Experiencing Vietnam’s Tet Festival

Because of its significance in the country’s cultural identity, the Vietnamese New Year, more known as Tet, is considered the most important and popular festival in Vietnam.

Celebrated at the same time with the Chinese New Year around late January or early February of every year, particularly on the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar, it is among those times when the customary practices of the Vietnamese are most visible and appreciated. Ancestral worshipping, pilgrims and family reunions are commonly observed.

The country’s general atmosphere is characterized by positivity and hope. The bustling streets are filled with people busy with shopping for gifts and decorations. Vietnamese who have been away usually return to their families to celebrate the event. But perhaps, how substantially rooted Tet have been in the lives of the Vietnamese could be seen how even those who have settled in other countries will never forget the fine customs handed down through generations.

For the Vietnamese people, it is both an occasion and opportunity of renewal and rejuvenation, as every deed during the three days of Tet will greatly influence the coming twelve months. With that, they take steps to correct their mistakes, patch up differences, pay off their debts, keep things in order and avoid committing undesirable deeds. Paying homage to the ancestors is given great importance as well as spending time with the family. People wish each other with luck, prosperity and good fortune.

Preparation of traditional Tet food is extensive, and traveling to the country during this time could be a wonderful experience for any tourist. Apart from the local cuisine, which some could only be tasted during Tet, the parades, dance performances and the rest of the traditional practices could be an extraordinary encounter. As the festival often stretches up to a week because of the many other celebrations that occur before and after Tet, coming to Vietnam during this holiday season could be among the best experience one can ever have in Vietnam.

With just a few days away for the next Tet, which is marked on January 23, 2012, Vietnam is slowly beginning its preparations for welcoming the year of the Dragon. Upcoming Tet dates include February 10, 2013 for year of the Snake and January 31, 2014 for the year of the Horse.

New Year Customs, Vietnam Style

There are several New Year customs in Vietnam that further enrich the already interesting Vietnamese culture.

One such custom is the Xong Dat. Literally meaning “first visit to a land,” this is one very crucial aspect of the Vietnamese culture since most of the nation’s economy depends on farming. Thus, Xong Dat shows one’s love for the earth.

According to the historian Le Van Lan, Xong Dat rests on the belief that if the land is good, the house built on it is also good and the family that lives there will have good luck. Van Lan specifically stated that showing love for the Mother Land is a “sacred connection that can’t be turned into a service.”

It is based on this custom therefore that the first visitor to a land or house during the New Year is very significant since he or she is considered to be the one to decide the luck of the host for the rest of the year. The visitor should have a pure and genuine soul in order for good luck to enter into the house so traditionally, this visitor is usually a family member or a good friend.

Money-giving is another indispensable part of Vietnamese custom during the Lunar New Year or Tet Festival. Believing that giving money on Tet will bring about wonderful events in the future, the old people, like grandfathers and grandmothers, congratulate the children on becoming a year older by giving them money placed in nice, small red paper envelopes which symbolize luck and good fortune. This tradition is fairly new though and not given much value compared to the other customs, but the Vietnamese still practice it anyway on the hope for “growth and successful study.”

Another age-old tradition of the Vietnamese people during the Lunar New Year is visiting pagodas. During this time of the year, a large number people go on a pilgrimage to Tay Ho and Tran Quoc pagodas or Ngoc Son and Quan Thanh temples. Tay Ho Pagoda in particular is the most popular of all, with up to thousands of visitors, both local and foreign, going to the sacred place during the Tet holidays.

The first half of the first lunar month is the best time for a pilgrimage because it is spring season. Streams of devotees flock to these holy places of worship in tune with the most beautiful time of the year. Moreover, this is also a lucrative time for business as fruit and offering shops swarm to the area, trying to attract the visitors with their wares.