According to the book “The Royal Life under the Nguyen Dynasty”, married princes and princesses had their own residences outside the Citadel. Their life after getting married seemed to be completely separate from the life in the Imperial City.

The rituals of princes and princesses on Tet holiday

On Tet holiday, the pace of life at imperial residences was more bustling than it was as usual. The number of officials, soldiers and servants of the residences decreased as some of them asked for permission to go home and take care of their families on Tet holiday. The rest of them were assigned to guard, focus on cleaning and preparing for offerings during Tet holiday.

According to the regulations of the Nguyen Dynasty, Thướng tiêu ceremony (erecting Nêu – a Tet bamboo pole) was considered as the beginning of Tet holiday. Not until was the ceremony in Imperial City finished that the lords and ladies held the same ceremony at their own imperial residences.

Ceremonial rituals on Tet holiday under the Nguyen Dynasty. The photo is for illustration purpose only.

After Thướng tiêu ceremony, on the thirtieth of December of the lunar calendar, the Hue Imperial Court conducted a year-end ceremony at local shrines in order to invite their ancestors to join the Tet holiday. The Emperor presided over the ceremony, followed by imperial relatives, princes and chief mandarins. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, firecrackers were set off at all the imperial residences with the intention of chasing away evil spirits, bad luck and old things, as well as welcoming new things, good luck and fortune.

In the morning of the first day of Tet holiday, the Emperor conducted a grand celebration at Thai Hoa palace to welcome the Lunar New Year. The Emperor’s brothers, princes and princesses showed up to bow down before the Emperor five times. After the celebration, the Emperor gave directives for distributing spring bonuses and feasts. Each of the imperial relatives and princes was given approximately two kilograms of silver. Afterwards, the Emperor brought the princes to Dien Tho palace to give the Emperor’s Mother wishes and conduct Khánh hạ ceremony.

On the second day of Tet holiday, the lords and ladies held ceremonies at their imperial residences. After that, they went to the Citadel to ask for the Emperor’s permission to bring their mothers (concubines) to their residences so that their children might have an opportunity to wish them a long life, give their blessings and express their gratitude.

On Tet holiday, when visiting their children and grandchildren at imperial residences, the concubines all prepared precious gifts only available in the Imperial City to give as memorabilia and to wish them a good year ahead. In his memoirs, author Buu Ke described Tet celebrations at the residence of Duke of Lac Bien as follows:

“My father asked for the Emperor’s permission to take my grandmother out of the Imperial City so that her children and grandchildren could give her best wishes on Tet holiday. My grandmother sat in a hammock with a carrying pole. with the curtains over the yoke covered the hammock, long enough for her entire body not to be seen. The carrying pole was painted red, its two tips had the shape of a head and a tail of a phoenix, which were very different from those of my father’s hammock carrying pole, having the shape of a head and a tail of a dragon. 

Two female ladies-in-waiting who were in charge of serving tobacco and betel stooped behind my grandmother’s back. My father, my elder sister and I took turns to get our knees down to offer my grandmother a cup of wine for wishing her good health. After visiting the children and grandchildren for about an hour, my grandmother got on the hammock and returned to the Imperial City.”

What did the lords and ladies do during Tet holiday?

During three days of Tet, the lords and ladies were very busy going out to give Lunar New Year wishes or staying at their residences and waiting for guests. Children and grandchildren living at other imperial residences, high-ranking officials and mandarins often met at each other’s residence to exchange best wishes.

On the third day of Tet, poor people came together to the imperial residences’ gates and asked for money. The lords and ladies were willing to give them some at the beginning of Lunar New Year in order to show their generosity, although sometimes the lords and ladies had difficulties in their lives.

Tet was also an opportunity for the lords and ladies to meet writers and artists so that they could write music and poems, as well as recite them at the residences all together. The lords and ladies who had an aptitude for literature such as Tung Thien vuong Mien Tham, Tuy Ly vuong Mien Trinh, Tuong An quan vuong Mien Buu, Princess Mai Am and Princess Hue Pho, etc.  left a huge number of literary works for their descendants, contributing to the typical literary phenomenon of the current period.

Some lords and ladies held Hát tuồng (Vietnamese opera) and Hue folk music performances at their imperial residences. The hát tuồng performances such as Ngu Van Quan, Van buu trinh tuong, etc. were usually performed for wishing peace and good luck in the Lunar New Year.

The performances on Tet holiday were not only served for lords, ladies, aristocracies, mandarins, but were also open to the people living near the residences.

Imperial residences were also the places to hold several imperial and folk games like Đổ xăm hường - the game of rolling die to gain the card with the academic titles in the old educational system in red ink (high school graduate, bachelor, Doctor of Philosophy, hội nguyên , thám hoa , bảng nhãn , trạng nguyên ).

At the end of the game, the total number of points on each player’s cards helped determine the winners and losers.

The next game is Touhu (Pitch-pot). In this game, players had to throw arrows (darts) into “the frog” (a flat piece of wood placed between the pot and the players’ position) so that when they bounce, they would fall into the pot’s mouth pot. This game was aimed at challenging the cleverness and acumen of the players.

Besides, there were other games such as Bài vụ, Bài chòi, the game attracted the largest number of participants. Particularly, concubines under the Nguyen Dynasty liked to play cards, especially bài tứ sắc and tổ tôm.

When the lords and ladies built imperial residence outside of the Imperial City, common people were deeply influenced by popular life and folklore. Therefore, imperial residences were considered as the places where royal and folk cultural lifestyle mingled and thus contributed to form the personality of Hue people.

The spring holiday lasted until the seventh of January of the lunar calendar. The lords and ladies held a ceremony of dismantling the Nêu right at their residences, which marked a new working year ahead. At that time, the calm and quiet atmosphere, as well as the slow pace of life at imperial residences returned as before.