Leaf markets are a unique cultural feature of Tay Ninh province. Locals say the leaf market was initiated 10 years ago by an Oriental Medicine doctor who lived in Hoa Thanh Town. 

Since then, local people have gathered once a year on the 15th day of the first lunar month. All people are welcome to the market, no matter whether they are locals or from other localities.

The local leaf market operates like traditional markets with stalls set close together, displaying local specialties.

The leaf market opens at dawn and closes just one or two hours later. It is small, with just 20 stalls, but the goods displayed there, especially food, are diverse.

The special feature of the market is that products are not assessed in money. Instead of cash, buyers pay in leaves without knowing the leaves’ nominal value.

Visitors to the market just have to pay several leaves to buy something. They can get familiar goods from sellers, such as rice, water, soybean milk, maize and steamed glutinous rice.

Both sellers and buyers are happy at the market, though sellers do not receive money. Participants at the market wish each other health, peace and happy lives. Locals say that the more leaves sellers can receive, the happier and luckier they will be in the new year.

HCM City leaf market

On March 19, a sentimental market day was organized at the Cultural Center in district 5, HCM City, with 40 stalls providing vegetarian food, drinks, rice, cassava, vegetables and fruits. 

The market day lasted three hours, attracting more than 1,000 visitors.

This was the second market day of this kind held in HCM City. At the market, people bought goods with money made of paper in the shape of Bodhi leaves granted by the organizing board.

Every individual was granted five leaves to exchange for food, drinks and essentials. About 5,000 leaves were delivered to visitors, according to the organizing board.

As the number of visitors was too high, not all visitors could get leaves. However, some stalls still served food for free and gave essentials to visitors as a gift.

Binh Duong leaf market

Binh Duong Newspaper reported that on August 20, 2023, at Central Garden in Thuan An City, a zero dong leaf market was held for the second time in the locality. Many local residents attended at the event.

As this was a zero dong market, visitors could buy goods for free. At the market, money was symbolized by leaves. Each visitor could get three leaves and each leaf could be used to buy one food product, mostly traditional dishes.

Every disadvantaged person was granted a voucher and could choose five essential products, including rice, eggs, instant noodles, soybean sauce, fish sauce, milk and tissues.

Dong Nai leaf market

A special market day, where people used leaves to pay for goods, was held by the Phu Binh Women’s Association in Long  Khanh City of DongNai in March 2023.

The market gathered 23 stalls with 30 goods on display, including traditional dishes and drinks, and essentials.

Each visitor had three leaves, each of which could be exchanged for any product, with no care about the value of the goods. The organizing board prepared 3,000 leaves which were given to 1,000 visitors.

In addition to leaf markets, Vietnam also has many other special markets.

Vieng Market in Nam Dinh is a famous market for people to try their luck. It gathers only once a year, from the midnight of the seventh day of lunar new year to the end of the eighth day.

Many products are sold at Vieng Market, from ornamental plants and seedlings to agricultural production tools. 

Many people think that buying things at the market will help them have a bumper crop. Buying and selling there just aims at "selling bad luck, buying good luck".

Chuong Market in Thanh Hoa also gathers once a year, on the sixth day of the lunar new year in the commune of Dong Hoang in Dong Son district. 

The special characteristic of the market is that ripe red tomatoes are always abundant. People believe that those who get a lot of tomatoes thrown at them will have good luck and fortune in the new year.

Hanh Nguyen