From rituals to rice cakes: How to celebrate Lunar New Year in Prague

Step into Prague’s Vietnamese community at Sapa, where Lunar New Year comes alive with festive markets, temple rituals, and traditional feasts.

Expats.cz Staff

Written by Expats.cz Staff Published on 31.01.2025 12:37:00 (updated on 27.02.2025) Reading time: 2 minutes

As the Lunar New Year dawns, Asian cultures across the globe are celebrating the Year of the Snake in 2025, which symbolizes good luck and rebirth. Beginning on Jan. 29 this year, the occasion marks a time of family, tradition, and cultural significance.

For the Vietnamese community in Czechia, comprised of 69,000 Vietnamese passport holders, the Lunar New Year, known as Tết Nguyễn Đán, is the pinnacle of the cultural calendar.

Anyone who wants to witness these festivities firsthand can venture to Sapa market, the 250,000-square-meter trade center in Prague’s Libuš district. Since its inception in 1999, Sapa has evolved from a bustling marketplace with over 1,000 vendors into a vital epicenter for the local Vietnamese community.

Tour company Sapa Trip has played a significant role in connecting Czech and Vietnamese via its cultural tours, cooking classes, and even language courses. This week, it posted an Instagram video explaining the traditions surrounding the holiday and inviting people to explore the market, which is currently resplendent with lanterns, and gold and red decorations.

The footage shows how to head to Sapa and shop for the holiday essentials: bánh chưng, the classic rice cake wrapped in banana leaves, alongside giò lụa (Vietnamese pork ham), spring rolls, and mứt Tết (candied fruits), all staples of the New Year feast.

Also featured is traditional xôi gấc, a bright red sticky rice dish symbolizing prosperity, and fresh produce like pomelo, dragon fruit, and Buddha’s hand, believed to bring good fortune.

The video shows the red envelopes (lì xì) that are a must-have for gifting lucky money, while fragrant Trà Tân Cương (Vietnamese tea) is recommended for family gatherings. According to Sapa Trip, the market is currently filled with decorative plants and flowers, representing renewal and a fresh start.

"The pagoda at the heart of the complex is particularly beautifully decorated and becomes the spiritual center of the celebration," Sapa Trip writes. "Locals visit the temple, where they place offerings on the altar, light incense sticks, and fake money, symbolizing wishes for prosperity for their deceased ancestors."

While the video encourages visitors to explore the market during Tết to taste traditional foods and witness temple rituals honoring ancestors, it also notes that visitors should be mindful that some shops may close as families celebrate.

Beyond Sapa, restaurants across Prague are serving special menus to honor the Lunar New Year. Prague restaurant Teplá Kačka marks the occasion through Feb. 8 with its annual feast of traditional dishes symbolizing prosperity, longevity, and harmony. Tuck into dim sum dumplings, Peking short ribs, and duck xiao long bao.

Sansho has Chinese New Year specials through Feb. 9 with turbo and tempura crab in XO sauce plus duck king prawns and wonton soup. Dim Sum Spot at Letná and Anděl has Chinese broccoli, spring rolls, and Jiaozi dumplings through Feb. 2.

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