Tet

I want familiarize you with the Vietnamese holiday Tet. We hope to take part in this celebration with our child throughout their life to keep them in touch with the heritage and country’s culture.

Tet is a popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. Tet is a celebration of the New Year. This year it starts on February 7, 2008, the holiday lasts three days. 2008 is the Year of the Rat or Mouse. This year marks the beginning of the 12 month cyclical zodiac of animals.

Prior to the start of Tet, people clean and paint their homes, making everything spotless. Old clothes are given away are new ones are bought for the celebrations. Paying back debts before Tet is customary and arguments are avoided and mistakes are forgiven. This signifies a new beginning.

During Tet, everyone visits family and friends. It is believed the first visitor of the new year brings good or bad luck with them. Families often invite someone important or well liked to be their first visitor to make sure their luck is good. It is an honor to be asked to be the first visitor in someone’s home.

Children receive li xi (red envelopes containing money) from their elders. Some families hang many li xi on a tree in their home to give to visitors. Children will don their new clothes and give their elders traditional Tet greetings before receiving the money. The children are free to spend their money on toys or on gambling games such as bau cua ca cop.

Customs during Tet are giving lucky presents to others to enhance your relationship, new clothes, new rice, rice wine, red things (red symbolizes happiness, luckiness & advantages). People buy a lot of water on Tet holiday because many people wish money to flow in streams like water currents. Some things that should not be done during Tet to prevent bad luck are: saying or doing bad things. You should not sweep the house or empty the trash or you may lose luckiness. You should not wear white clothes because white is the color of funerals in Vietnam.

Food during Tet is usually vegetarian since it is believed to be bad luck to eat meat on that day. Bang chung is tightly packed sticky rice with bean fillings wrapped in banana leaves. It can take days to cook so it must be prepared prior to the start of Tet. No cooking is to be done during Tet. Hat Dua are roasted watermelon seeds, Cu Kieu are pickled vegetables.

We hope that you are interested in the holiday and in the future come out to celebrate with our new family.