Travel to Vietnam & Discover traditional Tet Holiday

The lunar calendar shows that Tet is coming, and from now until then, all things are Tet. The streets are Tet, the talk is Tet, the thoughts are Tet, the shopping is Tet, it's a Tet world in Vietnam right now and everybody knows it.

Tet is the most cherished time of the year in Vietnam. It is when the cities empty out and thousands go back to the countryside where they were born. City dwellers often choose to spend time at home. The streets empty out. The horns quiet, the traffic no longer congests and the hustle and bustle of city life, for a few days every year, comes to a halt.



New year's Eve in Vietnam
As Vietnam develops and its expat population grows, the holiday has also come to hold a special meaning with foreigners as well.

"For me, Christmas was always the big holiday but now, Christmas is just a sign that Tet is approaching," shared Karen Merlin who has lived in Hanoi for over 4 years now. "It's hands down the best time of year, it is a time to catch your breath, relax and reflect on the last year."

Hitting the streets, Tet for foreigners residing in Vietnam means various things. For Stephen McGrath, living in Ho Chi Minh City, "Tet is a cultural event that perplexes and entertains me, but no-one ever knows when it is until a week beforehand," he said jokingly.

Paula, a long-time ESL teacher in Vietnam said for her, "Tet is the one true break I get all year. I cherish every moment and usually spend half in the city with my Vietnamese friends and half traveling somewhere outside of Hanoi."

As vendors try to stock up and sell as much as they can, many foreigners make plans to travel and get as far away as they can.

"I get as far out of the city as possible. It's the one time every year that I don't want to be in the city, I want to be out and traveling. It's so quiet it is lonely so I always grab a bag and hit the road. For me, Tet is my only chance for a big trip every year, so I take it," shared NGO worker Jason.

Adam, who is married to a Vietnamese woman said, "Tet is obviously a very important holiday. It's family time. We do all the traditional activities and it has been a remarkable cultural experience for me. Local food, local people, local everything. We go out to the countryside and celebrate with a huge and loving family."



Foreign friends enjoying a traditional Tet meal with a Vietnamese family
One resident of Hanoi for over 15 years griped, "As much as I love Tet, it is also the time of year where for two months, the price of anything and everything goes up. From a business standpoint, Tet is terrible but once the day arrives, and my wife's family gathers, I realize that I love it. It's really my Christmas now."

For the plethora of teachers living and working in Vietnam, many refer to it simply as, "Tet is for travel."

Tet's meaning can also change drastically as it did for Eric Burdette, "My first four Tet's used to mean time off for continuous partying... However, over the past two years I have courted (and recently married) a Vietnamese woman. Now that I have a family in Vietnam, Tet has a completely different meaning. After over five years of living in Vietnam, being accepted into a family and having a real home during Tet makes me feel like I truly belong here."



Eric’s Family in Vietnam during Tet holiday
Tet is a time for family and friends and has different meaning for different people. It is a holiday that like Christmas, both Vietnamese and foreigners have come to embrace and celebrate. It is East meets West. It is a time of joy for all. One embassy worker I spoke with simply said, "It's Tetmas." And this is Tet through the eyes of some foreigners

Candied Lotus Seeds Recipe

Monday, January 26 ushers in the Year of the Ox. With all that’s been happening on the economic and political fronts, seems like Lunar New Year is a bit eclipsed this year. How can the Year of the Ox trump the Dawning of the Obama Era? But perhaps the ox (think water buffalo) -- a beloved patient, work animal in Vietnam -- can lend us its characteristically stable and persevering attitude. Bye bye get-rich-quick schemes a la Bernard Madoff. Hello nose-to-the-grindstone work to patch things up and rebuild.

 I thought about various oxen qualities as I experimented with candied lotus seeds earlier this week. Sweetmeats are a must-have at Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year. I can’t stand the stuff sold at the markets as they tend to be laden with food coloring and tasteless. As busy as I was this week with an arduous four-day photo shoot for a new cookbook (more on that soon), I carved out time to fiddle with candying lotus seeds, one of my favorite sweetmeats. They’re a little buttery and lightly sweet. A touch of vanilla lends a nice floral note to them.

Recipes from Viet cookbooks suggested soaking the seeds for hours before cooking them and then repeatedly coating in sugar syrup, much as you would for French candied chestnuts (maron glacee). But I have a neat trick for cutting down the cooking time for the seeds. 

