Tết display in Ho Chi Minh City

Tết Nguyên Đán (Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from Hán nôm 節元旦), more commonly known by its shortened name Tết, is the most important holiday in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year which is based on the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 2287 KB) Summary Fruits of southern Vietnam on display on Nguyen Hue Street in Ho Chi Minh City during Tet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 2287 KB) Summary Fruits of southern Vietnam on display on Nguyen Hue Street in Ho Chi Minh City during Tet. ... Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) is the largest city in Vietnam, located near the delta of the Mekong River. ... Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Việt) are the elements in the Vietnamese language derived from Chinese. ... Hán tá»± (漢字, lit. ... Holidays in Vietnam Categories: Public holidays by country | Vietnam ... The New Year is an event that happens when a culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next. ... The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. ... A lunisolar calendar is a calendar whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. ...

Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year though exceptions arise due to the 1 hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing. Tết share many of the same customs of its Chinese counterpart. It is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the Chinese 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. On Tết, Vietnamese visit their families and temples, forget about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year. Tết traditionally marks the coming of Spring, so Spring is sometimes used interchangably with Tết in Vietnamese. Nowadays, the term "Tet" in English often refers to the bloody Tết Offensive, which occurred during Tết in 1968. Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Quốc Ngữ Hà Ná»™i; Chữ Nôm 河内), estimated population 3,083,800 (2004), is the capital of Vietnam and was the capital of North Vietnam from 1954 to 1976. ... (help· info), a city in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... Combatants South Vietnam United States Minor U.S.-aligned allies North Vietnam National Liberation Front Commanders William Westmoreland Central committees of the NLF and DRVN Strength 50,000+ (estimate) 85,000+ (estimate) Casualties USA/AUS/SKOR: 1,536 dead, 7,764 wounded, 11 missing ARVN: 2,788 dead, 8,299...

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. Others return to where they grew up. Although Tết is a universal holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

Generally, Tết in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tất Niên, Giao Thừa, and Tân Niên, representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively.

Tất Niên

Tất Niên offering

Preparations for Tết start months before the actual celebrations. People try to pay off their debts in advance so that they can be debt-free on Tết. Parents buy new clothes for their children so that the children can don them when Tết arrives. Because a lot of commercial activity will cease during the celebrations, people try to stock up on supplies as much as possible. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 120 KB) Summary Ceremony leading to Tet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 120 KB) Summary Ceremony leading to Tet. ...

In the days leading up to Tết, the streets and markets are full of people. Everyone is busy buying food, clothes, and decorations for their house. If someone lives far away from home, he will try to go home to celebrate it with family.

Ceremonies

Vietnamese families usually have a family altar, to pay respect to their ancestors. During Tết the altar is throughly cleaned and new offerings are placed there.

Traditionally, the three kitchen guardians for each house (Ông Táo), return to heaven on the 23^rd day of the last month of the Chinese calendar. They were to report to the Jade Emperor about the events in that house over the past year. Their departure is marked by a modest ceremony where the family offers sacrifices for them to use on their journey. Often, Vietnamese families smear honey over the mouth of the image of Ông Táo, to allow him to say only sweet things of the family. Jade Emperor The Jade Emperor (玉皇 Pinyin: Yù Huáng or 玉帝 Yù Dì), known informally by children and commoners as Grandpa Heaven (天公 Tiān Gōng) and known formally as the Pure August Jade Emperor or August Personage of Jade (玉皇上帝 Yu Huang Shangdi or 玉皇大帝 Yu Huang Dadi), is the ruler of... Honey Honey (born May 26, 1990 in New York City, America) is an international supermodel. ...

In the days leading up to Tết, each family traditionally cooks special holiday foods such as bánh chưng and bánh giầy. Preparations for these foods are quite extensive, and cooking them can take several days. Family members often take turns to keep watch on the fire overnight, telling each other stories about Tết of past years.

Giao Thừa (New Year's Eve)

Each home is thoroughly swept and decorated with flowers and offerings for ancestors by the night before Tết. At midnight, many families traditionally light firecrackers to welcome the New Year, though this practice was banned since January 1, 1995 due to safety reasons. In the morning, actual Tết celebrations begin. Image showing the 4 stages of a 3 inch (7. ...

