Caodaist festivals and holy days unfold within a disciplined rhythm of worship that blends public temple ritual with domestic devotion. At the heart of communal life are the regular ceremonies held in temples and especially at the Holy See in Tây Ninh, where clergy and laypeople gather in ordered ranks, men and women seated separately, all facing the Divine Eye. White robes for lay followers and colored vestments for dignitaries visually express the religion’s synthesis of Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist currents. Chanting, bowing, incense, and offerings of flowers, tea, wine, fruits, and vegetarian food create a liturgical atmosphere that is both solemn and celebratory. Scripture readings, formalized prostrations, and traditional Vietnamese music deepen the contemplative mood, while sermons often stress ethical living, compassion, and the unity of religious paths. These same ritual elements are echoed in household practice, where family altars to the Divine Eye and to ancestors become focal points for prayer and remembrance, especially on auspicious days.

Major annual observances are largely regulated by the lunar calendar and draw large numbers of pilgrims and local devotees. The founding of Caodaism and the birthday of the Supreme Being are commemorated with grand ceremonies, processions of clergy, special chanting, and communal vegetarian feasts, often accompanied by charitable activities such as feeding the poor. The Day of Divine Alliance with God, honoring the Divine Mother and the celestial court, is marked by an especially elaborate nighttime liturgy, with lanterns, music, and offerings symbolizing a celestial banquet. Birthdays of key spiritual figures such as Gautama Buddha, Laozi, Confucius, Guan Yin, and Kuan Ti are observed through temple rites and sermons on their teachings, integrating the broader East Asian religious calendar into Caodaist life. Saints’ days and the anniversaries of important religious figures are likewise kept with prayers, offerings, and community gatherings, reinforcing the religion’s syncretic reverence for a wide spiritual pantheon.

Seasonal and cyclical observances further structure the devotional year. Tết Nguyên Đán, the Lunar New Year, is a particularly significant time, when Caodaists visit temples to pray for peace, prosperity, and moral renewal, while also engaging in ancestral veneration and family gatherings in continuity with Vietnamese custom. New and full moon days, as well as the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, are treated as especially auspicious, prompting increased attendance at temple ceremonies, observance of vegetarian discipline, and acts of generosity. Many adherents also mark death anniversaries of family members with offerings, incense, and prayers at home, sometimes supplemented by temple services, thereby weaving Confucian-style ancestor veneration into a distinctively Caodaist theological framework. Across all these occasions, festivals function not only as ritual obligations but as communal enactments of Caodaism’s vision of universal salvation and harmony among traditions.