VN-VN : Let’s celebrate the VietnameseTết!

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.

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).

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).

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!
                                          

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