Tet: The Celebrated Festival of Vietnam's Culture

Tet , or Lunar New Year is considered one of the most popular festival in Vietnam. This special holiday takes place on January 1st based on Lunar Calendar. Tet is an occasion for people gather their family, express their respect to their ancestors and welcome a new year. Tet occupies an important role in Vietnamese culture, so the preparation often begin before one or two weeks. Although Tet is a holiday for all Vietnamese, every region has its own custom and preparation.

In my hometown, to celebrate this occasion, people usually clean and decorate their houses, go shopping and cook traditional food, as well as take part in many specific activities during this holiday. Firstly, to prepare for Tet, people often spend a few days cleaning their houses, polishing furnishings and bronze incense burner, or even repainting the wall. They want everything in their houses must be cleaned to get the good in new year and get rid off the bad luck in the old year.

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They also decorate their houses with many flowers as: apricot blossom, marigold, daisy, and so on. Moreover, the houses is also garnished with colorful lights and parallel sentences. Each parallel sentence has its own meaning, showing the expectation of Vietnamese.

For example, “Security, good health, and prosperity”,” May myriad things go according to your will”. Vietnamese believe that the color of red and yellow will bring fortune things, so these colors can be seen everywhere during Tet. Besides, the ancestor’s altar is also especially taken care of with flowers and some kinds of fruit, including: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango and fig.

They want to pray for enough money to spend and comfortable life in the New Year. Secondly, to welcome this great festival people usually go shopping for everything which is necessary for Tet and cook traditional food. Everyone spend money purchasing new clothes to wear when Tet arrives. This is often the most exciting among children, the best beautiful clothes is always worn on the first day of the new year. People buy not only clothes but also flowers to put them in front of or inside their houses. Furthermore, they also buy a lot of food, which is integral during Tet. The food is very various from cakes, candies, jam to many special dishes. Some popular dishes are often cooked to consume during Tet as: sticky rice cake, boiled chickens, spring rolls, Chinese braise pork. These are very delicious and contain culinary culture in Vietnam.

Finally, it is the time to enjoy the new spring together. There are many activities happened in Tet holiday. In some big cities, people organize concerts and performance firework at the moment of New Year’s Eve to welcome the new year. Besides, lion dance is also a traditional activity to bring lucky and prosperity. During Tet,children wear new clothes and receive lucky money from the older after giving to them greeting Tet. Parties are organized to all of member in family eat and drink together. During the time of Tet, the streets are very crowded and noisy because of streams of people. They spend time visiting their relatives, their friends, and their teachers. Some people go to pagoda to pray for peace and happiness in the new year.

Tet is a special and meaningful occasion to all Vietnamese. It is the time for people reunite with their family and relax after a hard-working year. I am sure that if foreigner have a chance to visit Vietnam at Tet holiday, they will be fascinated by its feature. Remember that, do not consume too much alcohol and sweet stuff during Tet because it is not good for your health.