What do you know about Vietnam’s Tet festival?

During the Tet holiday, children are given lucky money inside red envelopes because this money is thought to be good and can protect children from evils.

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The Tet holiday often takes place from late January to early February, depending on the cycle of the Lunar Calendar. For Vietnamese people, the three days of January in the Lunar Calendar are the most important, but they often spend nearly half of January celebrating the Tet holiday.

During the Tet holiday, Vietnamese people would like to thank the Gods for bringing the spring full of blossoming flowers and trees and say goodbye to the cold winter. The Tet festival is an occasion for living people to invite deceased ancestors to join family gatherings. This is also an opportunity for all members of the family to reunite after a long time of working far from their home. Whatever they do and wherever they are, they quickly come back to their hometowns to meet their loved ones.

Ahead of the Tet festival, Vietnamese people clean and decorate their houses with kumquat trees, peach blossoms, or apricot blossoms. They try to clean and dush-wash everything because such a cleaning is believed to sweep away all the bad things that accumulated in the old year. In addition, everybody cuts their hair, buys new clothes, and brings gifts to their relatives and friends. They try to spend lots of money within their financial capacity to buy all the best things to ensure that they will have a prosperous year. In particular, all the debts will be paid off to bring good luck to the lunar new year.

It is noted that a meal on the Vietnamese people’s Lunar New Year’s Eve is to finish the whole old year. At this meal, there are lots of good traditional dishes, such as Chung Cake (sticky rice cake), pickled onion, pork, beef, sweets, dried fruits, seeds,... During this meal, every member of the family often talks about good memories and nice things.

After this meal, Vietnamese people may go out to visit their relatives, watch fireworks in the public areas, or stay at home to watch Tao Quan (a very famous TV show in Vietnam that is only broadcast on the 30th of December of the lunar calendar).

Chung cake- a kind of Vietnamese people's traditional cake

During Vietnam’s Lunar New Year, the first guest coming to the Vietnamese people plays an important role because they are believed to bring all good luck to the family. Then, Vietnamese people often visit their grandparents and relatives and give best wishes to each other. The second and third days of January are for their relatives, friends, colleagues…

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During the Tet holiday, children are given lucky money inside red envelopes because this money is thought to be good and can protect children from evils.

Besides, Vietnamese people may also go to the pagodas to pray for a year of prosperity, happiness, and health.

The Tet holiday nowadays is still being well preserved. Vietnamese New Year is not only a time for relaxation and family gatherings, but it is also an opportunity for Vietnamese to develop their cultural and national identities.