This scared Festival sometimes
between late January or early February (depend on Lunar Calendar ) and Tet has
become so familiar to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives. The Vietnamese,
wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and
they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a
family reunion and a taste of the particular flavors of the Vietnamese
festivities. Although officially a three-day affair, festivities may continue
for a week or more with every effort made to indulge in eating, drinking, and
enjoyable social activities. It is also a time for family reunions, and for
paying respect to ancestors and the elders. Gifts of food are made to friends,
neighbors and relatives in the days before Tet.
The Tet of the New Year is,
above all, is an opportunity for the household genies to meet, those who have
helped during the year, namely the Craft Creator, the Land Genie and the
Kitchen God. Tet is also an opportunity to invite and welcome deceased
ancestors back for a family reunion with their descendants to join the family's
Tet celebrations. Finally, Tet is a good opportunity for family members to
meet. This custom has become sacred and secular and, therefore, no matter where
they are or whatever the circumstances, family members find ways to come back
to meet their loved ones, gather for a dinner of traditional foods like
"Bánh Chưng" (a square cake made of sticky rice stuffed with beans
and pork), "Măng" (a soup of boiled bamboo shoots and flied pork) and
"Xôi Gấc" (orange sticky rice). This is followed by a visit to the
local pagodas.
Everyone is in a rush to get a
haircut, buy new clothes, spruce up their homes, visit friends, settle
outstanding debts, and stock up on traditional Tet delicacies. Businesses hang
festive red banners which read "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year)
and city streets are fes¬toned with colored lights. Stalls spring up all over
town to sell Mut (candied fruits and jams), traditional cakes, and fresh fruit
and flowers. Certain markets sell nothing but cone-shaped kumquat bushes.
Others sell flowering peach trees, symbols of life and good fortune which
people bring into their homes to celebrate the coming of spring. As vendors
pour into the City with peach trees strapped to their bicycles, the streets
look like moving pink forests.
The
"Mam Ngu Qua"
The "five-fruit tray"
on the ancestral altar during the Tet Holidays symbolizes the admiration and
gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their ancestors, and
demonstrates their aspiration for a life of plenty. Legend said alot of
theories but in a simpler way, the five fruits represent the quintessence that
Heaven and Earth bless humans. This is one of the general perceptions of life
of the Vietnamese, which is "When taking fruit, you should think of the
grower".
Dao,
Mai, Quat (the Peach, Apricot and Kumquat)
Coming to Vietnam during the
season of the Tet festival, the visitor is engulfed in an ocean of colorful
flowers. Visiting flower shows, contemplating the buds and blooms, and
purchasing blossoms represents one of the distinct Vietnamese cultural characteristics.
The peach (in the North ) and the apricot blossoms (in the South) are symbols
of the Vietnamese Tet. The warm pink of the peach could very well match the dry
cold of the North, but the hot South seems to be flourishing in the riot of the
yellow of the apricot. The mandarin is symbolic of good fortune and, therefore,
people tend to choose the little plants laden with fruit, big and orange, and
verdant leaves for a longer display.
The
Giao Thua ( New Year's eve )
The Giao Thua is the most sacred
point of time, the passage from the old to the New Year. It is popularly
believed that in Heaven there are twelve Highnesses in charge of monitoring and
controlling the affairs on earth, each of them taking charge of one year. The
Giao Thua is the moment of seeing off the old chieftain upon the conclusion of
his term and welcoming in the new one upon his assumption of office. For this
reason, every home makes offerings in the open air to pray for a good new year.
After the Giao Thua is the start
of the New Year with many customs and practices, amusements and entertainment,
all of a distinct Vietnamese folk culture. If you have an opportunity to visit
Vietnam during the Tet Holidays and to welcome the Tet Festivities, together
with the Vietnamese people, you will surely be profoundly impressed by the
distinct traditional culture that is rich in national identity.
Food
specialties for TET
On the last day of the old year,
the preparation of food to offer to the ancestors is of special significance.
Dishes to offer to the ancestors differ in the Northern, Central and Southern
parts of the country, depending on their respective weather conditions at the
time and on different local agricultural products available. What is common in
all regions of the country during Tet holidays are the varieties of soups,
fried, boiled, or stewed dishes, meat, fish, vegetable... The foods that the
Vietnamese eat at Tet are varied and diverse. What they have in common is that
the people throughout the country all want to have the best and the most
beautiful looking food on this occasion to offer their ancestors and to treat
their friends and guests.
Vietnamese is waiting for a New
Year 2009 which is considered to be a water buffalo in the Vietnamese zodiac.
The Tet atmosphere is overwhelmed on streets with characteristic peach and
apricot flower, red parallel sentences, "mut" (candied fruits and
jams)...; happy children are worn with new clothes; adults are hurry in
decorating and buy things for the special holiday... Some want to go abroad or
come to another city for a different Tet atmosphere. While foreigners go travel
Vietnam to experience and know more about a traditional holiday.
