Hanoi: Events

Vietnam operates on two calendars: the solar (Western) calendar and the lunar calendar. Official public holidays are usually scheduled according to the former, while the most festive celebrations are the moon's domain.

Buddha's birthday, which usually falls in June, and Tet, which takes place in late January or early February, are both lunar-calendar holidays when the bankers get a day off.

If you're looking for a party, then just eat the extra airfare or hitchhike to Hanoi for Tet , a New Year's celebration involving fragrant-flower blossoms, delicate kumquat trees, delectable cakes of pork, bean curd and sticky rice called banh chung and fireworks that put automatic weapons to shame. The days following the week-long celebration are family time, and the streets are generally quiet with most businesses closed.

Other events worth planning your visit around include Summer Solstice, when human effigies are burned to stock the God of the Dead's armies, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, which utilises the natural hyperactivity of children - who are drafted to carry colourful lanterns and bang cymbals while fortified with sweet moon cakes - for maximum effect. Wandering Souls Day, which takes place in late summer or early autmun, is second only to Tet in importance. Offerings of food and gifts are made in homes and pagodas for the wandering soul of the forgotten dead.