Tết or Vietnamese New Year, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word is a shortened form of Tết Nguyên Đán which is Sino-Vietnamese for "Feast of the First Morning of the First Day". Tết usually has the date falling between the months of January or February.[1]
Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third dayTết in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tất Niên (penultimate New Year's Eve), Giao Thừa (New Year's Eve), and Tân Niên (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively. All of these customs are to celebrate Tết in Vietnam.
Before New Year's Eve[edit]
This period begins one or two weeks before the actual celebration. The general atmosphere leading up to Tết is in the bustle of shopping, decorating the home, cooking traditional Tết food and waiting for relatives to return home. People try to pay off their debts in advance so that they can be debt-free on Tết. Parents buy new clothes for their children so that the children can wear them when Tết arrives. In the days leading up to Tết, the streets and markets are full of people. As the shops will be closed during Tết, people try to stock up on supplies as much as possible.
Vietnamese families usually have a family altar, to show respect to their ancestors. During Tết the altar is thoroughly cleaned and new offerings are placed there. This includes a tray of five different fruits on the altar called "Mâm Ngũ Quả" (literally, five fruits type). Traditionally, the three kitchen guardians for each house (Ông Táo, Kitchen God), who report to theJade Emperor about the events in that house over the past year, return to heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth month by lunar calendar. Their departure is marked by a modest ceremony where the family offers sacrifices for them to use on their journey.
In the days leading up to Tết, each family cooks special holiday foods such as bánh chưng and bánh dầy. Preparations for these foods are quite extensive. Family members often take turns to keep watch on the fire overnight, telling each other stories about Tết of past years.
Today, people who live in city will go out and take part in the coutdown party, then they will see the firework together until the fisrt day on new year come.
Vietnamese families also buy home peach blossom trees, kumquat trees and orange trees. They also buy flowers to decorate their homes such as chrysanthemum or orchid. They plant these flowers and put them into beautiful pots in front of the house or inside the house.
The New Year[edit]
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