Chicken and Bamboo Shoot Noodle Soup Recipe

The other day, I soaked and cooked a bunch of dried bamboo shoot (mang kho) and squirreled them away for Tet so that I could simmer some with pork hocks. But the chilly winter weather got to me today and I defrosted a batch of the prepped bamboo shoots to make bun mang noodle soup, a Vietnamese favorite; bun refers to round rice noodles (think bun rice noodle salad bowls!) and mang refers to bamboo shoot. I looked in my cookbook library and found Vietnamese recipes that paired bamboo shoot with chicken, duck and pork hocks (called bun mang ga, bun mang vit, bun mang gio heo, respectively).  Chicken is the fastest and easiest to make as it is readily available at any supermarket. It’s also less expensive than duck and lighter than pork.

Vietnamese food is often quite simple yet seemingly complex. That's the beauty of this preparation -- just a few average ingredients coming together for spectacular results. People have asked me what makes bun mang taste good. The answer has less to do with the protein than the quality of the bamboo shoot; for tips on buying and preparing this standard Asian ingredient, read “How to Cook Dried Bamboo Shoot.” The dried bamboo shoot lends its golden hue and naturally sweet-savory flavor to the broth for bun mang. Normally, wood ear mushroom is added for contrasting color and crunch but I love to drop in some reconstituted shiitake mushrooms so that the soup is super laden with umami goodness.  

Tet Food, Festivals and Fun

Get ready to ride the Tiger. The Lunar New Year celebration is on Sunday, February 14. For the next three weekends, Vietnamese communities all over the world will be kicking off festivities for Tet Nguyen Dan (that’s our official name). Take it all in as Tet is like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Yom Kippur, and Easter all rolled up into one. The build up and fervor can be overwhelming as people try to square away all unfinished business before the New Year commences. Repaying debts, cleaning the house, and xong dat New Year greetings are some of the ways that Vietnamese people address Tet superstitions and ensure good luck for the next twelve months. Tet gift baskets to your superiors work too!

At Vietnamese markets, delis, and bakeries, you’ll find an array of colorful candies, sweetmeats, cakes, cookies, pickles and sticky rice cakes called banh chung and banh tet. The cakes are must-haves for Tet. They are essentially supersized dumplings wrapped in banana leaves and boiled for hours. They may look like abobe bricks or door stops, but don’t be put off as they are really delicious when made well

The Lazy Person’s Guide to Celebrating Tet

One of my resolutions for 2011 is to take things a little easier. Many of us were exhausted by the events of last year. I have been recovering from the wicked virus that’s been going around. Hopefully by this coming Thursday – the first day of the Lunar New Year – I will have vanquished that cough to start anew. I’m physically tired from all the coughing and light wheezing. I am also behind on many projects and need to catch up. I neither have the energy nor time to do my usual Lunar New Year blow out. Nevertheless, I want to ring in the year with some kind of fanfare. 

That’s the genesis for this post. It is for people who, like me, are interested in accomplishing more by doing less. Feel free to add your ideas!

Ponder the animal: Cat or Rabbit?
To prepare yourself for the New Year, think about the animal that’s coming up. It’s a nice thematic approach to framing the months ahead. Say goodbye to the Year of the Tiger. For 2011, you can choose between the rabbit or cat.

Raid your -- or better yet -- Mom’s freezer

Leading up to Thursday, I’ve gone through my freezer to cull a few goodies that I stashed in there over the months gone by. Lunar New Year is a time for relaxation. You are not supposed to slave in the kitchen. In the past, people spent weeks preparing food in advance so that during the holiday, they would set the stuff out for a wonderful repast.

They banked their prior cooking efforts. My modern answer to that is: the freezer. I found the following in my deep freezer leftover from Asian dumpling making sessions:

• Shanghai radish cakes
• Steamed char siu bao
• Steamed curry chicken bao
• Nepalese lamb momos

During Christmas, my mom gave me two Tet sticky rice cakes (banh chung); the above photo is of a cut up one. The square-shaped, adobe brick like savory cakes are a must-have for the holiday. My industrious mother made about two dozen last summer.

She froze them and when the time was right, offered them up to each of her kids. What a loving mother! She basically saved my butt. In years past, I’d spend 1 1/2 days prepping and cooking banh chung rice cakes. It was really fun but I am glad to thaw and refresh (read: reboil) the ones that mom made.

Make a few easy things
Over the weekend, I made a batch of Vietnamese pickles. They’re a family favorite called dua gop and combine cauliflower, carrot and red bell pepper. It’s a recipe from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen that’s easy to put together, and within 24 hours, the tangy crunchy vegetables are ready to eat. For Tet, Vietnamese people love to have pickles to cut the flavors of hearty foods such as the sticky rice cake.

