For the first time, many royal Tet rituals were reenacted at Thang Long Imperial Citadel.

(Fatherland) - To promote the value of typical royal Tet rituals as well as traditional folk Tet customs, the Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center organizes a series of Tet activities lasting from January 20 to February 6, 2025 (from December 21, Giap Thin year to January 9, At Ty year). Among them, many rituals are recreated for the first time.

The highlight of the Traditional Tet Space is the exhibition space "Old Tet - Tet during the subsidy period", held at Building 19C Hoang Dieu, from January 20, 2025, recreating the traditional Tet of Vietnamese people in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century for the public to review the difficult but still joyful period. "Tet during the subsidy period" is recreated through 3 exhibition spaces: State-owned trade booth, painting - flower - firecracker booth and worship space.

Currently, the exhibition spaces at Thang Long Imperial Citadel are attracting tourists to visit and experience.

In this space, the public will see again the image of people standing in line waiting to buy Tet goods with coupons; Tet goods bags during the subsidy period often contained boxes of Hanoi jam, Ba Dinh tea packages, Thang Long cigarettes (or Dien Bien , Chien Thang, Song Hong), Thanh Mai lemon wine bottles (or silkworm wine, orange wine, coffee wine), soft candy packages... In addition, the customs of cleaning the house, playing with Tet flowers, wrapping Chung cakes, cleaning the altar, preparing offerings for the Kitchen Gods, New Year's Eve offerings, ancestor offerings, New Year greetings, spring outings... are still preserved and continued by the people.

Trade Tet space

The exhibition space "Royal New Year rituals in spring" took place at building N14 on January 20. During the Ly, Tran, Le So, and Le Trung Hung dynasties, a system of royal spring New Year rituals was formed: Tao Quan worship ceremony, Tien Lich ceremony, Tien Xuan Nguu ceremony (bringing the earthen buffalo and Cau Mang god), Phat Thuc ceremony (cleaning and sealing the seal), Cap Huong ceremony (inviting the former emperors to celebrate Tet), Thuong Tieu ceremony (raising the flagpole), Tru Tich ceremony (New Year's Eve worship), Ancestor worship ceremony, Chinh Dan ceremony, King's longevity ceremony, Te Giao ceremony (worshiping the sky), Khai Ha ceremony (lowering the flagpole), Khai An ceremony (opening the seal)... In which, there are 3 especially important rituals: Tien Lich ceremony, Tien Xuan Nguu ceremony and Chinh Dan ceremony.

All three ceremonies are displayed through the form of documentary introduction, illustrated with simulated paintings and model artifacts, helping visitors to visualize part of the political , cultural and historical life of the golden past of the ancient royal palace.

The introduction and performance of the "Farewell to the Old, Welcome to the New" ceremony took place on January 22, which is the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month of the year of the Dragon. The program experienced the rituals during the Lunar New Year that used to take place in the ancient Thang Long royal palace such as: the calendar promotion ceremony, the carp release ceremony to send the Kitchen Gods to heaven; the pole-raising ceremony, the changing of the guard ceremony, the spring opening ceremony...

Traditional Tet space at Thang Long Imperial Citadel

Among these, the calendar advancing ceremony and the changing of the guard ceremony were recreated for the first time by the Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center through dramatization after carefully studying the remaining historical information and documents, based on the collection and research of many different sources of information.

In addition to recreating traditional Tet rituals in the ancient royal court, during the Lunar New Year 2025, the Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center organizes special puppet shows for visitors from January 30 to February 2 (ie from the 2nd to the 5th of January) at the following times: 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 15:00 and 16:00. At the same time, during the Lunar New Year 2025, the Thang Long - Hanoi Imperial Citadel Center will decorate many flower and ornamental plant spaces for visitors.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/lan-dau-tien-tai-hien-nhieu-nghi-le-tet-cung-dinh-tai-hoang-thanh-thang-long-2025012009203562.htm