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| vietnamese new year's |
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The more popular name for the Vietnamese New Year is Tet, where as the formal
name is Nguyen-dan. Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new
year, lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most
celebrated holidays.
Tet starts on February 18 in 2007. According to the Vietnamese Zodiac, 2001 is
the Year of the Pig.
People start cleaning and decorating their homes with a belief that by doing so
they would be getting rid of bad fortune and bad memories, which were associated
with the previous year. People all over Vietnam buy new clothes as well as new
shoes and try their best to pay off their debts and even try to resolve the
differences among the family members and friends.
The New Year's Eve is celebrated with a special ceremony by the name of Le Tru
Tich, at the midnight hour. The ceremony is initiated with firecrackers and gongs in
order to bid goodbye to the previous year and welcome the New Year with loud
happy noises.
Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New
Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the
year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day
should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because
they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day.
Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring.
Vietnamese families observe the custom of the kitchen god tao for a week before
the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of
the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other
two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on
which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which
animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the
market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the
house before it is later set free.
During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a bamboo tree, Cay Neu, in front of their
homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The
decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil
spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last
ritual of the New Year celebration.
The Vietnamese New Year cuisine includes a special rice pudding, which needs to
be prepared beforehand. The rice pudding is given the name of banh chung or
banh tet. The main ingredients of this pudding are mung beans and pork. Some
other famous New Year foods are preserved sweets, beef, chicken, fish, oranges,
coconuts, grapefruits and other seasonal fruits, especially watermelon.
Watermelon holds much importance, as its flesh is red in color and hence the
melon is considered to be lucky. The seeds of the watermelon are often dyed red
also and served as delicacies along with other food items.
name is Nguyen-dan. Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new
year, lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most
celebrated holidays.
Tet starts on February 18 in 2007. According to the Vietnamese Zodiac, 2001 is
the Year of the Pig.
People start cleaning and decorating their homes with a belief that by doing so
they would be getting rid of bad fortune and bad memories, which were associated
with the previous year. People all over Vietnam buy new clothes as well as new
shoes and try their best to pay off their debts and even try to resolve the
differences among the family members and friends.
The New Year's Eve is celebrated with a special ceremony by the name of Le Tru
Tich, at the midnight hour. The ceremony is initiated with firecrackers and gongs in
order to bid goodbye to the previous year and welcome the New Year with loud
happy noises.
Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New
Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the
year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day
should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because
they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day.
Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring.
Vietnamese families observe the custom of the kitchen god tao for a week before
the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of
the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other
two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on
which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which
animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the
market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the
house before it is later set free.
During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a bamboo tree, Cay Neu, in front of their
homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The
decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil
spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last
ritual of the New Year celebration.
The Vietnamese New Year cuisine includes a special rice pudding, which needs to
be prepared beforehand. The rice pudding is given the name of banh chung or
banh tet. The main ingredients of this pudding are mung beans and pork. Some
other famous New Year foods are preserved sweets, beef, chicken, fish, oranges,
coconuts, grapefruits and other seasonal fruits, especially watermelon.
Watermelon holds much importance, as its flesh is red in color and hence the
melon is considered to be lucky. The seeds of the watermelon are often dyed red
also and served as delicacies along with other food items.