T?t ([tet??] or [t?:t??]), or Vietnamese New Year, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word is a shortened form of T?t Nguyên ?án, which is Sino-Vietnamese for "Feast of the First Morning of the First Day". T?t celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, which usually has the date falling in January or February.
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). T?t 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 T?t by cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. These foods include bánh ch?ng, bánh dày, dried young bamboo soup (canh m?ng), giò, and sticky rice. Many customs are practices during T?t, 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.
T?t 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 T?t to be the first day of spring, and the festival is often called H?i xuân (spring festival).
Video T?t
Customs
Vietnamese people usually return to their families during T?t. 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 T?t is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.
T?t in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as T?t Niên (penultimate New Year's Eve), Giao Th?a (New Year's Eve), and Tân Niên (the New Year), representing the preparation before T?t, the eve of T?t, and the days of and following T?t, respectively.
The New Year
The first day of T?t is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called m?ng tu?i (happy new age) in the north and lì xì in the south. Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional T?t 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 T?t is called xông ??t, xông nhà or ??p ??t, which is one of the most important rituals during T?t. 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 T?t 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 T?t.
During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends. Traditionally but not strictly, the second day of T?t 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 T?t. Children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as b?u cua cá c?p, 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.
Traditional celebrations
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 T?t greetings.
It is also tradition to pay off your debts before the Lunar New Year for some Vietnamese families.
Decorations
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 T?t, every house is usually decorated by apricot blossoms (hoa mai) in the central and southern parts of Vietnam; or peach blossoms (hoa ?ào) 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) 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). In the north or central, the kumquat tree is a popular decoration for the living room during T?t. 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 (v?n th?) symbolizing longevity, cockscombs (mào gà) in southern Vietnam and paperwhites (th?y 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.
Maps T?t
Greetings
The traditional greetings are "Chúc M?ng N?m M?i" (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 T?t include:
- S?ng lâu tr?m tu?i (long life of 100 years): used by children for elders. Traditionally, everyone is one year older on T?t, so children would wish their grandparents health and longevity in exchange for m?ng tu?i or lì xì.
- An khang th?nh v??ng (????, security, good health, and prosperity)
- V?n s? nh? ý (????, may myriad things go according to your will)
- S?c kh?e d?i dào (Plenty of health)
- Ti?n vô nh? n??c (may money flow in like water): used informally
Food
In Vietnamese language, to celebrate T?t is to ?n T?t, literally meaning "eat T?t", showing the importance of food in its celebration. Some of the food is also eaten year-round, while other dishes are only eaten during T?t. Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on T?t. Some traditional foods on T?t are:
- Bánh ch?ng 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 ch?ng is the square-shaped one to represent the Earth, while bánh tét is cylindrical to represent the moon. Also, bánh ch?ng 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 T?t is often recounted to children while cooking them overnight.
- H?t d?a: roasted watermelon seeds, also eaten during T?t
- D?a hành: pickled onion and pickled cabbage
- C? ki?u: pickled small leeks
- M?t: These dried candied fruits are rarely eaten at any time besides T?t.
- K?o d?a: coconut candy
- K?o mè x?ng: peanut brittle with sesame seeds or peanuts
- C?u sung d?a ?? 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 c?u), coconut (d?a), goolar fig (sung), papaya (?u ??), and mango (xoài), since they sound like "c?u sung v?a ?? xài" ([We] pray for enough [money/resoures/funds/goods/etc.] to use) in the southern dialect of Vietnamese.
- Th?t Kho N??c D?a 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.
Games and entertainment
People enjoy traditional games during T?t, including: b?u cua cá c?p, c? t??ng, ném còn, ch?i trâu, and ?á gà. They also participate in some competitions presenting their knowledge, strength, and aestheticism, such as the bird competition and ngâm th? competition.
Fireworks displays have also become an traditional part of a T?t celebration in Vietnam. During the New Year's Eve, fireworks displays at major cities, such as Hà N?i, 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.
G?p nhau cu?i n?m (Year-end Gathering) is a national favourite comedy show broadcast during the night before the New Year's Eve.
Dates in Lunar Calendar
From 1996 to 2067.
See also
- 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 (Sh?gatsu)
- 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)
References
External links
- Tet Nguyen Dan: The Vietnamese New Year - Queens Botanical Garden
- Vietnamese New Year customs
- Vietnamese calendar rules - H? Ng?c ??c, Leipzig University.
- T?t - Vietnamese Lunar New Year Traditions
- Tet Festival Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA
- Tet on Phu Quoc Island on Vietnam's largest island
- T?t Festival - San Francisco
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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