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Vietnam has a huge number of festivals. Listing all of them under one group is not possible. Many festivals (in different  areas) are the same as other festivals in other areas, but are known by different names and/or are celebrated at different times. Below you will find some of the more important ones.
Festivals are good places to learn about various crafts and customs of the area in which they are held. For example, the Master Pagoda Festival (HaTay) has puppet shows, the Hung Temple Festival (Vinh Phu) features Xoan folk songs, the Phu Giay Festival has Chau Van folk songs and the Lim Festival has Quan Ho folk songs.
Other festivals feature games and contests, such as rowing, rope pulling or climbing, wrestling, rice cooking or chess. There are also competitions between animals such as buffalo and cockfights or pigeon races.
Note: Some events are linked to the Western calendar, but others follow the lunar calendar.
Main Holidays & Festivals (Official Public Holidays)
1 January: New Year.
1 January L.M: Lunar New Year.
3 February: The Foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
30 April: The Liberation of South Vietnam.
1 May: International Labor.
14 May: Buddha’s Birthday
19 May: Ho Chi Minh’s Birthday
2 September: National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
25 December: Christmas Day.
Popular Culture Festivals
2 January L.M: Lieu Doi Festival (Ha Nam Ninh).
5 January L.M: Dong Da Festival (Hanoi).
10 January L.M: Elephant Race Day, M’nong Ethnic Minority’s help in central highland.
13 January L.M: Lim Festival (Ha Bac) “Quan Ho” Folk song contest.
15 January L.M: Spring Festival on Ba Den Mountain (Tay Ninh).
10 March L.M: “Hung” Temple Festival (Vinh Phu).
9 April L.M: “Giong” Festival Performing Day (Hanoi).
26 April L.M: “Chua Xu” Festival “Chau Doc”.
16 June L.M: Greeting “Mr. Whale” Festival (Tien Giang & Ben Tre).
26 August L.M: Greeting “Mr. Whale” Festival (Can Gio & Duyen Hai).
30 July L.M: “Lang Ong” Festival (HCMC), Le Van Duyet’s Anniversary old-age Worshipping.
9 August L.M: Buffalo fighting festival (Do Son & Hai Phong) and “Tran Hung Dao” Festival at Tran Hung Dao Temple.
DESCRIPTION OF SOME HOLIDAYS CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT VIETNAM
 (Western) NEW YEAR'S DAY January 1 Fireworks, dancing, feasting and general revelry abound in this colourful New Year celebration.
TET (TET NGUYEN DAN) Late January/early February is the most important Vietnamese annual festival. This marks the new lunar year and the advent of spring. This is a three-day holiday, usually at the end of January or the beginning of February (according to the solar calendar).
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