Tet Nhay – the Red Dao’s most sacred new year ritual
The festival goes by two names depending on who you ask. In Vietnamese it is called Tet Nhay, which translates loosely as “jumping festival” — a reference to the ritual dances that run through the entire ceremony. In the Dao language, the same event is called Put Tong: “put” means jump, and “tong” means field or plain. Both names point to the same thing, but knowing both is useful because you will see them used interchangeably in travel content and event announcements.
The ceremony belongs to the Red Dao, known in Vietnamese as Dao Do. They are one of several subgroups of the broader Dao ethnic group, distinguished most visibly by their traditional dress — deep indigo clothing decorated with vivid red embroidery, and elaborate headdresses worn by the women. The Red Dao live in the mountain provinces of northern Vietnam, in places like Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, and Tuyen Quang. This is not a culture you encounter in Hanoi or in the lowland cities. It belongs to the highlands, to villages tucked into valleys and slopes far from the main roads.
Tet Nhay is not a public festival in the way that Lunar New Year is celebrated across Vietnam. There are no street decorations, no fireworks, no tourist crowds by default. It is a ritual held within the extended family, at the home of the family patriarch or clan head, presided over by a shaman. The purpose is deeply spiritual: to honor ancestors, invite them back to celebrate the new year with the living, ward off bad luck from the year just passed, and pray for health, good harvests, and protection in the year ahead. The dancing is not performance — it is the primary language of worship.
That distinction matters. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has listed Put Tong as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, recognizing it as a living tradition preserved and passed down within Red Dao communities — not something recreated for tourism.
When is Tet Nhay
Tet Nhay is a multi-day event. Depending on the family or village hosting it, the ceremony can run for three days and three nights, sometimes longer. It is held during the first fifteen days of the first lunar month — the period that begins with Lunar New Year and marks the opening of the new year for Red Dao communities.
The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon rather than the sun, which means the dates shift each year when converted to the standard (Gregorian) calendar. Lunar New Year typically falls somewhere between late January and mid-February. That shift also means that an article about last year’s Tet Nhay with specific dates is not a reliable guide for planning — the dates will be different this year.
Within that fifteen-day window, different families and villages choose their own day to hold the ceremony. Publicly organized events — where the local government or cultural authorities arrange a celebration that visitors can attend — tend to fall on a specific chosen date, but that date is set fresh each year. In 2024, the organized event at Ta Phin commune near Sapa was held on the 9th day of the first lunar month. That should not be taken as a fixed annual date.
Estimated dates for upcoming years, based on when Lunar New Year falls:
- 2026: Lunar New Year falls on February 17. The fifteen-day window runs until approximately March 3.
- 2027: Lunar New Year falls on approximately February 6. The fifteen-day window runs until approximately February 20.
These are estimates for the possible range — not confirmed event dates. Always verify the exact timing before traveling, ideally through a local guesthouse in Sapa, a guide who works with Red Dao communities, or by searching for current-year news about the event.
Where can you see Tet Nhay
Tet Nhay is practiced privately by Red Dao families across a wide area of northern Vietnam — Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Yen Bai. But for visitors looking to actually witness the ceremony, the options that are realistically accessible come down to two areas.
Sapa area (Lao Cai province)
The villages around Sapa are the most practical base for seeing Tet Nhay. Several Red Dao communities in this area hold the ceremony, including Ta Van, Giang Ta Chai, Ban Ho, and Muong Bo. The most accessible option for visitors is Ta Phin commune, which has hosted officially organized public celebrations in both 2024 and 2025. These events bring together multiple families and include the full ritual sequence, making them easier to attend without a personal connection to a specific household.
Ta Phin is about 15 to 20 minutes from Sapa town by motorbike or car — close enough to use Sapa as your base without any complicated logistics. Sapa has plenty of accommodation across all price ranges, and the town is well connected to Hanoi by overnight train and sleeper bus.
If you are planning a trip around Tet Nhay, Sapa is also worth combining with the broader Sapa trekking experience — the Muong Hoa Valley, terraced rice fields, and other ethnic minority villages are all within easy reach.
