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About Vietnam
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 | About Vietnam >> Vietnam's Festivals :>> Vietnam's Festivals - Tet Holiday The lunar year festival, or Tet Nguyen Dan, is the largest festival to take place every year in Vietnam. It starts on the first day of the lunar year and lasts for entire week. Tet is, according to Vietnamese traditional customs, a family-oriented celebration. The most sacred moment is at midnight on Tet Eve, when it is time to bid farewell to the past year and to welcome the New Year. It is also the occasion for people in every house hold to light incense in remembrance of their late relatives, pluck the plant buds, invite the first New Year’s visitor, and toast to each other. The lunar year festival is the occasion for family members to meet each other. Tet is also the time when every house hold cooks traditional dishes, such a rice cake, a cake made from of sticky rice filled with bean paste and pork meat. The Lunar New Year festival is the most sacred celebration in Vietnam during which people wish each other health and happiness. Do it right. Below is a step-by step sequence of the Tet celebration
:> Activities before Tet On the afternoon before Tet of "Tat Nien" (New Year ceremony) a special ceremony takes place at which a sacrifice is offered to the deceased relatives and they are invited to come back for a few days and share the festivities with the living members of the family. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a ceremony called "Giao Thua" is held in which a sacrifice for the spirits and the ancestors is made on a lovely candle-lit altar in the open air near the home. After this, the family may break off some new buds from the special new plants and trees recently purchased for Tet and go to the Pagoda. There, they place incense before the altar and pray for the prosperity of the new year. When they leave the pagoda, another new bud is picked from a plant or tree and placed on the top of a column at their home on returning. This symbolizes good luck. :> Things to do at Tet The next morning, the family arises early and dresses in their new clothes. Dishes of special foods are prepared to be placed on the family altar for the ancestors who are back in the home during Tet. This will be repeated twice daily until Tet is over. Everyone offers each other New Year wishes, and the children are given lucky red envelopes containing money. Tradition attaches great importance to the first visitor from outside the home on the New Year. He is believed to influence the happiness or well-being of the family during the rest of the year. If a rich man visits first, the family’s fortune will increase. Some families do not trust anything to luck. They invite their first guests and discourage those they consider unlucky not to come early. Generally, the visitors receive some form of refreshment at each home they visit. :> Things not to do at Tet Some things are considered to be very bad luck if done at Tet. A few of them not to do at Tet are as follows. Never clean house during Tet. Do not insult others or misbehave. Do not use profanity. Do not look fretful or show any anger or grief. Do not break any dishes. Make sure that you do not go in the wrong direction according to the lunar calendar.
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