The Tet Nguyen Dan (Festival of the First Day) announces, the Lunar New Year, and is the most important date in the Vietnamese festival calendar. Commonly known as Tet, it is much more than your average Gregorian New Year’s celebration; it’s time when families reunite in the hope of good fortune for the coming year and ancestral spirits are welcomed back into the family home. And Tet is everybody’s birthday; on this day everyone becomes one year older.
The festival falls some time between 19 January and 20 February on the Western calendar. The exact dates vary from year to year due to di
fferences between the lunar and solar calendars. The first three days after New Year’s Day are the official holidays but many people take the whole week off, particularly in the south.
Tet rites begin seven days before New Year’s Day. This is when the Tao Quan – the three Spirits of the Hearth, found in the kitchen of every home – ascend to the heavens to report on the past year’s events to the Jade Emperor. Often these kitchen gods are described as a single person and may be called Ong Tao, Ong Lo or Ong Vua Bep. The Tao Quan ride fish on their journey to heaven so on this day people all over Vietnam release live carp into rivers and lakes. Altars, laden with offerings of food, fresh water, flowers, betel and more live carp for celestial transport, are assembled in preparation for the gods’ departure, all in the hope of receiving a favorable report and ensuring good luck for the family in the coming year.
Other rituals performed during the week before Tet including visiting cemeteries and inviting the spirits of dead relatives home for the celebrations. Absent family members start to make their way home, so that the whole family can celebrate Tet under the same roof. All loose ends are tied up so that the New Year can be started with a clean slate; debts are paid and everything is cleaned, including ancestors’ graves.
Much like the tradition of Christmas trees in the West, Vietnamese homes are decorated with trees at this time. A New Year’s tree (cay neu) is constructed to ward off evil spirits. Kumquat trees are popular throughout the country, while braches of pink peach blossoms (dao) grace houses in the north, and yellow apricot blossoms (mai) can be found in Southern and central Vietnamese homes.
 The traditional feast usually contains Chung cake, pickled welsh onion. Chung cake was invented by the 18th Prince of Hung Emperor in the contest of looking for new Emperor. It is symbolic of the Earth. Why is the Earth, not any other? Because, they didn't know the Earth is sphere, they thought it is rectangle. So Chung cake's shape is square. After the Prince became the Emperor, Chung cake became the most famous traditional Vietnamese food. So to remember the 18th Prince, Vietnamese always eats Chung cake in the Lunar New Year. It’s become irreplaceable thing in Lunar New Year Feast.
The events of New Year’s Day are very important as it’s believed they affect the course of life in the year ahead. People take extra care not to be rude or show anger. Other activities to avoid include sewing, sweeping, swearing and breaking things, which may attract bad spirits.
Similarly, it’s crucial that the first visitor of the year to each house- hold is suitable. They’re usually male – best of all is a wealthy married man with several children. Foreigners are sometimes welcomed as the Vietnamese house on the first day of Tet, unless you are explicitly invited (and make sure you confirm the time they want you to arrive).
In Vietnam, a population activity during the  weeks that follow Tet is Co Nguoi or Human Chess in the North and Unicorn Dance in the South. Apart from New Year’s Eve itself, Tet is not a particularly boisterous celebration. It’s like Christmas Day: a quit family affair. Difficulty in booking transport and accommodation aside, this is an excellent time to visit the country, especially to witness the contrasting frenzied activity before the New Year and the calm (and quite streets!) afterwards. Wherever you’re staying, it’s more than likely you’ll be invited to join in the celebrations. New Year’s Day will fall on the following dates: 26 January 2009. If you are visiting Vietnam during Tet, be sure you learn this phrase: chúc mừng năm mới – Happy New Year |