I’ll be caving in to simmering pork in caramel sauce for a kho (claypot dishes). It’s another Vietnamese Tet tradition. If you’re southern Viet, it’s thit heo kho trung, pork and boiled eggs in a savory sweet caramel sauce with coconut juice. My parent’s northern Vietnamese inclination is to simmer pork riblets in caramel sauce (suon kho) until they’re nearly falling off the bone. I’m a sucker for the pork riblets for Tet. They keep for days and improve with flavor!
Tet Supertitions
There are so many things that people think they must do to guarantee a good year ahead. I try to keep things fun and easy. I was raised on Tet superstitions such as making sure that the first person to enter your front door will offer you good luck for the year. (I'm getting my husband to knock on the door first thing on Thursday!) I decorate with some blossoms or pots of chrysanthemums. Then I take the first day of the new year off for relaxation and positive thinking.
Simon below asked about taboo Tet foods. He asked, "Does anyone personally object to serving or eating duck, squid, or shrimp at Tet?" Some people think that ducks are stupid (really?) and the dark ink from squid is seen as dirty. I don't know about the shrimp.
Many Viet people cooking whole chickens and slaughtering a pig for Tet. Such sacrifices seem like a joyous one for people who traditionally have labored so hard for the rest of the year.  All of these things are up to the believer.
Any thoughts or food superstitions for the new year? Have you heard of any? Do you practice some superstition or avoid certain taboos?

Make it a group activity
Gold is the preferred color for this holiday. If I get up the gumption, I’ll deep-fry something into a luscious, prosperity-laden golden crisp. It will be something simple, like a shrimp and pork wonton or the Trader Vic campy classic, crab Rangoon. I’ve taught my husband to fill and fold wontons quite well so I can get him to pitch in.

Or, maybe I’ll make dumpling dough and filling and take them to Jeff’s house for a group activity. We can roll wrappers and make boiled jiaozi dumplings. Then we'll tumble them in a lots of soy sauce, vinegar, and chile oil. 

Whether it’s the Year of the Cat or the Year of the Rabbit, I hope these tips help you to have a less stressful and restorative celebration.

Traditional Dress – Ao Dai for Vietnam New Year

Most Vietnamese people wear new dress to celebrate Tet, or the Lunar new year, in order to promote a fresh beginning to the year. Although Western-style outfits are more convenient for daily chores, the traditional tunic, or Ao Dai, reappears each Tet. These tunics add to the festival’s formal atmosphere.

In the past, all Ao Dai were lined. The two layers of fabric formed a set, or kép(in Vietnamese). On formal occasions, another light Ao Dai, always white, was worn as an undergarment under the kép to form a triple set of layers called mớ ba. This was the proper way to wear Ao Dai until only a few decades ago. To deal with sudden encounters, such as the frequent visitors who often drop in without notice around Tet, a “hasty”Ao Dai could be thrown over whatever the host was wearing. From the mid-1950s, the Ao Dai was simplified and the kép layer eliminated.
For centuries, male and female Ao Dai were cut similarly, except that the neck of the women’s Ao Dai was about two cm high, while the male collar measured 3.5cm. The wide, down-curved hem, about 80cm across, hung about 10cm below the knee. Royal’s Ao Dai were of standard cut but were fashioned in different colors and materials.
Long ago city ladies had their Ao Dai made from colorful silk brocades and lampas. French influence popularized velvets in shades of burgundy, dark green and dark blue. While town women wore five-paneledAo Dai, or nam ta, women in the countryside had front-opening four-panel Ao Dai called Tu Than. The rural Tu Than were made from hemp-based fabrics, normally in a brown or brownish-fuchsia color.
The Tu Than tunics worn by wealthy countryside people at Tet were beautiful,with eight flowing silk strips in front. The inner-most layer featured two strips in the color of a lotus flower, about two meters long and 25cm wide, which wrappered around the waist and the knotted to make a bow in front. Next came the two long ends of a light yellow crepe money belt, and finally a bow and strips formed by a soft green silk belt. The two dark brown front flaps of thetunic were lightly tied under those strips to enhance their vivid colors.

Well-dressed Men

As for men’s Ao Dai, father Cristoforo Borri, an Italian Catholic priest who traveled through the northern Principality (today’s northern Vietnam) in the 17th century, wrote in his 1631 book “Relations de la Nouvelle Mission des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus au Royaume de la Cochinchine” that most northern men wore a black Ao Dai over other layers on most festive occasions. This remained unchanged in Vietnam until recently.

