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 To
regard Tet simply as New Year, as one would in the West, would
display a poor knowledge of the people of Vietnam.
In spite of its impressive credentials,
the Gregorian New Year has not been generally accepted in Vietnam,
in the countryside in particular. Our people pay it a courteous
homage but reserve their heart and soul for the traditional Tet.
Tet falls sometime between the last ten
days of January and the middle part of February.
For a nation of farmers attached to the
land for millennia, it has always been a festival marking the
communion of man with nature. In the flow of seasons it is a pause
during which both the field and the tiller enjoy some rest after
twelve months of labor. In this period of universal renewal the
Vietnamese man feels surging within himself a fountain of youth.
That feeling explains many fine customs: in the New Year all action
should be pure and beautiful for it may be an omen foretelling
events in the twelve months that follow.
For three days, one takes extra care not
to show anger and not to be rude to people. The most nagging
mother-in-law will make peace with her daughter-in-law; a quarreling
couple will smile pleasantly at each other; the new world should be
the best of worlds. When the holiday ends, people will resume their
activities in a new spirit following so-called opening rituals in
which the ploughman will open the first furrow, the official applies
his seal to the first document, the scholar trace the first
character with his pen brush, the trader receives his first
customer.
As a rule, all members of the extended
family try to spend the holiday (the idiom used is to “eat Tet”)
together under the same roof. Children vow to be well-behaved and
are often given gifts of cash wrapped in red paper. Several times a
day, joss-sticks are lit on the family altar and offerings made of
food, fresh water, flowers and betel. Family graves are visited,
generally, before the end of the ‘outgoing’ year; fences are mended
and the burial mounds tidied up.
The Vietnamese Tet is an occasion for an
entire people to share a common ideal of peace, concord and mutual
love. I know of no communal celebration with more humanistic
character.
(Excerpted from Sketches for A
Portrait of Vietnamese Culture, by Huu Ngoc)
CUNG CHUC TAN XUAN
Tet Nguyen Dan, is the lunar New year Festival and it
is the most important Vietnamese holiday. Tet is the celebration of
the beginning of spring as well as a new year. It is the time for
family reunions, exchanging gifs, best wishes and the beginning of a
new year.
PHAO NO
 Literally,
Tet Nguyen Dan means the first morning of the first day of the new
period. Officially, it marks the beginning of a new year on the
lunar calendar. In reality, it is a friendly, festive, family
holiday. Painstaking care is given to starting the year out right,
since it is beleived the first day and the first week of the new
year will determine the fortunes or misfortunes for the rest of the
year. In order to start the new year right and set the best
precedent, vietnamese houses are painted and cleaned. New clothes
are purchased for the first day of Tet and old debts should be paid
and great care is taken to avoid arguments. Families exchange
visits. The first visitor to the house on the first morning of Tet
is very important. Particular care is taken to arrange in advance to
have the visitor be rich, happy, and pretigious.
The holiday is also observed by a family visit to the
church or pagoda to pray for good fortune and happiness. A sprig of
the yellow blossomed. HOA MAI, is used to decorate the home. Tet
officially lasts for seven days and ends with LE KHAI HA ritual
during which CAY NEU is taken down.
AO DAI
 AO
DAI leterally long dress, the women's national dress of Vietnam. It
is a contoured, full-length dress worn over black or white
loose-fitting trousers. The dress splits into a front and back panel
from the waist down. There are many stylish variations in color and
collar design. Originally, the ao dai was loosely tailored with four
panels, two of which were tied in back. In 1932, a nationalistic
literacy group called the Tu Luc Van Doan designed what is
essentially now the ao dai. A similar costume is worn the men and is
also called an ao dai. However, the mans'dress is shorter (knee
length) and more loose-fitting. The color of the brocade and the
embroidered dragon were worn only by the Emperor. Purple was the
color reserved for high ranking mandarins while the blue was worn by
those mandarins of lower rank. The dresses for mourning have frayed
fringes a line up the back and may be either white or black,
although white is the standard color for mourning.
LE TAO QUAN
Feast of the Household Gods, this holiday falls on the
twenty-third of the twelfth month of the lunar year. The holiday
marks the day on which the chief guardian spirit of the kitchen
returns to heaven to report on the activities of the family. A new
spirit is then assigned to the household for the coming year to
replace the previous one. On the day of Le Tao Quan, each family
pays tribute to the kitchen God. This includes buring sacrificial
gold paper and offering a fish )carp_ for him to ride om his journey
to heaven.
LE GIAO THUA
The transition hour between the old year and the new
year. It is one of the most importamt times during the TET holidays.
It occurs at the midnight hour on New Year's Eve. GIAO THUA is the
time when a family ushers out the spirits of the old year, a ritual
called LE TRU TICH. It is especially important to give a warm
welcome to the Spirit of the Hearth, TAO QUAN, who has been to visit
the Jade Emperor, Drums, gongs and firecrackers announced the hour
of LE GIAO THUA
CAY NEU
A bamboo pole (New Year's Tree) stripped of its leaves
except for a tuft on top. Red papaer decorates the tree which is
planted outside the house during the Tet holidays. It is supposed to
ward off the evil spririts during absence of the Spririt of the
Hearth who leaves the family at this time to visit the palace of the
Jade Emperor. See more...
CAU DOI
A literary art form of Chinese origin (parallel
sentences). A cau doi, "sentence pair", consists of two sentences or
lines. Each line corresponds with the other meaning as well as tone
pattern and individual word meaning. The cau doi is usually used to
convey good wishes on the Tet holidaya. It is highly specialized
form of poetry.
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