Visitors check out orchids and ornamental plants at September 23rd Park’s Tet flower market

The Youth Cultural House in Ho Chi Minh City has a full schedule of traditional events to celebrate Tet that will go on until the fifth day of the new year.

It also features lion dancing and a contest between don ca tai tu (traditional southern folk music) groups.

A “calligraphy street” has been set up in front of the house in Pham Ngoc Thach Street, and opens until January 25. It has calligraphers showing off their skills, exhibitions and sales of their works.

Also, a photography exhibition will trace Vietnam’s development through the years, and a weeklong tea festival opening today will showcase the nation’s tea-drinking culture.

On Friday, three days before Tet, visitors will be taught how to make banh tet (round glutinous cake), which will be given later that day to 2,000 orphans along with li xi (lucky money given to children for Tet).

Traditional Vietnamese martial arts and co nguoi (human Chinese chess) performances will begin on January 27 until the 30th.

The city is also blooming with Tet flower markets to mark the holiday, with the largest flower market, the Tet Flower Market at September 23rd Park, opening on Sunday in District 1.

The park is vibrant with the colors of peach blossoms from the north, kumquats from the Mekong Delta, and ochnas from Binh Dinh and Ben Tre provinces.

A seller from northern Hai Duong Province said peach blossoms were more expensive this year due to higher workers’ wages and transportation costs.

An eight-year-old peach blossom tree is priced VND1.5 million (US$86) while smaller ones sell for around VND600,000.

For the first time ever, strawberry trees from the Central Highlands’ Lam Dong Province are being sold at the market for VND80,000 and many cool-temperature flower varieties, such as lilies, are available.

In addition, the Nguyen Hue city Flower Street will open in downtown this Friday as the epicenter of all the city’s Tet seasonal celebrations. The street fair, including hundreds of booths and live outdoor performances, will take place on Nguyen Hue Boulevard in District 1.

Three other large Tet flower markets are currently open at District 1’s Le Van Tam Park, Gia Dinh Park in Go Vap District and the Phu My Hung New Urban Area in District 7.

Reported by Da Ly – Mai Vong