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Vietnamese New Year
Tết at the Saigon Tax Trade Center (2012)
Official name	Tết Nguyên Đán
Also called	Tết Lunar New Year (as a collective term including other Asian Lunar New Year festivals, used outside of Asia.)
Observed by	Vietnamese people
Type	Religious, cultural, national
Significance	Marks the first day of the lunar new year
Celebrations	Lion dances, Dragon dances, fireworks, family gathering, family meal, visiting friends' homes on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), visiting friends and relatives, ancestor worship, giving red envelopes to children and elderly, and opening a shop.
Date	Lunar/Lunisolar New Year's Day
Frequency	Annual
Related to	Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, Japanese New Year, Mongolian New Year, Tibetan New Year

Tết ([tet˧˥] or [tɜːt˧˥]), or Vietnamese New Year, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word is a shortened form of Tết Nguyên Đán, which is Sino-Vietnamese for "Feast of the First Morning of the First Day". Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, which usually has the date falling in January or February.^[1]

Vietnamese people celebrate the Lunar New Year annually, which is based on a lunisolar calendar (calculating both the earth's movement around the sun and the moon around the earth). Tết is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, except when the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China results in new moon occurring on different days. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. These foods include bánh chưng, bánh dày, dried young bamboo soup (canh măng), giò, and sticky rice. Many customs are practices during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestor worship, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year. They consider Tết to be the first day of spring, and the festival is often called Hội xuân (spring festival).

Tất Niên offering

A family altar in Vietnam

Altar to the ancestors adorned with flowers, fruits and food offerings

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. They also clean the graves of their family as a sign of respect. Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

Tết in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tất Niên (penultimate New Year's Eve), Giao Thừa (New Year's Eve), and Tân Niên (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively.

The first day of Tết is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called mừng tuổi (happy new age) in the north and lì xì in the south. Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the money. Since the Vietnamese believe that the first visitor a family receives in the year determines their fortune for the entire year, people never enter any house on the first day without being invited first. The act of being the first person to enter a house on Tết is called xông đất, xông nhà or đạp đất, which is one of the most important rituals during Tết. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to the family on the first day of the lunar New Year, the entire following year will also be full of blessings. Usually, a person of good temper, morality, and success will be the lucky sign for the host family and be invited first into the house. However, just to be safe, the owner of the house will leave the house a few minutes before midnight and come back just as the clock strikes midnight to prevent anyone else entering the house first who might potentially bring any unfortunate events in the new year to the household.

Sweeping during Tết is taboo or xui (unlucky), since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away; that is why they clean before the new year. It is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tết.

During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends. Traditionally but not strictly, the second day of Tết is usually reserved for friends, while the third day is for teachers, who command respect in Vietnam. Local Buddhist temples are popular spots as people like to give donations and to get their fortunes told during Tết. Children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as bầu cua cá cọp, which can be found in the streets. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house. Also, public performances are given for everyone to watch.

These celebrations can last from a day up to the entire week, and the New Year is filled with people in the streets trying to make as much noise as possible using firecrackers, drums, bells, gongs, and anything they can think of to ward off evil spirits. This parade will also include different masks, and dancers hidden under the guise of what is known as the Mua Lan or Lion Dancing. The Lan is an animal between a lion and a dragon, and is the symbol of strength in the Vietnamese culture that is used to scare away evil spirits. After the parade, families and friends come together to have a feast of traditional Vietnamese dishes, and share the happiness and joy of the New Year with one another. This is also the time when the elders will hand out red envelopes with money to the children for good luck in exchange for Tết greetings.

It is also tradition to pay off your debts before the Lunar New Year for some Vietnamese families.^[2]

Street decoration honouring the Year of the Dragon (2012)

New Year decoration in Ho Chi Minh City

Tết display on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City

Traditionally, each family displays cây nêu, an artificial New Year tree consisting of a bamboo pole 5 to 6 m long. The top end is usually decorated with many objects, depending on the locality, including good luck charms, origami fish, cactus branches, etc.

At Tết, every house is usually decorated by apricot blossoms (hoa mai) in the central and southern parts of Vietnam; or peach blossoms (hoa đào) in the northern part of Vietnam; or St. John's wort (hoa ban) in the mountain areas. In the north, some people (especially the elite in the past^{[citation needed]}) also decorate their house with a plum blossoms (also called hoa mai in Vietnamese, but referring to a totally different species from mickey-mouse blossoms^{[citation needed]}). In the north or central, the kumquat tree is a popular decoration for the living room during Tết. Its many fruits symbolize the fertility and fruitfulness for which the family hopes in the coming year.

Vietnamese people also decorate their homes with bonsai and flowers such as chrysanthemums (hoa cúc), marigolds (vạn thọ) symbolizing longevity, cockscombs (mào gà) in southern Vietnam and paperwhites (thủy tiên) and pansies (hoa lan) in northern Vietnam. In the past was a tradition where people tried to make their paperwhites bloom on the day of the observance.