Hu Jintao, Putin and Bush are wearing Ao Dai Vietnam (for man)

Traditional Ao Dai pants were moderately wide with a low crotch. Conventionally, married women wore black satin pants with their Ao Dai. Young maidens and men wore white Ao Dai pants. In Hue people of all ages and sexes wore only white pants. Hue’s upper-classes of both sexes added tree pleats to their pant’s outer edges so that the pants flared out when they moved. These pleated pants are called chít-ba.
Following the mishaps of history that have marred so many traditions, Vietnam is bouncing back in peace time. With Vietnamese people’s innate pride in their culture, it will not be long until visitors can witness a traditional Vietnamese Tet, complete with authentic and colorful Ao Dai

Tet Holiday of the Vietnamese

During Tet holiday( Vietnamese lunar new year holiday), Vietnamese people usually return to their families .Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tet holiday( Vietnamese lunar new year holiday). Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.
Tết – Vietnamese lunar new year holiday in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tất Niên (Before New Year’s Eve), Giao Thừa (New Year’s Eve), and Tân Niên (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively. All of these customs are to celebrate Tết in Vietnam.

Tất Niên or Before New Year’s Eve day

This period begins one or two weeks before the actual celebration. The general atmosphere leading up to Tết holiday is in the bustle of shopping, decorating the home, cooking traditional Tết food and waiting for relatives to return home. 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 wear them when Tết  holiday arrives.

In the days leading up to Tết – Vietnamese lunar new year, the streets and markets are full of people. As the shops will be closed during Tết holiday, everyone is busy buying food, clothes, and decorations for their house.
Vietnamese families usually have a family altar, to pay respect to their ancestors. Vietnamese families have a tray of five different fruits on their altar called “Ngũ Quả” (five fruits type). During Tết  the altar is thoroughly cleaned and new offerings are placed there. Traditionally, the three kitchen guardians for each house (Ông Táo) (Kitchen God), who report to the Jade Emperor about the events in that house over the past year, return to heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth month by lunar calendar. Their departure is marked by a modest ceremony where the family offers sacrifices for them to use on their journey.


In the days leading up to Tết holiday, each family cooks special holiday foods such as bánh chưng ( chung cake) and bánh dầy ( day cake).  Family members often take turns to keep watch on the fire overnight, telling each other stories about Tết of past years.

Giao Thừa  or New Year’s Eve

The Giao Thua is the most sacred point of time, the passage from the old to the new year. It is popularly believed that in Heaven there are twelve Highnesses in charge of monitoring and controlling the affairs on earth, each of them taking charge of one year. The giao thua is the moment of seeing off the old chieftain upon the conclusion of his term and welcoming in the new one upon his assumption of office. For this reason, every home makes offerings in the open air to pray for a good new year.
After the giao thua is the start of the new year with many customs and practices, amusements and entertainment, all of a distinct Vietnamese folk culture.

Tân Niên or the New Year day

The first day of Tết is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called “mừng tuổi” (happy new age) in the north and “lì xì” in the south. Usually, children wear 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 determines their fortune 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 – the lunar new year  is called “xông đất” or “xông nhà”, which is one of the most important rituals during Tết holiday. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to the family on the first day of the lunar New Year, the entire following year will also be full of blessings. Usually, a person of good temper, morality and success will be the lucky sign for the host family and be invited first into the house. However, just to be safe, the owner of the house will leave the house a few minutes before midnight and come back just as the clock strikes midnight to prevent anyone else entering the house first who might potentially bring any unfortunate events in the new year to the household.
Sweeping during Tết holiday is taboo or xui (unlucky), since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away. It is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tết.
During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends. Traditionally but not strictly, the second day of Tết is usually reserved for friends, while the third day is for teachers, who command respect in Vietnam. Local Buddhist temples are popular spots as people like to give donations and to get their fortunes told during Tết holiday. 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

