Tet Doan Ngo, also known as Tet Doan Duong, is one of the most important traditional holidays of the Vietnamese people. Every year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, people eagerly go shopping for fruits, flowers, and food to worship their ancestors and pray for health and luck for the whole year.
According to traditional customs, people often worship on the morning of the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. This time marks the change of seasons, when the weather becomes hot and pests and insects thrive, causing harm to humans, livestock and plants. Therefore, people perform rituals to kill pests and burn incense to pray for a favorable and lucky harvest.
Early morning of June 10 (5/5 lunar calendar), despite heavy rain, at Hang Be market (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi), there were still many buyers and sellers preparing for the Doan Ngo Festival, also known as the Insect Killing Festival.
Traditional markets in Hanoi are bustling with shoppers early in the morning to prepare for the Doan Ngo Festival. On this day, sticky rice wine, ash cakes (gio cakes), plums, lychees, etc. are in high demand.
The traditional market is bustling with people shopping for offerings for the Dragon Boat Festival.
People get up early to prepare the offerings for the Dragon Boat Festival.
According to a survey, good plums cost about 100,000 VND/kg, lychees cost 100,000 VND/kg, mangosteens and mangoes cost 60,000 VND/kg, and oranges cost 40,000 VND/kg. A trader at Hang Be market (Hoan Kiem district) said that because this year's lychee crop failed, the price was slightly higher than last year.
Many retailers also confirmed that people usually buy goods early in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, so the prices only increase slightly on this day. However, the increase is usually not too "shocking" and is acceptable.
Meanwhile, the price of fresh flowers has increased slightly compared to last year, specifically the price of lilies is 35,000 - 50,000 VND/dozen, chrysanthemums 40,000 - 60,000 VND/dozen, and West Lake lotus is 120,000 VND/bunch.
Go to the market on Dragon Boat Festival
In addition to fresh flowers in vases, flower trays are also very popular, although the price is not cheap, each tray is from 300,000 - 500,000 VND. These flower trays are beautifully arranged, with a variety of ingredients including white lotus, pink lotus, jasmine, peony, magnolia, dragon claw, areca flower, accompanied by white sticky rice wine, purple sticky rice wine, plum and lychee.
The high volume of sales during the Dragon Boat Festival will boost sales of many items. Prices may be higher than usual, but many families choose to buy or order early to avoid running out of stock.