They also hung up Dong Ho paintings and thu pháp calligraphy pictures.

Fruit basket decoration made for Tết consisting of bananas, oranges, tangerines, a pomelo, and a pineapple

Peach blossoms (hoa đào)

Mickey-mouse blossoms (hoa mai)

Chúc mừng năm mới translates to "Best wishes for the new year"

A calligraphist writing in Hán-Nôm in preparation for Tết, at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Chùa Quang Minh Buddhist Temple in Chicago indicating the arrival of the New Year with a banner that reads "Chúc mừng xuân mới" (literally "Happy new year").

The traditional greetings are "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" (Happy New Year) and "Cung Chúc Tân Xuân", gracious wishes of the new spring). People also wish each other prosperity and luck. Common wishes for Tết include:

• Sống lâu trăm tuổi (long life of 100 years): used by children for elders. Traditionally, everyone is one year older on Tết, so children would wish their grandparents health and longevity in exchange for mừng tuổi or lì xì.
• An khang thịnh vượng (安康興旺, security, good health, and prosperity)
• Vạn sự như ý (萬事如意, may myriad things go according to your will)
• Sức khỏe dồi dào (Plenty of health)
• Tiền vô như nước (may money flow in like water): used informally

Bánh chưng

People gathering around to make these special cakes

Bánh chưng (bottom) and bánh Tét (top, still being prepared)

This sticky rice is called xôi gấc

In Vietnamese language, to celebrate Tết is to ăn Tết, literally meaning "eat Tết", showing the importance of food in its celebration. Some of the food is also eaten year-round, while other dishes are only eaten during Tết. Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on Tết. Some traditional foods on Tết are:

• Bánh chưng and bánh tét: essentially tightly packed sticky rice with meat or bean fillings wrapped in dong (Phrynium placentarium) leaves. When these leaves are unavailable, banana leaves can be used as a substitute. One difference between them is their shape. Bánh chưng is the square-shaped one to represent the Earth, while bánh tét is cylindrical to represent the moon. Also, bánh chưng is more popular in the northern parts of Vietnam, so as bánh tét is more popular in the south. Preparation can take days. After moulding them into their respective shapes (the square shape is achieved using a wooden frame), they are boiled for several hours to cook. The story of their origins and their connection with Tết is often recounted to children while cooking them overnight.
• Hạt dưa: roasted watermelon seeds, also eaten during Tết
• Dưa hành: pickled onion and pickled cabbage
• Củ kiệu: pickled small leeks
• Mứt: These dried candied fruits are rarely eaten at any time besides Tết.
• Kẹo dừa: coconut candy
• Kẹo mè xửng: peanut brittle with sesame seeds or peanuts
• Cầu sung dừa Đủ xoài: In southern Vietnam, popular fruits used for offerings at the family altar in fruit arranging art are the custard-apple/sugar-apple/soursop (mãng cầu), coconut (dừa), goolar fig (sung), papaya (đu đủ), and mango (xoài), since they sound like "cầu sung vừa đủ xài" ([We] pray for enough [money/resoures/funds/goods/etc.] to use) in the southern dialect of Vietnamese.
• Thịt Kho Nước Dừa Meaning "meat stewed in coconut juice", it is a traditional dish of pork belly 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.

People enjoy traditional games during Tết, including: bầu cua cá cọp, cờ tướng, ném còn, chọi trâu, and đá gà. They also participate in some competitions presenting their knowledge, strength, and aestheticism, such as the bird competition and ngâm thơ competition.

Fireworks displays have also become an traditional part of a Tết celebration in Vietnam. During the New Year's Eve, fireworks displays at major cities, such as Hà Nội, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, are broadcast through multiple national and local TV channels, accompanied by New Year wishes of the incumbent president. In 2017, fireworks display has been banned due to political and financial reasons.

Gặp nhau cuối năm (Year-end Gathering) is a national favourite comedy show broadcast during the night before the New Year's Eve.

From 1996 to 2067.

• List of Buddhist festivals
• Celebrations of Lunar New Year in other parts of Asia:
  • Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)
  • Korean New Year (Seollal)
  • Japanese New Year (Shōgatsu)
  • Mongolian New Year (Tsagaan Sar)
  • Tibetan New Year (Losar)
• Similar Asian Lunisolar New Year celebrations that occur in April:
  • Burmese New Year (Thingyan)
  • Cambodian New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey)
  • Lao New Year (Pii Mai)
  • Sri Lankan New Year (Aluth Avuruddu)
  • Thai New Year (Songkran)

• Tet Nguyen Dan: The Vietnamese New Year - Queens Botanical Garden
• Vietnamese New Year customs
• Vietnamese calendar rules - Hồ Ngọc Đức, Leipzig University.
• Tết - Vietnamese Lunar New Year Traditions
• Tet Festival Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA
• Tet on Phu Quoc Island on Vietnam's largest island
• Tết Festival - San Francisco