These days, the atmosphere is becoming more bustling than any other time of year in Vietnam. Millions of Vietnamese families are preparing for the most important celebration of the year, Tết or Lunar New Year holiday.
“Tết”
The word is a shortened form of “Tết Nguyên Đán”. Since ancient times, Vietnam culture has associated with water rice agriculture. A lunar year is based on the activity cycle of the moon divided into 24 periods for agriculture. So the word “Tết” means “period”; “Nguyên” means “the first” and “Đán” means “day”. Phrase means the first day of the lunar year. Due to the rule that is a leap year every 4 years and a month does not exceed 30 days, so Tet is always in the period from January 21 to February 19 in the Gregorian calendar.
The countries also celebrate with Vietnam: China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
The celebration
Vietnamese people celebrate Tết annually, which is based on a the lunar calendar (calculating both the motions of Earth around the Sun and of the Moon around Earth). Tết is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, except when the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China results in new moon occurring on different days. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar until at least the third day. Vietnamese always spend a week before Tết for preparation of cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. These foods include “bánh chưng”, dried young bamboo soup, sticky rice and so on. Many customs are practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year, ancestor worship, wishing New Year’s greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.
People go to the temples during Tết holiday (Photo: internet)
Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year.
“Bánh chưng”
(Photo: internet)
Bánh chưng is a traditional Vietnamese rice cake which is made from glutinous rice, mung beans, pork and other ingredients. “Chưng” means steaming with water, but the cake is actually cooked by boiling. Its origin is told by the legend of Lang Liêu, a prince of the last king of the Sixth Hùng Dynasty, who became the successor thanks to his creation of bánh chưng and bánh giầy, which symbolized, respectively, the earth and the sky. Considered an essential element of the family altar on the occasion of tết, the making and eating of bánh chưng during this time is a well-preserved tradition of Vietnamese people. Today, banh chung is one of the typical typical dishes of Vietnamese cuisine.
Stages of the celebration:
– Kitchen God worshiping (December 23th)
– Year-end party
– Cleaning the house, the altar and shopping
– New Year Eve worshiping
– 3 New Year’s Days (visting relatives and friends, giving lucky money, congratulating)
– Spring festival (going to temples or traveling)
Kitchen God worshiping with golden carbs (Photo: internet)
The meaning of Tết with Vietnamese culture
In modern life, it seems that the time we spend with our family is increasingly shortened instead of worries of the hustle life. Therefore, the reunion party is even more precious. For Vietnamese, Tết is not only the important holiday but also the priceless traditional value that never changes.
(Justin Ngoc Pham)
