Tet Holiday officially happens for 3 days from December 1st to January 3rd of the lunar calendar, but before and after that time, Vietnamese people have many activities interesting and having meaning. One of them is going for a walk in the spring flower festival. The big spring flower festival is organized in the centers of provinces or cities. Ho Chi Minh City has many spring flower festivals, in which there are 3 famous festivals: Tao Dan Spring Flower Festival, Nguyen Hue Flower Street, Phu My Hung Spring Flower Festival. Let’s learn about the top 3 Tet Markets in Ho Chi Minh City.
1. TAO DAN SPRING FLOWER FESTIVAL
Tao Dan Cultural Park is located in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. During the French colonial period, the official name was Jardin de la Ville, but Vietnamese people used to call it the Garden of Mr. Thượng (Lê Văn Duyệt). In the Republic of Vietnam period, it was called Tao Đàn Garden. This is a garden large and having many big old trees, a temple of Hung kings, a Champa tower and some ancient tombs.
The elder, teenagers, children often come here to have fun and exercise. Especially, every year there is a spring flower festival. Spring Flower Festival usually takes place from December 25th to January 6th. Each year there are millions of visitors.
The characteristic of the festival is having many strange kinds of flowers, pet fishes, bonsai, statues of art. Coming here, visitors get to walk around seeing the nice landscape, beautiful girls in Vietnamese traditional long dresses, children running around their parents and take photos for a souvenir. An entrance ticket is about VND 30,000. Children under 12 years of age are exempted.
2. NGUYEN HUE FLOWER STREET
Nguyen Hue Flower Street is the name of Nguyen Hue Street, Ho Chi Minh City when being decorated on every occasion of Lunar New Year, for visitors to enjoy, starting from the Tet Giap Than 2004. The annual Nguyen Hue Flower Street is usually held from December 28 to January 5 of the lunar calendar.
Each year Nguyen Hue Flower is designed according to a new theme containing positive meaning. The theme of The year 2017 is “The City Named after Uncle – Bright Aspiration”, 2018 is “Aspiration Rising”, 2019 is “Ho Chi Minh City – Firmly Move Forward”.
At the gate, there are always statues of animals named new lunar year such as chicken, dog, pig. All statues have a happy, funny and cute appearance symbolizing the rise and success in the city’s new year. Behind the gate, there are big scenes, small scenes in which there are symbols of Tet Holiday such as square glutinous rice cake, cylindric glutinous rice cake, watermelon, and symbols show the rise of the city, and fresh clusters and layers of flowers with many kinds and colors. From the opening to the end, each day there are many visitors in the city, the southern provinces, even foreigners coming to see the sight and taking photos. All wear new and nice clothes, and speak, laugh happily. Every year Nguyen Hue Flower Street attracts millions of visitors. The festival served completely free of charge.
3. PHU MY HUNG SPRING FLOWER FESTIVAL
Every year, Phu My Hung Spring Flower Festival – one of the top 3 Tet Markets in Ho Chi Minh City happens from December 24 to January 5 of the lunar calendar, at The Crescent Mall, Phu My Hung Urban Area, District 7. The festival is held for the first in 2008. In spite of being born after Nguyen Hue and Tao Đàn Spring Flower Festivals, this festival is also well known because of its own beauty. Each year, the festival has a theme. 2017 theme is “Spring Full of Warmth”, 2018 is “Spring Love of River”, 2019 is “Flowers and Life”.
Each year, there is always an animal model showing the name of the lunar new year such as a chicken, a dog, a pig with a joyful attitude. The flowers displayed here haves very familiar and simple names such as sunflower, coconut flower, marigold, daisy, cockscomb arranged in rows, layers. Especially, the Flower festival has many models of rural landscapes with rice, heaps of straw, cottages, bamboo bridges, buffaloes, boats and so on, which help city visitors, especially children, and foreign visitors imagine the landscape of the countryside in Vietnam. In general, Annual Phu My Hung Spring Flower Festival expresses Vietnamese people’s dream of having a warm, full and happy life. Every year the festival has millions of visitors. They are served completely free of charge.
Read more about Tet Market in Vietnam
