Assignment 2 - Tet Holiday in Vietnam

Tet - Vietnamese and Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important Festival of Vietnamese people. This Festival sometime between late January or early February (depend on Lunar Calendar ).So familiar to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet
The Tet of the New Year is, above all, is an opportunity for the household genies to meet, those who have helped during the year, namely the Craft Creator, the Land Genie and the Kitchen God.
Tet is also an opportunity to invite and welcome deceased ancestors back for a family reunion with their descendants to join the family's Tet celebrations. Finally, Tet is a good opportunity for family members to meet.
Everyone want to change everything new, they want to change their hairstyle, they want to buy new clothes, spruce up their home, visit friends, settle outstanding debts, and stock up on traditional Tet delicacies.


Businesses hang festive red banners which read "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year) and city streets are fes­tooned. With colored lights. Stalls spring up all over town to sell mut (candied fruits and jams), traditional cakes, and fresh fruit and flowers. Certain markets sell nothing but cone-shaped kumquat bushes.






The "Mâm Ngũ Quả"
The "five-fruit tray" on the ancestral altar during the Tet Holidays symbolizes the admiration and gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their ancestors, and demonstrates their aspiration for a life of plenty.




Dao, Mai, Quat (the Peach, Apricot and Kumquat)

Coming to Vietnam during the season of the Tet festival, the visitor is engulfed in an ocean of colourful flowers. The warm pink of the peach could very well match the dry cold of the North, but the hot South seems to be flourishing in the riot of the yellow of the apricot. The mandarin is symbolic of good fortune and, therefore, people tend to choose the little plants laden with fruit, big and orange, and verdant leaves for a longer display.

Food specialties for TET

On the last day of the old year, the preparation of food to offer to the ancestors is of special significance. Dishes to offer to the ancestors differ in the Northern, Central and Southern parts of the country, depending on their respective weather conditions at the time and on different local agricultural products available. What is common in all regions of the country during Tet holidays are the varieties of soups, fried, boiled, or stewed dishes, meat, fish, vegetable... The foods that the Vietnamese eat at Tet are varied and diverse What they have in common is that the people throughout the country all want to have the best and the most beautiful looking food on this occasion to offer their ancestors and to treat their friends and guests.

The Giao Thua (New Year's eve)

It is popularly believed that in Heaven there are twelve Highnesses in charge of monitoring and controlling the affairs on earth, each of them taking charge of one year. The giao thua is the moment of seeing off the old chieftain upon the conclusion of his term and welcoming in the new one upon his assumption of office. For this reason, every home makes offerings in the open air to pray for a good new year. You will impressed if you tried to  enjoy this festival. ^0^

You can find more interesting things about Vietnamese festival in this link:

http://www.threeland.com/vietnam_festivals_events.htm