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You are here: Home Travel Guide Tết - Chinese New Year Vietnam

Tết - Chinese New Year Vietnam

Vietnamese New Year, more commonly known by its shortened name Tết or "Tết Nguyên Đán", is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The name Vietnam New Year is Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from the Hán nôm characters 節元旦.Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, though exceptions arise due to the one-hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing resulting in the alternate calculation of the new moon. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestral worshipping, 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. During Tết, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping 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).

Customs

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 grave 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 (Before 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. All of these customs are to celebrate Tết in Vietnam.

Greetings

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 (Security, good health, and prosperity)
Vạn sự như ý ( May myriad things go according to your will)

Food

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.

Games and entertainment

People enjoy traditional games during Tết, including:" Co tuong, nem con, da ga..." and marshmallow toss. They also participate in some competitions presenting their knowledge, strength and aestheticism, such as the bird competition and " ngam tho " competition.

Firework display has also become an irreplaceable part of a Tết celebration in Vietnam. During the New Year's Eve, firework displays at major cities like Hanoi, Da Nang, HoChi Minhcity are broadcast through multiple national and local TV channels, accompanied by New Year wishes of the current president.

Gặp nhau cuối năm, Year-end gathering, is a national favorite comedy show broadcast until the last 30 minutes before the New Year's Eve. The Europop song Happy New Year by Swedish band ABBA is usually played during the festival nowadays.

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