Tet: By the time you understand it, it will inevitably have changed

Tet, like just about everything else in Vietnam, defies accurate western description.
You can attempt to sum it up and then, when you experience it, you realise you haven’t really grasped it all.
Tet is *their* New Year. Tet is like Christmas and New Year all rolled into one.
In reality, it seems to me, there is no direct comparison except perhaps that in both cases nostalgia and anticipation set a high benchmark that is had to live up to.
This was my first Hanoi Tet with my Vietnamese family and I expected a party.
My wife and I turned up mid afternoon and the food was already all but prepared.  It was then put out on trays and carted up several flights of stairs to the altar. It stayed there as long as it took for a stick of incense to burn.
The altar is in honour of the family’s ancestors. We were asking for luck and protection.
I’ve noticed Vietnamese don’t have the western need to eat food as it’s prepared and still warm.  Much of what we ate at Tet was cold after it had sat on the altar.  In the end, on a very cold night, it was whisky that warmed us rather than the food.
At the heart of the food on offer was banh chung. Among expats the general perception is negative though a few have developed a taste.  Those who have, mostly say that fried up with pickles it’s not too bad.  But this glutinous rice cake, with a ground green bean and fatty pork centre, certainly doesn’t win any beauty competitions – whatever it tastes like.
I wasn’t entirely surprised, however, that the banh chung laid out for the family at Tet wasn’t fought over.  I had started to harbour doubts over just how loved it really is.  It seems that while it has a special place in the hearts of Vietnamese as part of Tet tradition, it’s not quite as loved for its texture and flavour.
In the end one of eight banh trung slices were eaten.  And even then mum-in-law needed to do some arm twisting.
Won’t someone have some banh chung?
Pre-tet my wife wistfully talked of banh chung but it was mostly nostalgia.  Much in the way that she talks of Tets gone by in general.  Long trips into the countryside on bicycles to see extended family.  The same era she refers to when day-by-day there were just handfuls of rice to eat. Nobody had money. Vegetables were a luxury, never mind meat.
Then banh chung was a just-about-affordable treat.  Now, I’m told, many young kids won’t touch it.  They’ve grown up with more expensive tastes.
Over Tet, wincing as I watched my wife dunk chicken feet into duck blood, east and western tastes still seemed miles apart.  Then again, in the short time I’ve been in Vietnam, I have started to see the traditional Tet dried fruits slowly being replaced with imported fancy biscuits and even chocolates. Again it’s hard not to see the dried fruits as an obtainable treat from days gone by – slowly being replaced as increased international openness and wealth offer more options.
Conventional wisdom says, after the pre-event madness, the roads empty over Tet. That’s not quite true if you live within kilometre of a pagoda. With Hanoi having more pagodas than any other city in the world, that’s still a lot of traffic.
Repeatedly travelling past the Tran Quoc pagoda on Truc Bach, most days the traffic was jammed. Even worse was the crush near Tay Ho Temple. Outside there were plenty of uninspiring cheap balloons and toys to buy for kids but inside, I’m told, it’s a case of burn your money and incense and keep moving.
For a nation that seems more superstitious than actually religious, it appeared a fairly uninspired attraction hardly worthy of such chaos.
In cities the New Year arrives with firework displays which seem the only bit of real razzmatazz of the whole celebrations.  The young take to motorbikes to clog the centre’s streets.
In the meantime, back at my in-laws, we’d all had a little sleep between dinner and midnight.  Once it arrived my wife and I walked around the block before I re-entered with a gift of a small green branch. The first visitor, as it was explained to me, must be male and generally speaking a nice guy. I’m flattered, however, there was more to it than that.  Born in the Year of the Pig, I was okay to enter in the Year of the Cat. However tiger, for example, eats pig.  On another year I’d have been overlooked for the job.
There was no big countdown as I had expected. We weren’t all waiting with champagne corks ready to pop. Sure, we had another couple of drinks but this felt more about tradition, duty and superstition than celebration.
My father-in-law gave us each 100,000 VND lucky money. Later I spent it without thinking and when my wife asked me where it was she was momentarily shocked. It seems that the gift was more about passing on luck than monetary worth. I should have kept it.
Past midnight, at the neighbours they sang karaoke as they had been doing in shifts for the previous eight hours.  In some houses, at least, celebrations were wilder. Pavements the next day appeared to be have been widely glitter bombed.
Broadly speaking it seems inevitable that Tet will become more like western Christmas.  Food will become more lavish and more international.  Lucky money will accompanied by more expensive gifts.
Less mindful of the old days and less susceptible to poverty, luck will not be so acutely pursued.
Such is Tet, such is Vietnam.
By the time you’ve totally grasped it, it was already have changed into something else.

Lunar New Year in Vietnam - starting on Feb 14

At least one more month to the Lunar New year coming, but the atmosphere is now exciting and warming in HCMC.

Tet - Vietnamese and Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important Festival of Vietnamese people. This scared Festival sometime between late January or early February (depend on Lunar Calendar) and Tet has become so familiar to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavors of the Vietnamese festivities.