Yen Bai province
Red Dao communities in Van Yen district, including Phong Du Thuong commune and the Khe Det hamlet, also celebrate Tet Nhay as a genuine community tradition. This area sees far fewer visitors than Sapa, which means the atmosphere is more intimate and less shaped by tourism — but it also means less infrastructure, no organized public events, and very little English spoken on the ground.
Getting there and finding the right village at the right time is difficult to do independently. This option works best if you are already traveling through Yen Bai province, or if you are going with a guide who has existing connections in the area.
What to see and do at Tet Nhay
1. The 11-step ritual — the heart of the ceremony
The core of Tet Nhay is a ritual sequence made up of eleven distinct steps, each with its own spiritual purpose. It is led by the shaman — an experienced elder who holds the ceremonial knowledge of the community and understands the correct sequence of prayers, movements, and invocations. The steps move through invoking ancestors, welcoming protective deities, expressing gratitude for the past year, and asking for blessings in the year ahead.
Throughout the ritual, men dance continuously to the sound of drums and gongs. The dancing is not decorative — each movement corresponds to a specific act of worship, and the shaman’s steps guide the rest of the participants. The ceremony runs without interruption, with participants rotating in and out when exhaustion sets in, so the ritual energy is maintained. Watching the full sequence unfold over hours, or even across multiple days, gives a clear sense of how central this ceremony is to Red Dao spiritual life.
2. The charcoal bathing ritual
The moment that tends to stay with visitors longest is the charcoal bathing ritual, known in Vietnamese as tau than. A fire is built and left to burn until it becomes a bed of glowing red embers. Then, men who have been spiritually prepared by the shaman — blessed and protected through the ritual process — leap barefoot into the coals, scattering and kicking them without showing any sign of injury.
The Red Dao believe this is possible because the participants are under the protection of Ban Vuong, the ancestral spirit of the Dao people, and the ancestors who have been called back for the ceremony. It is not a performance of physical endurance. From the community’s perspective, it is proof that the ritual has worked — that the connection between the living and the spiritual world has been properly established.
Visitors watch from a distance. This is not something to approach or join. The respectful thing is to observe quietly and let the ritual proceed on its own terms.
3. Bathing and changing the ancestor statues
Less dramatic but arguably more central to the meaning of Tet Nhay is the ritual bathing of the ancestral figures. Tablets or carved representations of ancestors are taken down from the family altar, carefully bathed, and dressed in new cloth before being returned. This act of care and renewal is a direct expression of the filial piety that runs through the entire ceremony — the idea that ancestors are not simply remembered but actively tended to and included in the life of the family at the new year.
For visitors, this part of the ceremony can be harder to follow without context, but understanding what it represents makes it one of the most meaningful things to witness.
4. Music, dance, and offerings
Sound is constant throughout Tet Nhay. Drums, gongs, and small bells provide the rhythmic foundation for the ritual dances, and the shaman chants prayers that are woven into the movement rather than separated from it. Other participants respond with calls and physical gestures. None of this is background noise — the music is part of the ceremony itself, and the specific sounds and rhythms shift as the ritual moves through its eleven steps.
The offerings laid before the altar reflect the importance of the occasion: a whole pig or chicken, presented intact as a sign of respect; sticky rice cakes; wine; fruit; and votive paper. The wholeness of the animal matters — it signals a complete and sincere offering rather than something prepared for ordinary consumption.
5. Folk games and community celebration
Once the main ritual sequence is complete, the atmosphere shifts. The community gathers to eat, drink, sing, and play traditional games together. Food is central to this part of the celebration — local pork, grilled dishes, and corn wine shared among families and neighbors.
This is also one of the best opportunities to see Red Dao women in their full traditional dress. The clothing is immediately striking: deep indigo fabric covered in intricate red embroidery, paired with elaborately decorated headdresses that take significant time and skill to prepare. Outside of ceremonial occasions, full traditional dress is worn less frequently, which makes the festival one of the few times visitors can see it in its proper context rather than as a staged display.
Practical tips for visiting Tet Nhay
A few things worth knowing before you go.
