# Tet, Vietnamese New Year ( February 6 /2008)



## jimmyfa (Jun 13, 2007)

Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the lunar new year, is the Vietnamese New Year. The celebration lasts for 7 days. The Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays.

Tet starts on February 6 in 2008. According to the Vietnamese, 2008 is the Year of the Mouse.










Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year's Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends.

A special ceremony is held at the mid-night hour on New Year's Eve. The ritual involves fireworks and gongs and other festive items that make loud noises to usher out the old and welcome the new.

The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day. Homes are decorated with "Hoa Mai", a yellow blossom that represents spring.

Family members exchange gifts and pay homage to the Kitchen God. They also visit local temples to pray for prosperity and good health.

During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a New Year's tree called Cay Neu in front of their homes. A bamboo pole is often used as a Cay Neu. All the leaves are removed from the tree so that it can be wrapped or decorated by good luck red paper. Legends have it that the red color scares off evil spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last ritual of the New Year celebration.

on the Lunar New Year, Nguyen Hue Avenue was a colourful 'flower market' that nowhere else could compare with. WELCOME TO VIETNAM IN THE LUNAR NEW YEAR DAYS.






















































































































_Photos from www.duonghoanguyenhue.com_










HAPPY VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR! WELCOME TO VIETNAM.


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## CongTuSaiGon (Dec 31, 2006)

Last year was spectacular and this year should be even better. It is my year, the year of the Rat.


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## marymonto (Jan 9, 2008)

This is the time when family members together make food, fruit and incense offerings on the family altars to commemorate their ancestors. This is also the time for people to visit their neighbours, their friends and relatives. During the first three or four days of Têt, any visitor who is the first visitor to one's house to offer Têt greetings would be considered as the first visitor for the year (Xông đất). Their good or bad luck would have a strong effect on the house owner's business success for the coming year. The belief of Xông đất remains very strong nowadays, especially among business people. Têt days are always regarded as a perfect time for people to enjoy traditional food such as banh chung, a square-shaped sticky rice cake, the fragrance of which alone could strongly provoke one's sense of nostalgia for Tet.

The colors of Tet.
Tet in Hanoi













































Tet in Hochiminh City









































































Flower market.










The foods of Tet
































Banh chung, square glutinous rice cake (filled with green bean paste and fat pork), four-cornered dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in rush or bamboo leaves and boiled.








Banh Tet, Cylindric glutinous rice cake (filled with green bean paste and fat pork)


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## marymonto (Jan 9, 2008)

Tet Carnival.


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## hzkiller (Feb 2, 2006)

same with chinese new year???


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## cozak (May 25, 2007)

Are u from China? I wish I could visit China, Vietnam, Singapore in the Lunar New Year. China respects and preserves their national character. 
China, HongKonng, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam ... are similar in the Lunar New Year day.
Manners and customs are similar but still different in many details. The Lunar New Year 's called Tet in Vietnam.


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## CongTuSaiGon (Dec 31, 2006)

The full name of the Vietnamese new year is Tet Nguyen Dan (literally translated as the celebration of the beginning of the year). Vietnamese and Chinese calendars are mostly the same, but they do divert away from each other (by one day) every 12 or so years as the Vietnamese astrology is based on the astrology of Southeast Asia whereas China's based on Northeast Asia.

Lunar New Year celebration was widely celebrated in the Koreas and Japan in the old days but it seems to have been phased out these days. As of now, the main countries that celebrate Lunar New Year are Chinese-centric ones (Singapore, Taiwan and large Chinese minorities in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia etc), China and Vietnam.


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## hzkiller (Feb 2, 2006)

cozak said:


> Are u from China? I wish I could visit China, Vietnam, Singapore in the Lunar New Year. China respects and preserves their national character.
> China, HongKonng, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam ... are similar in the Lunar New Year day.
> Manners and customs are similar but still different in many details. The Lunar New Year 's called Tet in Vietnam.


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Do you know many Vietnamses is from my hometown (a small town)
"Ruan"
sorry my english is not good !
你们国家姓"阮"的祖先是从我们家乡出去的 我也姓阮!(Your country the ancestor of named "Ruan" is from our home away from the surname Nguyen I!


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## cozak (May 25, 2007)

Not at all, this looks like our common origin are from monkey. Are you a Chinese?  Welcome to Vietname to celebrate Lunar New Year.  
Tet's very beautiful in Vietnam, atmosphere of Tet's eventful and warm. 
































The traditional greetings are "chúc mừng năm mới" and "cung chúc tân xuân" (Happy New Year). People also wish each other prosperity and luck. Common wishes for Tết include:
Sống lâu trăm tuổi (Live up to 100 years): used by children for elders. Traditionally, everyone is one year older on Tết, so children would wish their grandparents health and longetivity in exchange for mừng tuổi or lì xì.
An khang thịnh vượng (Security, good health, and prosperity)
Vạn sự như ý (May a myriad things go according to your will)
Sức khoẻ dồi dào (Plenty of health)
Tiền vô như nước (May money flow in like water): used informally


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## cozak (May 25, 2007)

Nguyen Hue avenue becomes a avenue of flowers.


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