In 2010, “Tet” will be on February 14. It will be the year of the Tiger. The national holiday lasts for three days. However, in practice it can be longer, as many celebrations occur before this date in the south of Viet Nam and after this date in the north of Viet Nam.

.. .. 

During the week before Tet, some families visit the graves of parents and grandparents. Fresh earth is placed on top, weeds removed from around it and incense is burnt to invoke the souls of the dead from the other world to return to visit the family home.

The Kitchen God (Ong Tao or Mandarin Tao) is also called the Hearth God, the Stove God or the Household God. This god, who was privy to the family's most private business and intimate secrets for the ending year, returns to Heaven to make his report to the Jade Emperor. This report includes the year's activities of the household in which he has lived. On the 23rd day of the 12th month, a farewell and thank you dinner is given to the Kitchen God by the household. The Kitchen God will need a week for his mission to Heaven. Like Santa Claus, the Kitchen God is loved and respected. Both have the capacity to bring fortune and happiness into the home depending on the previous year's behavior. Although beliefs about the Kitchen God have changed over the years, he remains an important figure in the rich texture of Vietnamese New Year.

Traditional foods of Tet include, clockwise from top:

·        pork stew with hard-boiled eggs; bitter melon stuffed

·        with ground pork and fish, cooked in pork broth;

·        glutinous rice cake stuffed pork and “mung” beans;

·        Roast pork; and an anchovy-flavored dipping sauce.

Holiday foods -- Cakes made of glutinous rice are essential to Tet:

• Round cakes (this one is topped with a meat patty) represent the universe.
• Square cakes (this one still wrapped in banana leaves) represent Earth.
• The cylindrical cake is stuffed with pork and yellow mung beans.
• Candied fruits and vegetables -- carrots, coconut slices, ginger lotus root and lotus seeds -- are served with tea, as is traditional in China as well.

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Seasonal symbolism -- Certain fruits are valued for their color, scent or because their names have double meanings.

• Sour sop, for example, is called “mang cau”. Cau by itself means 'to pray.'
• Words for mango and papaya can also mean 'plentiful' and 'enough.'
• This basket of fruit is meant as a prayer that the household will have enough in the New Year.
• Roasted watermelon seeds are valued for their red color, considered lucky.

 

 

After the Kitchen God has left, preparations for the New Year festivities begin in earnest. The week before New Year's Eve is a period of Tat Nien. Tat Nien (literally meaning the end or 'to extinguish the year') is the celebration of the last session of a period, such as the last class of school, the last bus home, the last day in the 

office, even the last bath, all with parties and great ceremony. There is a festive holiday atmosphere before New Year's Eve with dragon dances.

 

Sweeping and scrubbing is done in advance as tradition discourages cleaning during the holiday itself. During this time, shops and restaurants close while the cleaning spree proceeds in earnest. On hands and knees, the floors will be scrubbed; bronze will be polished to a brand new finish. Closets will be ransacked for old clothes to be tossed out. Shoppers swarm the streets at temporary Tet stalls that have sprung up, lit with tiny gaily-flashing lights. Everything needed for the celebration from food to decorations is at hand and in abundance at these Tet markets.

Two items required for the proper enjoyment of Tet are flowering branches and the kumquat bush. For the sale of these and other flowers and plants, a lively flower market is held in the center of the ancient quarter of Hanoi. on Hang Luoc Street. A massive flower market was organized on Nguyen Hue Street in Ho Chi Minh City and attracts crowds who walk up and down the street admiring the flowers, meeting old friends and making new ones. However, this was moved out of the center in 1996. Throughout the country on bicycles of roving vendors, flowers create great splashes of color. In the south, the bright golden yellow branches of the mai apricot are seen everywhere. In the north, the soft rose-colored “dao” peach flowers decorate homes and offices. A truck driver will adorn his truck with a “dao” branch to cheer him on a long-distance run.

 

In recent times, a new tradition has evolved to celebrate the important evening of the New Year. Those who are not at home praying at this momentous time may be socializing with friends. In the cities, there will be community fireworks displays that will draw the young from their homes into the square or park. Although firecrackers are now illegal in Vietnam, some kind of loud noises will be made. It can be the banging of cans, the use of electronic popping firecrackers or human voices whooping it up. People will break off branches and twigs that contain newly sprouted leaves to bring a sense of freshness and vitality into their home. This follows a Buddhist tradition of bringing fresh new leaves and "fortune bearing buds" into the home from the pagoda.

   

Mega Yummo celebrates Lunar New Year!

