What is Tết?
Tết
is what Vietnamese people call the traditional New Year celebration. Each year the
Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean have the good fortune to celebrate the
new year twice: the Western New Year (on January 1st) and later in the year the
traditional New Year, “Tết” in Vietnamese.
Why two celebrations?
New
Year’s Day in the West is calculated according to the solar calendar: The day,
month and year are determined by the position of the earth on its orbit around
the sun.
The date of Tết is based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar: The month is calculated relating to the moon revolving around the earth, but the precise date is calculated according to earth’s journey around the sun, coinciding with the harvest season.
The date of Tết is based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar: The month is calculated relating to the moon revolving around the earth, but the precise date is calculated according to earth’s journey around the sun, coinciding with the harvest season.
So what is the actual
date of Tết?
Tết
usually takes place between January 21st and February 19th. If you google
"Tet 2017," you’ll see that Tết begins Saturday, January 28, 2017 and
ushers in the year of the Rooster. It’s common to call the holiday "New
Year’s Day,” but in Vietnam and China, public holidays last seven days, to say
its importance.
How do the Vietnamese
celebrate Tết?
The
spirit of Tết celebration is to “renew” or “do better than the previous year,”
so it focuses on making the present beautiful and joyous, paving the way for a bright
future.
Rejoicing
Decorating the home
People
go to New Year markets (chợ Tết) and
flower markets (chợ hoa) to shop and
prepare for the holidays.
Homes are often adorned with the blossoms of peach trees (hoa đào) and apricots (hoa mai). Other popular flowers include colorful roses (hồng), narcissus (thủy tiên), orchids (lan) and carnations (cẩm chướng).
Homes are often adorned with the blossoms of peach trees (hoa đào) and apricots (hoa mai). Other popular flowers include colorful roses (hồng), narcissus (thủy tiên), orchids (lan) and carnations (cẩm chướng).
The
family altar is decorated with Marigold (vạn thọ), Chrysanthemum (cúc), Tuberose
(huệ), ... and a lot of meals and fruits.
A
clean home is essential but it has to be done before the Tết: a popular superstition
forbids a person from taking out a broom and sweeping the floor during the
first days of the new year. One might “sweep away” all one’s good luck!!
Peach blossoms Apricot blossoms
Feasting
Vietnamese
people commonly believe that no matter how poor a person may be - even if one must
borrow the money to make it happen - he or she must offer enough food for the
first three days of Tết so that "the elderly get [at least] a bowl of
soup.”
Certain traditional foods always grace the table. These include bánh chưng (square-shaped sticky rice cakes
with meat fillings), bánh tét (cylindrical
sticky rice cakes with meat fillings), and bánh
dày (round-shaped plain rice cakes). Dưa
hành-củ kiệu (pickled small onions
and leeks) is a popular side dish.
Bánh
chưng - Bánh tét
Some
delicacies vary according to the region of the country.
Northern families enjoy bóng bì (pork skin), canh măng (bamboo shoots soup), chân giò (pigs’ feet), miến gà (chicken with vermicelli), xôi gấc đỏ (bitter melon with sweet rice), thịt gà (chicken), thịt đông dưa muối (jellied meat with pickled mustard greens), giò lụa (pork sausage), nộm (salad), and cơm rượu (sweet fermented rice).
Southern families may serve Northern fare, as well as a pot of thịt kho nước dừa (pork stewed in coconut juice), khổ qua hầm (braised bitter melon), nem bì (shredded pork skin), and dưa giá (Southern-style pickled bean sprouts).
Mid-region people commonly enjoy dưa món (pickled dried vegetables in fish sauce) and món tré (fermented pig ears with galangal, a root similar to ginger).
Northern families enjoy bóng bì (pork skin), canh măng (bamboo shoots soup), chân giò (pigs’ feet), miến gà (chicken with vermicelli), xôi gấc đỏ (bitter melon with sweet rice), thịt gà (chicken), thịt đông dưa muối (jellied meat with pickled mustard greens), giò lụa (pork sausage), nộm (salad), and cơm rượu (sweet fermented rice).
Southern families may serve Northern fare, as well as a pot of thịt kho nước dừa (pork stewed in coconut juice), khổ qua hầm (braised bitter melon), nem bì (shredded pork skin), and dưa giá (Southern-style pickled bean sprouts).
Mid-region people commonly enjoy dưa món (pickled dried vegetables in fish sauce) and món tré (fermented pig ears with galangal, a root similar to ginger).
Throughout
Vietnam, mứt Tết (fruit preserved in sugar), hạt
dưa đỏ (red water melon seeds) and other treats are offered to guests. Adults
may toast each other with traditional Tết liquors such as rượu nếp (glutinous rice wine) or rượu đế (a rice-based alcohol). Western-style liquors (brandy, cognac,
etc.) are also served. Green tea is often savored after meals.
New Year's greetings
The Vietnamese believe New
Year’s is “everyone’s birthday.” That's why on the first day of Tết, children wish
their parents, grandparents and all other seniors a long and happy life. In
return, adults extend good wishes to children, giving them money in a red
envelope (lì xì).
Good wishes are expressed to family members, teachers, friends, neighbors…everyone!
Good wishes are expressed to family members, teachers, friends, neighbors…everyone!
Goodbye to the old,
the bad
For
many Vietnamese, the end of the year is an occasion to pay off debts and resist
taking out loans. At this time, disagreements or feuds that arose over the previous
year may also be resolved. People make a conscious effort during Tết to avoid
talking about bad news. Arguing? Crying? You won’t hear much of that during
this holiday!
The
elderly commonly advise children not to squabble or bad-mouth others. It’s
especially bad luck to break a bowl or plate, so elders may supervise children
who are washing or drying dishes.
Dragon/lion
dancing and lighting of firecrackers chase away evil spirits, while bringing
smiles and laughter to onlookers.
Welcome the new, the good
It’s
believed that if everything goes smoothly on the first day of Tết, the whole following
year will be favorable. The first guest to visit the house on the first day is destined
to bring a year’s worth of good luck (or bad!) to the family. So, at the end of
each year, people purposely search among their relatives or neighbors for the
perfect person (successful, healthy, lucky, etc.) to be first to visit the
house (xông đất). If the search
becomes too nerve-wracking, the head of the family can simply perform his or her
own “xông đất” by stepping out of the house and re-entering.
Also,
new clothes, symbol of new hopes and better life, are purchased and worn. Funeral
colors (plain white or black) are avoided.
Religious celebrations
Many Vietnamese people return to their families during Tết.
Some visit the graves of ancestors, occasionally cleaning the graves as a sign
of respect. On the fourth or fifth day of Tết, the whole family gathers for an
anniversary feast. Imitation paper money and faux gold (hóa vàng) are burned as an offering to ancestors.
During
the first days of Tết, people often go to
Buddhist pagodas and temples to worship. Worshippers then participate in “xin xăm,”
a fortune-telling ritual.
A family altar A Buddhist temple
Whether you celebrate the Western New Year, the Asian New Year or both, a very happy year of the Rooster to you!
Translated by Tuấn Trần, January 2017
from Phong-tục Tết Việt-Nam
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