Tet Nguyen Dan

Held each January or February according to the lunar calendar, Tet Nguyen Dan, commonly shortened to Tet, stands as Vietnam's most significant annual celebration, marking both the lunar new year and a period of deep family reunion. In the days leading up to Tet, households across the country gather to prepare banh chung, a square cake of glutinous rice, mung bean paste and pork, wrapped carefully in banana leaves and boiled for many hours — a labour-intensive process traditionally undertaken together as an extended family, often staying up through the night to watch over the boiling pot.

Banh chung carries genuine symbolic weight in Vietnamese culture, its square shape said to represent the earth in a legend involving a prince who won his father's throne by presenting the humble rice cake over more elaborate delicacies, impressing the king with its meaning rather than its extravagance. Alongside banh chung, Tet tables fill with pickled vegetables, candied fruits and a wide range of regional specialities, as families visit relatives, pay respects to ancestors and welcome the new year together.

For visitors in Vietnam during Tet, the celebration offers a genuinely immersive window into the country's deepest cultural traditions — a nationwide pause dedicated entirely to family, food and the careful, communal preparation of a dish whose symbolism has endured for centuries.