Tân Niên

A boy in front of a tree decorated for Tết

The first day of Tết is reserved for the nuclear family. In big cities, the streets are usually empty as most people stay at home or leave the city to visit their close relatives in the countryside. Children receive lì xì from their elders. Usually, children don their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the money. Since the Vietnamese believe that the first visitor a family receives in the year sets their fortunes 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 Tết is called xông đất or đạp đất. Usually, people with happy demeanor or who had experienced luck during the previous year is invited first into the house. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1403x1536, 191 KB) Summary A boy standing in front of a decorated tree for Tet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1403x1536, 191 KB) Summary A boy standing in front of a decorated tree for Tet. ... Some examples of contemporary hong bao designs. ...

Sweeping during Tết is taboo, since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away. In southern Vietnam, popular fruits used for offering at the family altar are the custard-apple/sugar-apple (mãng cầu), coconut (dừa), papaya (đu đủ), and mango (xoài), since they sound like "cầu vừa đủ xài" ([we] pray for enough [money] to spend) in the southern dialect of Vietnamese. Binomial name Annona reticulata L. The Custard-apple (Annona reticulata), also known in English as bullocks heart or bulls heart, is a species of Annona, native to the tropical New World, preferring a low elevation, and a warm, humid climate. ... Binomial name Annona squamosa L. The Sugar-apple (Annona squamosa), also known in English as Sweetsop and Scaly Custard-apple, is a species of Annona native to the tropical New World. ... Binomial name Cocos nucifera L. The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera), is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). ... Binomial name Carica papaya L. The papaya, also known as mamao, tree melon, or pawpaw (not to be confused with the true pawpaw), is the fruit of the tree Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. ... Species About 35 species, including: Mangifera altissima Mangifera applanata Mangifera caesia Mangifera camptosperma Mangifera casturi Mangifera decandra Mangifera foetida Mangifera gedebe Mangifera griffithii Mangifera indica Mangifera kemanga Mangifera laurina Mangifera longipes Mangifera macrocarpa Mangifera mekongensis Mangifera odorata Mangifera pajang Mangifera pentandra Mangifera persiciformis Mangifera quadrifida Mangifera siamensis Mangifera similis Mangifera...

During subsequent days, people visit relatives, friends, and local Buddhist temples to give donations and to get their fortunes told. Fortune-telling based on Truyện Kiều is also popular. Children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as bầu cua cá cọp, which can be found in the streets. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house. There are also public performances for everyone to watch. A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found from Sarnath, near Varanasi. ... Kim Vân Kiều (金雲翹 in Chữ Nôm) or Truyện Kiều or Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh is an epic poem in Vietnamese written by the 18th century writer Nguyễn Du. ... Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ... Bau cua ca cop, Vietnamese dice game. ...

Decorations

Each family displays a New Year Tree called cây nêu, consisting of a bamboo stick 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. // Russian Tradition A New Year Tree is a Russian equivalent of Christmas Tree. ... Diversity Around 91 genera and 1,000 species Subtribes Arthrostylidiinae Arundinariinae Bambusinae Chusqueinae Guaduinae Melocanninae Nastinae Racemobambodinae Shibataeinae See the full Taxonomy of the Bambuseae. ... The metre (Commonwealth English) or meter (American English) (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... The traditional crane and papers of the same size used to fold it A paper pegasus designed by F. Kawahata Origami (折り紙 or 折紙 origami paper folding) is the art of paper folding. ...

A kumquat tree is a popular decoration for the living room during Tết. Its many fruits symbolize the fertility and fruitfulness that the family hopes will come in the coming year. Species Fortunella crassifolia- Meiwa Kumquat Fortunella hindsii- Hong Kong Kumquat Fortunella japonica- Marumi Kumquat Fortunella margarita- Nagami Kumquat Fortunella obovata- Jiangsu Kumquat Fortunella polyandra- Malayan Kumquat The kumquat or cumquat is a small fruit-bearing tree in the genus Fortunella. ...

Greetings

Tet Festival in Little Saigon, Orange County, California

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: Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1238 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Tết Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 1238 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Tết Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Little Saigon is a name given to any of several overseas Vietnamese immigrant and descendant communities outside Vietnam, especially in the United States. ... Official website: http://www. ...

