The dates of the great festivals of China, Vietnam and Thailand for the next twelve months, with what people do and when to prepare your orders. For families who keep their traditions in France, and for businesses that work with Asia.
For information only. The lunar festivals are calculated from the official tables of the Hong Kong Observatory (Chinese calendar); the Vietnamese calendar may, very rarely, differ by one day. Official public holidays are published every year by the governments: see also Closures in 2027.
The festivals of the next 12 months
| Date | Festival | Country | What people do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 24 November 2026 in 20 days | Loy Krathong | 🇹🇭 | Small banana-leaf rafts placed on the water, lanterns (Yi Peng in Chiang Mai) |
| Friday 25 December 2026 in 51 days | Christmas and end of year | 🇫🇷 | Family celebrations; reduced activity in Europe |
| Saturday 30 January 2027 | Ông Công Ông Táo (Kitchen Gods' Day) | 🇻🇳 | People thank the hearth spirits, who "go up to heaven" a week before Tết |
| Saturday 6 February 2027 | Tết / Chinese New Year (Year of the Goat) | 🇻🇳 🇨🇳 | The biggest festival of the year: family, red envelopes, bánh chưng, dumplings, house cleaned and decorated |
| Saturday 20 February 2027 | Lantern Festival / Tết Nguyên Tiêu | 🇨🇳 🇻🇳 | Full moon that closes the New Year festivities; lanterns, sweet rice balls |
| Monday 5 April 2027 | Qingming (tomb-sweeping day) | 🇨🇳 | People clean the ancestors' graves and bring them flowers |
| Tuesday 13 April 2027 | Songkran, Thai New Year (13-15 April) | 🇹🇭 | Respect for elders, water poured for good luck, water festival in the streets |
| Friday 16 April 2027 | Hùng Kings' Festival | 🇻🇳 | Tribute to the founding kings of the country (public holiday) |
| Wednesday 9 June 2027 | Dragon Boat Festival / Tết Đoan Ngọ | 🇨🇳 🇻🇳 | Dragon boat races, zongzi (sticky rice in bamboo leaves) |
| August 2027 | Summer holidays | 🇫🇷 | Many French businesses close or slow down |
| Monday 16 August 2027 | Vu Lan / Ghost Festival | 🇻🇳 🇨🇳 | In Vietnam, a festival of gratitude towards parents; offerings to the ancestors |
| Thursday 2 September 2027 | Vietnam National Day (2 September) | 🇻🇳 | Public holiday in Vietnam |
| Wednesday 15 September 2027 | Mid-Autumn Festival / Tết Trung Thu | 🇨🇳 🇻🇳 | Mooncakes with the family; in Vietnam, the children's festival, with lanterns |
| Friday 1 October 2027 | National Day ("Golden Week") | 🇨🇳 | About a week's break in China, from 1 October |
| Friday 8 October 2027 | Double Ninth (Chongyang) | 🇨🇳 | Festival of the elderly; walks in high places |
Updated automatically at every visit: the festivals of the next 12 months, from 4 November 2026.
When should you prepare your orders?
Before a great festival, factories run at full capacity, then stop. Our advice, to adapt with your supplier:
- For Tết and Chinese New Year: place your orders as early as November or December. In January, order books are full; in February, everything stops.
- For festive products (mooncakes, lanterns, red envelopes, decorations): ask your supplier for the last order date and the shipping time to France. By sea, allow several weeks of transport on top of manufacturing.
- Small parcels: a consignment worth €150 or less now pays a flat-rate customs duty and a handling fee. See Small parcels from Asia.
- Fresh products or products of animal origin (plants, fruit, meat, dairy products): very strict rules, find out before placing any order.
To learn more about each festival
Looking for festive products (mooncakes, lanterns, red envelopes, decorations) from verified businesses? Publish a request.
Publish a requestSources (consulted on 31 October 2026): Hong Kong Observatory, Gregorian-lunar calendar conversion tables 2026 to 2036 (calculation made by Passerelle France-Asie); UNESCO (Songkran, Spring Festival); Tourism Authority of Thailand (Loy Krathong). For information only: this information does not engage the liability of Passerelle France-Asie.