Updated July 2022.
Although the moon takes 27.3 days to orbit the earth it takes 29.5 days to complete its phases (because the earth is moving too). This makes it a bit tricky to nail down exactly on which date a full moon occurs, even in the lunar calendar. To cope with this some lunar months are 29 days and some are 30 days. In the wash-up the full moon usually occurs on the 15th or 16th day of each lunar month but not always.
For the Hoi An Full Moon Lantern Festival the organizers have taken all the complications away and the celebration occurs on the 14th day of the lunar calendar, regardless of when the full moon actually occurs.
Thus, in the Gregorian Calendar, the festival occurs on the following dates:
Full Moon Lantern Festival Dates
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 16 January | 5 January | 24 January |
| 14 February | 4 February | 23 February |
| 16 March | 5 March | 23 March |
| 14 April | 4 April | 22 April |
| 14 May | 2 May | 21 May |
| 12 June | 1 June | 19 June |
| 12 July | 31 July | 19 July |
| 11 August | 29 August | 17 August |
| 9 September | 28 September | 16 September |
| 9 October | 28 October | 16 October |
| 7 November | 26 November | 14 November |
| 7 December | 26 December | 14 December |
Wishing to know on which date in January 2023 I should experience this festival latern in Vietnam & exact location will be ?
Hi Harshit,
We have a post dedicated to the Full Moon Lantern Festival Calendar – https://hoiannow.com/hoi-an-guide/festivals-in-vietnam/full-moon-lantern-festival-calendar/ – for all those planning visits.
The date in January 2023 is the 5th and the date in February 2023 is the 4th. Everything takes place in Hoi An Old Town by the river’s edge. Follow Bach Dang Street towards the Lantern Bridge (that connects Hoi An Old Town to An Hoi Islet) and you can’t go wrong.
Hello,
i´m planning to visit Hoi An on December 2022. and i would like to see the Lantern Festival . But i have a question, Is on 07 or 08Th DEC.
I saw another websites that the date is 08DEC, now, im very confused if is on 07TH or 08TH DEC. Where can i check this information?
Thank you so much.
Hi Marcos, The Full Moon Lantern Festival is always celebrated on the 14th day of the lunar calendar even though the full moon may be on the 14th, 15th or 16th. It’s complicated as we say in this post. Happily, in December 2022 the 7th of December is both the 14th day of the Lunar Calendar and the full moon. You can check this using the following independent sources: https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/gts/time/calendar/pdf/files/2022e.pdf and https://www.almanac.com/full-moon-december. Thus, 7th of December 2022 is correct.