• 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 (A myriad things go according to your will)
• Sức khoẻ dồi dào (Plenty of health)
• Cung hỉ phát tài, from the Cantonese Kung hei fat choi meaning "Congratulations and be Prosperous"
• Tiền vô như nước (Money flow in like water): used informally

Cantonese (Traditional Chinese: 粵語; Simplified Chinese: 粤语, Cantonese: Yuet6yue5; Mandarin pinyin: Yueyu, Yụet (Guangdong) language) is one of the major dialect groups or languages of the Chinese language or language family. ... Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan. ...

Food

Making bánh chưng

In Vietnamese, to celebrate Tết is to ăn Tết, literally meaning "eat [for] 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. These food include: Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 88 KB) Summary Making special food for Tet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 88 KB) Summary Making special food for Tet. ...

• bánh chưng and bánh giầy: essentially tightly packed sticky rice with meat or bean fillings wrapped in banana leaves, bánh chưng (rectangular) and bánh giầy (circular) are symbolically connected with Tết and are essential in any Tết celebration. Preparation is time-consuming, and can take days to cook. The story of their origins and their connection with Tết is often recounted to children while cooking them overnight.
• hạt dưa: roasted watermelon seeds, also eaten during Tết
• củ kiệu: pickled vegetables
• mứt, including mứt dừa, which is sweetened coconut: These dried candied fruits are rarely eaten at any time besides Tết.

Sticky rice or glutinous rice is the main type of rice grown and consumed by the Lao of Laos and Northeast Thailand, areas which are considered to be the primary center of origin and domestication of Asian rice (). It has been cultivated in this area for 4,000 years. ... Binomial name Citrullus lanatus (Thunb. ...

Calendar differences

The Chinese calendar is based on astronomical observations and therefore dependent on what is considered the local standard time. North Vietnam switched from UTC+8 to UTC+7 on August 8, 1967, with South Vietnam doing likewise in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. As a result of the shift, North and South Vietnam celebrated Tết 1968 on different days ^[1]. The moving backwards of one hour had a similar effect to the 1929 Beijing time change and effect of this change was also seen with the Winter Solstice of 1984. On Hanoi time the solstice fell on Dec. 21, though on Beijing time the solstice fell on the Dec. 22. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) United States of America South Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand the Philippines Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) Commanders Strength ~1,200,000 (1968) ~420,000 (1968) Casualties South Vietnamese dead: 1,250,000+ US dead: 58,226 US... Combatants South Vietnam United States Minor U.S.-aligned allies North Vietnam National Liberation Front Commanders William Westmoreland Central committees of the NLF and DRVN Strength 50,000+ (estimate) 85,000+ (estimate) Casualties USA/AUS/SKOR: 1,536 dead, 7,764 wounded, 11 missing ARVN: 2,788 dead, 8,299... The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. ... Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of the northern hemisphere winter solstice Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of the southern hemisphere winter solstice In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is...

As the 11^th month of the Chinese calendar must contain the Winter Solstice, it is not the month from November 23, 1984 to December 21, 1984 as per the Vietnamese calendar, but rather the one from December 22, 1984 to January 20, 1985. The effect of this is that the Vietnamese New Year would fall on January 21, 1985, whilst the Chinese New Year would fall on February 20, 1985. The two calendars agree again after a leap month lasting from March 21 to April 19 is inserted into the Vietnamese calendar.

From 1975 to 2100, there are only four occurrences where the Lunar New Year begins at different dates in Vietnam and in China, which are: A banner of the celebration of Chinese New Year. ...

Trivia

• Interestingly, in modern Chinese, the characters for "Nguyên Ðán" (元旦) had evolved to refer to New Year in the Gregorian calendar, that is, January 1 ^[2].

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used nearly everywhere in the world. ...

See also

• Chinese New Year
• New Year
• New Year tree

Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan. ... The New Year is an event that happens when a culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next. ... // Russian Tradition A New Year Tree is a Russian equivalent of Christmas Tree. ...

References

1. ^  Mathematics of the Chinese calendar, pp. 29-30
2. ^  zh:元旦

External links

• Lunar New Year
• Tet Nguyen Dan from Vietnam Tourism
• Asian-Nation: Têt, A Celebration of Rebirth
• Tết definition on VDict
• How to compute the Vietnamese calendar