The traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) is the biggest and oldest festival in Vietnam, bringing its people together to celebrate the sacred and meaningful annual event.
Tet is an occasion when members of a family get together and pray in front of the ancestral altar. Their return to home to welcome Tet is considered as a journey back to their birthplace.
Tet Holiday gets its beginning marked with the first day in the Lunar Year. However, its preparation begins long before that. One week before the holiday, in the 23rd day of the last Lunar month, is East Day- a ritual worshiping Kitchen Gods (Tao Cong).
For most Vietnamese, Tet actually begins with the “Ong Cong - Ong Tao” (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) ceremony on the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year. The Kitchen Gods are believed to comprise of two male and one female spirit, who bless the household and keep up the kitchen fire, making every member of the family happy and prosperous.
According to legend, the Land Genie and the Kitchen Gods will ride carps to Heaven on the 23rd to deliver an annual report on the household’s activities to the God of Heaven. As the gods make their journey on the back of fish, it is traditional to release live carps into lakes or rivers, which is considered a kind-hearted deed to pray for good luck.
On the New Year’s Eve, they return to earth to continue their duties as taking care of families. Each household also buy a carp as this is the transport for the Gods on their trip to heaven. After the ritual, they set the carp free.
After the Kitchen Gods go to Heaven, families start tidying and decorating their houses to usher in the New Year as they believe that a clean house represents a fresh start.
A year-end praying ceremony will be orrganised in the evening of the lunar January 30. Offerings to ancestors are indispensable, especially a tray of five fruits which symbolizes hope for abundance and prosperity.
Before and after the holiday which will usually last for seven days, the Vietnamese have different customs, depending on each region.
Northerners will offer their ancestors a bunch of bananas, a grapefruit, oranges or tangerines, persimmons and kumquats while southerners will give a coconut, a papaya, custard apples, green mangos and a piece of twig.
Folk paintings, calligraphy, peach blossom and kumquat trees are very popular in each family in the northern region while apricot blossom is prevalent in the south. They represent affluence, good luck and happiness.
On the Eve of the New Year, each family holds a ceremony to welcome deities, ancestors to their house, a meeting between humans and heavenly spirits.
In front of the altar with spiralling incense smoke and sparkling candles, they clasp hands and pray in deep respect.
According to their belief, the God will appoint new mandarins in charge of the earth during this moment. That’s why they must prepare a tray of offerings to see off old spirits and welcome new ones, in a hope for a year of peace and well-being.
On the New Year’s Day, the first ones who come to visit households -called first-foot - are very important and hence need to be well chosen, as they are believed to hold in their hands the entire luck of the family in New Year (Tan Nien).
After that, till the third day or even the fourth day of Tet, individuals meet relatives, friends and colleagues, wishing them all kinds of good things like happiness, health and success. They give children lucky money covered in pretty little red envelopes also because of that reason, as red represents good lucks. Also, they visit pagodas to pray for a good start in the coming year.
There is a saying in Vietnam, “Father’s Tet is on the First Day of New Year, Mother’s Tet is on the Second, and Teacher’s is on the Third”.
Tet is an occasion when members of a family get together and pray in front of the ancestral altar. Their return to home to welcome Tet is considered as a journey back to their birthplace.
Illustrative image
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For most Vietnamese, Tet actually begins with the “Ong Cong - Ong Tao” (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) ceremony on the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year. The Kitchen Gods are believed to comprise of two male and one female spirit, who bless the household and keep up the kitchen fire, making every member of the family happy and prosperous.
According to legend, the Land Genie and the Kitchen Gods will ride carps to Heaven on the 23rd to deliver an annual report on the household’s activities to the God of Heaven. As the gods make their journey on the back of fish, it is traditional to release live carps into lakes or rivers, which is considered a kind-hearted deed to pray for good luck.
On the New Year’s Eve, they return to earth to continue their duties as taking care of families. Each household also buy a carp as this is the transport for the Gods on their trip to heaven. After the ritual, they set the carp free.
After the Kitchen Gods go to Heaven, families start tidying and decorating their houses to usher in the New Year as they believe that a clean house represents a fresh start.
A year-end praying ceremony will be orrganised in the evening of the lunar January 30. Offerings to ancestors are indispensable, especially a tray of five fruits which symbolizes hope for abundance and prosperity.
Before and after the holiday which will usually last for seven days, the Vietnamese have different customs, depending on each region.
Northerners will offer their ancestors a bunch of bananas, a grapefruit, oranges or tangerines, persimmons and kumquats while southerners will give a coconut, a papaya, custard apples, green mangos and a piece of twig.
Folk paintings, calligraphy, peach blossom and kumquat trees are very popular in each family in the northern region while apricot blossom is prevalent in the south. They represent affluence, good luck and happiness.
On the Eve of the New Year, each family holds a ceremony to welcome deities, ancestors to their house, a meeting between humans and heavenly spirits.
Photo for illustration
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According to their belief, the God will appoint new mandarins in charge of the earth during this moment. That’s why they must prepare a tray of offerings to see off old spirits and welcome new ones, in a hope for a year of peace and well-being.
On the New Year’s Day, the first ones who come to visit households -called first-foot - are very important and hence need to be well chosen, as they are believed to hold in their hands the entire luck of the family in New Year (Tan Nien).
After that, till the third day or even the fourth day of Tet, individuals meet relatives, friends and colleagues, wishing them all kinds of good things like happiness, health and success. They give children lucky money covered in pretty little red envelopes also because of that reason, as red represents good lucks. Also, they visit pagodas to pray for a good start in the coming year.
There is a saying in Vietnam, “Father’s Tet is on the First Day of New Year, Mother’s Tet is on the Second, and Teacher’s is on the Third”.