Growing up in the U.S. as a Vietnamese American has it advantages…. you get to celebrate TWO new years! This year, I threw an early Lunar New Years party in January. I had, of course, a huge spread! I invited about 25-30 people. It was a really fun party but it was not at all … traditional.
Luckily! My cousin had a small family get together on the first day of Tet, the Lunar New Year celebration. My cousin’s wife is quite the multi-tasker. This year, Tet falls on February 3, 2011. Not only that she is working woman and a loving mother of two, she also found the time to put together a very traditional spread at her home… all this on a weekday!
She made Spring Rolls, Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Kho Qua Nhoi Thit), Vietnamese Caramelized Braised Pork Belly and Eggs (Thit Kho), Pickled Bean Sprouts (Dua Gia), Banh Tet, and tons of other stuff which I can’t think of the names right now. My mom brought over Pan Fried Noodles with Assorted Seafood and Vegetables. It was a beautifully made spread and it was such a treat to take a moment and sit down with your family to celebrate Tet.

On another note, the big Orlando Tet Festival hosted by the Vietnamese Association of Central Florida will be held today, February 5th, and tomorrow 6th at the Central Florida Fairgrounds. If anyone is interested, there should be music, homemade Vietnamese food and their annual Miss Vietnam of Florida pageant.

"Mam Ngu Qua" sends Tet traditional flavours

Tet Nguyen Dan, more commonly known by its shortened name Tet, is the most important and popular holiday in Vietnam. It is a relaxing and special occasion for everyone to think about the achievements of the past year and plan for the New Year. A “Mam Ngu Qua” (five-fruit tray) on the ancestral altar during Tet holiday symbolizes the admiration and gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their ancestors, and demonstrates their aspiration for prosperity.

For a long time, together with horizontal lacquered boards engraved with Chinese characters, parallel sentences written on crimson paper, ornamental kumquat and peach trees, and popular Hang Trong and Dong Ho pictures, the five‑fruit tray prepared for Tet has transcended its material value to become a spiritual symbol, an original national product in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese. At present, while many of the ancient spiritual values have sunk into oblivion, the custom of arranging the five‑fruit tray on the altar during the lunar New Year days is being jealously preserved as a fine legacy of Vietnam's traditional culture. The buying of votive offerings and the decoration of ancestral altars during the traditional New Year days are closely connected with the rituals of worship practiced by the Vietnamese towards their ancestors. During these New Year days, in addition to such national dishes and products as "Fat pork, salted onions, parallel sentences written on red paper. Long bamboo poles planted upright, strings of fireworks, and square glutinous rice cakes", it is indispensable for each Vietnamese family to display a five‑fruit tray on the ancestral altar for Tet.

No matter whether rich or poor, on New Year’s Eve, it is also very important for the Vietnamese to select the best five-fruit tray. The fruits are placed on a red-lacquered wooden tray and arranged in a balanced cone and in harmonious colours. Fruits that may be laid out on the tray include bananas, finger citrons, watermelons, oranges, kumquats, coconuts, apples, persimmons or tomatoes, and chilis. Each kind of fruit has its own indication. A hand of green bananas or a finger citron, for example, symbolises one's wish for the protection of supernatural powers and ancestors, pomelos and watermelons indicate fertility, and kumquats or persimmons connote wealth and prosperity.

Custom of the five‑fruit tray...

One theory says that the five fruits are symbolic of the five basic elements of oriental philosophy - metal, wood, water, fire and soil. Other theories regard the tray as symbolic of the fruits of a family's hard work throughout the past year, which are consecrated to heaven and earth and their ancestors as sign of respect and gratitude.

A five-fruit tray, though varying from one region to another due to differences in climate and fruit crops, light up altars with their ample colours. In northern areas, five-fruit trays ornamented with pomelos, peaches, kumquats, bananas and persimmons are relatively smaller than those in southern areas with pairs of watermelons, coconuts, papayas, custard apples, mangos, and figs. Improvements in people's living conditions in recent years have led to a greater sophistication in choosing fruits for the altar for the Tet holiday. A tray may contain more expensive, rarer fruits like grapes and pears, but all in all it is still a five-fruit tray, a nice offering of the Vietnamese people to their ancestors. It not only displays a life-long tradition but also sends a message of hope for happiness, good luck and prosperity for the new year.

The custom of displaying the five‑fruit tray as votive offerings at the holy place of the house has been reflected in many popular legends and tales. It has originated from ancient popular beliefs observed from one generation to another in their worship towards their forefathers. To this day, the Vietnamese still observe a long‑standing custom of placing the first ripe fruits harvested from the home garden on the altar and burning incense sticks in memory of their ancestors.

