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The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanwu Festival, is one of the important traditional festivals 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 offer to their ancestors and pray for health and good fortune for the whole year.
According to ancient tradition, people usually offer sacrifices 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 insects and pests thrive, harming people, livestock, and plants. Therefore, people perform rituals to eliminate pests and offer incense to pray for a bountiful and lucky harvest.
Early in the morning of June 10th (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month), despite the heavy rain, Hang Be Market (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) was still bustling with buyers and sellers preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Festival for Killing Insects.
Local markets in Hanoi were bustling with shoppers from early morning, preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival. On this day, items such as glutinous rice wine, rice cakes (bánh tro/bánh gio), plums, and lychees were in high demand.
The local market is bustling with people buying offerings for the Dragon Boat Festival.
People wake up early to prepare the offerings for the Dragon Boat Festival.
According to a survey, high-quality plums are priced at around 100,000 VND/kg, lychees at 100,000 VND/kg, mangosteens and mangoes at 60,000 VND/kg, and oranges at 40,000 VND/kg. A small trader at Hang Be Market (Hoan Kiem District) said that due to a poor lychee harvest this year, prices are slightly higher than last year.
Many small traders also confirmed that people usually buy goods early in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, so prices only increase slightly on the actual 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 lilies cost 35,000 - 50,000 VND/dozen, chrysanthemums cost 40,000 - 60,000 VND/dozen, and West Lake lotus flowers cost 120,000 VND/bunch.
Going to the market on the Dragon Boat Festival.
Besides fresh flowers in vases, flower arrangements for offerings are also very popular, despite their high price, ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 VND per arrangement. These flower arrangements are beautifully presented, featuring a variety of ingredients including white lotus, pink lotus, jasmine, peony, ylang-ylang, dragon's claw, and areca flower, along with white glutinous rice wine, purple glutinous rice wine, plums, and lychees.
High sales volume during the Dragon Boat Festival will boost the sales of various goods. Prices may be higher than usual, but many families have chosen to buy or order early to avoid shortages.
