve: giao thừa

Giao thừa ("zow too-ah") is the moment the old year hands over to the new one at midnight on February 5, 2027. Families prepare offerings, often both indoors at the altar and outdoors to welcome the new year's spirits. Fireworks displays mark midnight in many cities, and families watch together.

Some people go to a pagoda around midnight or early in the new year to pray and hái lộc, picking a small green sprig or receiving a token as a symbol of luck to take home.

New Year's morning: the first visitor

The first person to enter the home after midnight is said to set the household's luck for the year. This custom is called xông đất ("sohng dut"), literally "warming the ground."

• Families often invite someone in advance whose age, zodiac sign or personality is considered a good match.
• A cheerful, successful or kind person is a popular choice.
• Some families have a member step out just before midnight and come back in as the first visitor.

Read xông đất: who should be your first visitor of the year for more.

The first three days: visits and wishes

• Chúc Tết: visiting relatives, friends and teachers to wish them good health, peace and prosperity.
• Lì xì: red envelopes with lucky money, given to children and often to elderly parents. See what lì xì is.
• Order of visits: a common saying goes Mùng một Tết cha, mùng hai Tết mẹ, mùng ba Tết thầy, meaning the first day is for the father's side, the second for the mother's side and the third for teachers.
• Good behavior: people avoid arguments, bad words and sad topics to keep the year lucky.

After Tết

Life gradually returns to normal after the first days, but the new year mood lingers. The first full moon, Rằm tháng Giêng (around February 20, 2027), is an important day for pagoda visits and offerings, and some people say Tết does not really end until then.

Do all families do all of this?

No. Customs vary by region, religion and family. Some keep every tradition; others focus on the meal, the visits and lì xì. Vietnamese families abroad often adapt the schedule to work and school, celebrating at weekends or at community festivals.

If you are joining a family for Tết, ask your hosts which traditions they keep; the answer usually comes with stories that make the holiday come alive.