Ha Nguyen Festival 2025

Ha Nguyen Festival, also known as the New Rice Celebration, is a traditional Vietnamese festival rich in spiritual meaning. Held annually, it is a time for people to express gratitude to their ancestors and Heaven and Earth for a bountiful harvest. The festival also offers a precious opportunity for families to reunite, strengthen bonds, and preserve cultural values and traditions.

Origin and significance of the festival

Ha Nguyen Festival has a long history and deep spiritual significance, closely tied to Vietnam’s agricultural life and traditional beliefs.

Origin of festival

The Ha Nguyen Festival originates from the ancient custom of celebrating new rice after the harvest in the eighth lunar month. In the past, people held this ceremony to thank Heaven and Earth for favorable weather and abundant crops. These blessings brought prosperity and well-being. In folk belief, the full moon of the tenth lunar month is considered a sacred day. It is believed that the Celestial Court sends the Three Pure Ones to Earth to observe people’s good and bad deeds. Therefore, families prepare a generous offering table with sincere prayers for blessings and to ward off misfortune.

Significance of the festival

Ha Nguyen Festival is an occasion for descendants to express filial piety and gratitude to their grandparents, ancestors, and parents while praying for peace and happiness for the entire family. For Buddhists, this day holds especially deep spiritual meaning. It is a time to focus on spiritual practice, seek blessings from the Buddhas and deities, and ask for protection and guidance from their ancestors. The festival strengthens family bonds, reminds people of their roots, and encourages a life of kindness, compassion, and virtue.

Ha Nguyen Festival is a time to honor ancestors, seek blessings, and strengthen family bonds

Typical activities during the festival

At the Ha Nguyen Festival, various traditional activities take place, showcasing the rich cultural and spiritual values of the Vietnamese people. The celebrations typically center around three main customs:

Ancestral and heaven-earth thanksgiving ritual

This is the most important part of the Ha Nguyen Festival. Families prepare a well-arranged offering tray filled with seasonal local produce, especially freshly harvested glutinous rice. This offering is a way to show deep respect and gratitude to the ancestors for their blessings. It also reflects thankfulness to heaven and earth for a good harvest and expresses hopes for continued peace and prosperity for the family.

Gift-giving to show filial piety

Alongside the offering rituals, it is customary for people to buy gifts. These often include new glutinous rice or other seasonal specialties of autumn and winter. The gifts are presented to grandparents, parents, and other respected family elders. This practice demonstrates care and filial devotion while also strengthening family bonds and intergenerational relationships.

Visiting pagodas and praying

Many people also visit pagodas during the Ha Nguyen Festival to offer incense and pray to the Buddhas with sincere devotion. They wish for a peaceful life, and good health for themselves and their loved ones. This is a meaningful occasion for families to visit memorial sites or pagodas where the ashes of their relatives are kept, as a way to show respect and gratitude.

Visiting pagodas and offering incense on Ha Nguyen Festival Day

Dishes for the Ha Nguyen offering

The offering tray and meals during the Ha Nguyen Festival often feature a harmonious combination of vegetarian and savory dishes.

Vegetarian dishes

Typical vegetarian dishes during the Ha Nguyen Festival include seal cake, five-colored sticky rice, and rice flour offering cake. Seal cake is a traditional cake, often round or square, made from glutinous rice flour with mung bean or sesame filling. It has a mild, pleasant flavor and features decorative patterns on the surface. Five-colored sticky rice stands out with its five natural hues, derived from various leaves and roots. It represents the five elements and symbolizes wishes for luck, harmony, and prosperity. Rice flour offering cake is a rustic rice flour cake. Each soft, white, and smooth piece is carefully wrapped in fresh green banana leaves. When enjoyed, it offers a hint of saltiness, a touch of sweetness, and a rich, creamy flavor from the coconut milk.

Typical vegetarian dishes during the Ha Nguyen Festival reflect tradition and blessings, including seal cake, five-colored sticky rice, and rice flour offering cake

Savory dishes

Some families also prepare a savory offering tray, in addition to the vegetarian dishes mentioned above, which include items like boiled pork, steamed chicken, pork sausage, and fried spring rolls. The pork is boiled just right, tender, fragrant, and lightly fatty, combined with various fresh vegetables. Additionally, there will be a bowl of fish sauce or shrimp paste, creating a harmonious and stimulating taste experience.

No matter the occasion, the absence of steamed chicken would be a significant omission on a Vietnamese offering tray. The chicken, after steaming, has a beautiful golden, glossy skin. When enjoyed, you can savor the tender, naturally sweet meat.

The white pork sausage is usually sliced into thin pieces, creating a pleasing and full appearance. Crispy fried spring rolls are a delicious and popular dish on the offering tray, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Additionally, the offering trays often include a plate of fruits, betel leaves, wine, drinking water, chrysanthemums or rice flowers, incense, lamps, and candles.

A food offering tray for grandparents and ancestors

Ha Nguyen Festival is a precious occasion to give thanks to heaven, earth, and ancestors. It also serves as a heartfelt reminder of family unity, filial piety, and the deep-rooted connection to one’s heritage. As time passes, this beautiful tradition continues to be preserved as an essential part of the Vietnamese spirit. Come to Vietnam and immerse yourself in the warm, reverent atmosphere of the Ha Nguyen Festival, a celebration rich in spiritual and cultural beauty.