Cây nêu (

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

: 核標), is a

New Year tree New Year's trees are decorated trees similar to Christmas trees that are displayed to specifically celebrate the New Year. They should not be confused with the practice of leaving up a Christmas tree until after New Year's Day (traditionally unt ...

in Vietnamese culture, made from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

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

Tết Nguyên Đán Tết (, ), short for (; ), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar and usually falls on January or February in the Gregorian calendar. is not to be con ...

, or Vietnamese New Year. The

Viet people The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroas ...

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 Ông Táo (翁灶) also known as Táo Quân (灶君, Mandarin Táo), Táo Vương (灶王), Thần Bếp (神灶), Vua Bếp (𢂜灶) or the Kitchen god is regarded in Vietnamese culture as the advocate of the Vietnamese family with the gods and ...

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 Northeast Vietnam. It is the capital of Hà Giang Province. The city has an area of 135.33 km2 and had a population of 55,559 inhabitants as of the 2019 census. The popula ...

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 ...

Cao Bằng Cao Bằng () is a city in northern Vietnam. It is the capital and largest settlement of Cao Bằng Province. It is located on the bank of the Bằng Giang river, and is around away from the border with China's Guangxi region. According to the 2 ...

Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn () is a city in far Northern Vietnam, and 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 geograph ...

Bắc Kạn Bắc Kạn () is the capital of Bắc Kạn Province, Vietnam. The province's only city, it is bordered by Bạch Thông District to the north, north-east and west and Chợ Mới District to the south-east and south-west. Bắc Kạn is 160 ...

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 southwe ...

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, approxi ...

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

Hmong people The Hmong people ( RPA: , CHV: ''Hmôngz'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , , zh, c=苗族蒙人) are an indigenous group in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In China, the Hmong people are classified as a sub-group of the Miao people. Th ...

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 ...

build the cây nêu in the Cầu Mùa Festival.

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

References

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

See also

References