Tet is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word “Tet” is a shortened form of Tet Nguyen Dan. Tet usually has the date falling in January or February. Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tet. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. They also clean the graves of their family as a sign of respect. Although Tet is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.Around one or two weeks before the celebration. The general atmosphere before Tet is in the bustle of shopping, decorating the home, cooking traditional Tet food, and waiting for relatives to return home. People try to pay off their debts. Parents buy new clothes for their children so that they can wear them when Tet arrives. In the days leading up to Tet, the streets and markets are full of people. As the shops will be closed during Tet, people try to stock up on supplies as much as possible. Vietnamese families also buy home peach blossom trees, kumquat trees, and orange trees. They also buy flowers to decorate their homes such as chrysanthemums or orchids. They plant these flowers and put them into beautiful pots in front of or inside the house. The first day of Tet is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called happy new age. Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tet greetings before receiving the money. Since the Vietnamese believe that the first visitor a family receives in the year determines their fortune for the entire year, people never enter any house on the first day without being invited first. The act of being the first person to enter a house on Tet is called “đạp đất”, which is one of the most important rituals during Tet. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to the family on the first day of the lunar New Year, the entire following year will also be full of blessings. Usually, a person of good temper, morality, and success will be the lucky sign for the host family and be invited first into the house. Sweeping during Tet is unlucky since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away; that is why they clean before the new year. It is also unlucky for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tet. Vietnamese people also decorate their homes with bonsai and flower plants such as chrysanthemum, marigold,… In Vietnamese language, to celebrate Tet is to eat Tet, showing the importance of food in its celebration. Some of the food is also eaten year-round, while other dishes are only eaten during Tet. Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on Tet. Some traditional foods on Tet such as essentially tightly packed sticky rice cakes, roasted watermelon seeds, pickled onion, pickled cabbage, pickled small leeks, dried candied fruits.
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