Cây nêu (

chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ; ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters (''Chữ Hán'') to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented ...

: 核標), is a Vietnamese New Year tree, made from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

stalk, which has the effect of warding off evil spirits during the

Tết Nguyên Đán Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of , ...

. The

Viet people The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native lang ...

set up the cây nêu on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, to prevent the devil from coming to disturb the homeowner during the days when Ông Công - Ông Táo returned to heaven. Some other ethnic groups such as Tày and Nùng in the northern mountainous areas such as

Hà Giang Hà Giang () is a city located on the banks of the Lô River in the Northeast region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Hà Giang Province. The city has an area of 135.33 km2 and a population of 55 559 inhabitants. The population is compose ...

Tuyên Quang Tuyên Quang () is a city in Vietnam, and is the capital of Tuyên Quang Province. History The French post at Tuyên Quang was defended for four months against 12,000 troops of the Yunnan Army and the Black Flag Army by two companies of the Fre ...

, Cao Bằng,

Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn () is a city in far northern Vietnam, which is the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1. History Due to its ge ...

, Bắc Kạn,

Lào Cai Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...

Yên Bái Yên Bái () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Yên Bái Province, in the north-east region of Vietnam. The city borders Yên Bình District and Trấn Yên District. The city is a settlement along the banks of the Red River, approxim ...

again plant this cây nêu on the afternoon of the 30rd day of the 12th lunar month.

Hmong people The Hmong people ( RPA: ''Hmoob'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , ) are a sub-ethnic group of the Miao people who originated from Central China. The modern Hmongs presently reside mainly in Southwest China (Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chon ...

build the cây nêu in the Gầu Tào festival from the 3rd to the 5th day of the first lunar month, the 7th day of the first lunar month is the summer day, the

San Diu people The Sán Dìu (also known as San Deo, Trai, Trai Dat and Man Quan Coc; ; Chữ nôm: ; Vietnamese alphabet: Người Sán Dìu) are a Yao ethnic group in northern Vietnam who speak Yue Chinese (Cantonese), a Sinitic language. They are believed to ...

build the cây nêu in the Cầu Mùa Festival.

usually cut down a cây nêu on the 7rd day of the 1th lunar month, called ''Lễ khai hạ''.

References

Vietnamese culture Vietnamese folk religion Trees in culture New Year celebrations {{Culture-stub

See also

References