Verify dates before you travel
Because Tet Nhay follows the lunar calendar, the dates shift every year, and different villages choose different days within the fifteen-day window. Searching for last year’s event dates and assuming they repeat is a reliable way to miss it. Before booking anything, confirm the timing for the current year. Vietnamese-language news sources and local government cultural pages tend to publish this information earlier than English travel sites. A guesthouse in Sapa or a guide who works regularly with Red Dao communities will usually know the details as soon as they are set.
Go with a local guide
Tet Nhay takes place inside family homes and village spaces that have no visitor infrastructure. There are no ticket booths, no information boards, and almost no English spoken during the ceremony. A local guide who has a genuine relationship with Red Dao communities does more than translate — they secure access, explain what is happening as it unfolds, and help visitors behave appropriately without disrupting the ritual. The difference between attending with a guide and arriving independently is significant.
Tip: Experience Tet Nhay with Local Vietnam
Joining a guided ethnic minority tour in northern Vietnam takes the guesswork out of timing, access, and communication — so you can focus on the experience itself rather than logistics. Local guides with real community connections make the difference between watching from the outside and genuinely understanding what you are seeing.
Respect the ritual space
Tet Nhay is a functioning religious ceremony, not a cultural show arranged for visitors. The family hosting it is fulfilling a serious spiritual obligation that may have been in preparation for weeks. Keep that in mind throughout. Stay back from the altar area unless explicitly invited closer, and never touch offerings, ritual objects, or ceremonial items. During the active ritual moments — especially the 11-step sequence and the charcoal bathing — keep noise to a minimum and avoid moving around unnecessarily. Ask before raising a camera, and if someone signals discomfort, put it away without argument. A calm, respectful presence is always welcome; an intrusive one is not.
What to wear and bring
Sapa in late January and February is genuinely cold, often sitting in fog for days at a time with light drizzle that makes it feel colder than the thermometer suggests. Dress in proper warm layers — a good base layer, a fleece or down mid-layer, and a waterproof outer shell. Bring a hat and gloves. Village paths are often uneven and muddy after rain, so solid trekking shoes or waterproof boots are a better choice than anything with a flat sole. Bring small denomination cash for food and any items you want to buy from local vendors — there are no ATMs in the villages. Cold weather drains phone batteries quickly, so a power bank is worth packing if you plan to take photos or use maps.
Plan your broader northern Vietnam trip
Tet Nhay sits within a much wider landscape of culture, nature, and travel experiences across northern Vietnam. If you are making the trip to Sapa for the festival, it is worth understanding the full picture of what the region has to offer before and after. Everything you need to know about traveling in northern Vietnam — from routes and seasons to ethnic minority culture and practical logistics — is covered in one place.
More ethnic minority festivals in northern Vietnam
Tet Nhay offers a rare window into Red Dao spiritual life, but it is one of many festivals celebrated by ethnic minority communities across the northern mountains. Each group has its own calendar of rituals, and some of the most compelling experiences in northern Vietnam happen not at famous landmarks but at these community gatherings — if you know when and where to look.
- Buckwheat Flower Festival — a Ha Giang highlight that combines the peak bloom of buckwheat fields with local Hmong culture and markets, typically in October and November.
- Spring festivals of ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam — an overview of what happens across the region during the lunar new year period, useful for planning a trip around multiple events.
- Ban Flower Festival — celebrated by the Thai people in the northwest when the white ban blossoms appear in early spring, marking the new agricultural season.
- Pa Then Fire Dance Festival — another fire-based ritual from northern Vietnam, this one belonging to the Pa Then people of Ha Giang, where dancers enter a trance and move through flames.
- Gau Tao Festival — one of the most important Hmong celebrations of the year, held in the first days of the lunar new year with singing, games, and rituals for fertility and good fortune.
- Roong Pooc Festival — a Giay people harvest celebration held in the Muong Hoa Valley near Sapa, combining offerings, music, and traditional games.
For a full overview of when and where ethnic minority festivals take place throughout the year, see the ethnic minority festival calendar for northern Vietnam.
