Bustling market during the Lantern Festival (15th day of the first lunar month).
Thanh Phuc•February 11, 2025 16:38
The market for offerings during the Lunar New Year's full moon festival is bustling with a wide variety of items, from flowers and fruits to chicken and sticky rice, meeting the shopping needs of the people.
Starting today, February 11th (the 14th day of the lunar calendar), people have been shopping for offerings for the Lantern Festival (Rằm tháng Giêng) at local markets. (Photo: Thanh Phúc)Fruit is an indispensable offering when paying respects to ancestors and lighting incense at family temples, so it sells quite well. Photo: Thanh PhucThe stall selling votive offerings is crowded with shoppers. Photo: TPBetel nuts and leaves are a popular item on the full moon day. Currently, each plate of betel nuts and leaves (1 betel nut, 1 betel leaf) costs 15,000-20,000 VND. Photo: Thanh PhucSweet bananas, plantains, and royal bananas are also being imported in large quantities by small traders to serve people buying them for the full moon festival. Banana prices have dropped sharply compared to Tet (Lunar New Year), ranging from 40,000 to 80,000 VND per bunch. Photo: Thanh PhucFresh flowers have seen a slight price increase, ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 VND per chrysanthemum. Photo: Thanh PhucMany people choose to buy roosters for offerings during religious ceremonies. The price of a rooster for offerings ranges from 120,000 to 140,000 VND/kg. Photo: Thanh PhucThe service of slaughtering and shaping chickens for offerings, with wings like those of fairies and phoenixes, is bustling. Photo: Thanh PhucBesides, ready-made banquet meals are also a popular choice. (In the photo: A ready-made chicken and sticky rice banquet costs between 450,000 and 550,000 VND per meal. Photo: Thanh Phuc)Many restaurants receive hundreds of orders for sticky rice with chicken during the Lunar New Year's full moon festival. Photo: Thanh PhucBeautifully presented sets of traditional Vietnamese cakes such as peach-shaped steamed buns, glutinous rice dumplings, and sticky rice balls, priced from 80,000 to 140,000 VND per set, are currently a popular choice for families during the Lunar New Year's Full Moon Festival. (Photo: Thanh Phuc)Besides traditional markets, many supermarket and retail chains have implemented a series of attractive promotional programs: "Import Festival," "Lantern Festival," "Early Market Sale," etc., with prices reduced by 35% to 40%, attracting many shoppers. Photo: Thanh Phuc
