Happy Vietnamese New Year/ Tet

 

New Year =Tet falls on a time when the old year is over and the New Year comes by lunar calendar. This is also the time when the cycle of the universe finishes: winter ends and spring, the season of birth of all living things, comes.

Tet is an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. It is a time when one pays respect to his/her ancestors and grandparents who have brought up him/her. It is an occasion when everyone sends each other best wishes for a new year, stops thinking about unhappy things and says good things about each other.

• On the 23^rd day of the twelfth month by lunar calendar, there is a rite to see Tao Quan (Kitchen God) off. we celebrate to send off the spiritual “House Guardian/ Ong Tao” to Heaven for his annual report of the family’s activities.
• The rite to say goodbye to the old year is held on the 30^th or 29^th day (if that month has only 29 days) of the twelfth month by lunar calendar.
• The rite to welcome the New Year is held at midnight that day.
• The rite to see off ancestral souls to return to the other world is often held on the 3^rd day of the first month by lunar calendar when the Tet holidays finish and everybody goes back to work.

There are various customs practiced during Tet such as ancestral worshipping, visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year, wishing Tet wishes, giving lucky money to young children and old people, wishing longevity to the oldest people, opening rice paddies or opening a shop.

Vietnamese New Year feast

Special feast is prepared by the Vietnamese on the New Years eve which is enjoyed with all the family members. Here is the list of the famous cuisines prepared during the festival time -

·         Banh chung and banh day - Sticky rice with meat or bean fillings wrapped in Dong leaves (banana leaves). This is rectangular and circular in shape Preparation is time-consuming, and can take days to cook.

·         Hat Dua - Roasted watermelon seeds

·         Dua Hanh - Pickled onion and pickled cabbage.

·         Cu Kieu - Pickled small leeks.

·         Mut - These dried candied fruits are rarely eaten at any time.

·         Cau Dua Du Xoai - In southern Vietnam, popular fruits used for offerings at the family altar in fruit arranging art are the custard-apple/sugar-apple/soursop, coconut, papaya and mango

·         Thit Kho Nuoc Dua – It means "Meat Stewed in Coconut Juice", it is a traditional dish of fatty pork stomach and medium boiled eggs stewed in a broth-like sauce made overnight of young coconut juice and nuoc mam. It is often eaten with pickled bean sprouts and chives, and white rice.

Wishing you all happy and prosperous new year! Hope you enjoyed the read on Vietnamese New year 2011 and gathered some interesting information on it.