Tiếng Việt
Vietnamese New Year
Tet is more than just New Year's Eve as celebrated in the West. Imagine
Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and New Year all celebrated together. Vietnam
Hotels are full during Tet as thousands travel to Vietnam. Book your Vietnam
travel and Vietnam hotel now.Tet follows the lunar calendar and falls about six weeks before the vernal equinox. It heralds in spring in northern Vietnam, and is a period of rest between rice crops throughout the country. It is a four day period that falls between late January and mid-February.
This is a time of rebirth and renewal for Vietnamese people. Homes are spring cleaned, debts repayed, old squabbles settled and any outstanding issues are concluded. Above all, Tet is about family – living and deceased. Vietnamese will go to great lengths to return home to be with their families at Tet. The larger cities take on an almost deserted air as tens of thousands of people travel in Vietnam to visit the ancestral family home.
Tet is marked by many events. Among the most important and symbolic are:
¤ The ascent to heaven by the God of the Hearth (Ông Táo) to report on the family over the past year to the Emporer of Jade (Ngọc Ho ng) (1 week before Tet).
¤ The ritual invite and welcome for ancestors to take part in Tet with the living members of the family (Midnight on the eve of Tet);
¤ Arrival of the first house guest of the year (early Tet morning).
¤ Reciprical ceremonial visits, feasts and banquets at the homes of relatives, friends and acquaintances (first and second days of the New Year).
¤ Sightseeing and fun (third day of the year)
As a time of transition between the old and the new, Tet is a chance to begin afresh. Travel to Vietnam at Tet to see Vietnam at its prettiest and the people most festive. Tet will occur between 8th - 11th of February 2005.