Preparation for a five‑fruit tray

Like other popular rituals, the preparation of a five‑fruit tray for Tet has become an established convention. Although it is called a five‑fruit tray, it does not necessarily contain exactly five kinds of fruit. Arranging fruits on the crimson, hourglass‑shaped wooden tray is really an art. One has to combine the colours and shapes of the different fruits in arranging them on the tray to make it look like a still life picture.

To ensure balance on the tray, one usually places the hand of bananas in the middle with the bananas pointing upright and the pomelo on the concave surface of the hand of bananas. Then one puts the oranges, sapodilla plums, apples, etc. in the gaps between the bananas and the pomelo. The last little gaps are filled in with little kumquats to create a full, compact tray of fruits. In colours, the fruit‑tray presents a harmonious combination of the different colours of fruits: dark green of banana, light yellow of pomelo, deep red of persimmon, reddish‑yellow of orange and kumquat, light green of apple, and dark brown of sapodilla plum. To complete the picture, the fruit‑tray will be covered here and there with some small, fresh leaves of kumquat

Vietnamese Lunar New Year 2011 in Vancouver

Experience the Vietnamese Tet Lunar New Year January 30, 2011 in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood and held by the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society. Walk among the shops and admire the traditional Tet decorations, taste Veitnamese food and enjoy the parade with a Dragon Dance! There will also be martial arts and cultural performances, as well, bring your camera to take photos of the the traditional Vietnamese Ao Day dresses! Celebrate the year of the Cat during the 2011 Vietnamese Lunar New Year in Vancouver, British Columbia!

Celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year at Mount Pleasant's Tet Lunar Parade hosted by the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society (SEACHS). Enjoy the community parade, children dances, Dragon dance, martial arts demonstration, Tet decorations, shop and feast on Vietnamese delicacies. There will also be many cultural performances and don't miss a chance to see the beautiful traditional Vietnamese Ao Day dresses! Be sure to take your camera and experience the Vietnamese Tet Lunar Parade in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The legend of traditional cakes in New Year's Day in Viet Nam

  New year holiday or Tet Nguyen Dan in Viet Nam is coming round the corner. Different from almost all other countries all over the world, new year holiday in Viet Nam takes place in the first month of the lunar calendar - from late January to early February. Square sticky rice cake and  round sticky rice cake which are “must-have” items in Tet Nguyen Dan are considered to be traditional food in Viet Nam. Not only are they delicious but they also have special meanings Both of them stand for family reunion and for the love parents give their children. Besides, they symbolize the desire for a peaceful life with happiness and show the gratitude to forefathers.  

         On this blog, I want to tell you about the legend of square sticky rice cakes and  round  sticky rice cakes.

                                                       square sticky rice cake   

                                                          

                                               round sticky rice cake

          Once upon a time, there was a king called  6th King Hung Vuong . When the King grew old, he intended to hand over his throne to one prince. However, it was very hard because he had 18 princes in total.  

          At the end of year, the King wanted his sons to bring their precious things to worship the ancestors.The 17 elder princes went to any lengths to find everything with their desire for coming the throne.  

Meanwhile, the 18th son  of King Hung Vuong called Lang Lieu was completely worried about his duty. He lived alone and worked as a farmer. He didn’t know what to offer to his father.One night, He dreamed of  meeting a fair. The fair said that:

         - Lang Lieu, in this universe, nothing is more precious than rice because it feeds man. You should use rice to make cakes. Sticky rice cake which is square-shape stands for the heaven we live under and round sticky rice cake which is circular-shape stands for the earth we live on .

When Lang Lieu awoke, he was very happy. At once, He decided to make cakes according to the fair.  

          On the first day in Spring, all princes brought along their presents to their father. King Hung Vuong was surperised at Lang Lieu’s cakes. He tried and asked Lang Lieu how to make them. The prince told The King  his dream and the meaning of these cakes. This made King Hung Vuong very pleased . Finally, he announced to the resident to demise his throne for Lang Lieu.

          Vietnamese people always say that :

                “Rich meats, salty onions, red couplets

            Nêu tree, firecracker, green sticky rice cake”

          Together with peach blossom, ochna, Square sticky rice cake and  round sticky rice cake are indispensable at Tet festival.The smell of rice was originally attractive. They are special food to the ancestors and also are gifts for relatives or friends. Traditionally,  all members in a family  make cakes together. In New year’s eve, they eat these cakes and hope for a better upcoming year without troubles.