Tet Nguyên Dán : Têt Nguyên Dán is the feast of New Year Vietnamese (in quốc ngữ Tết Nguyên Ðán, in chữ nôm 節 元旦), literally "feast of the first day of the year": indeed, there are other festivals called Tet, such as Tet trung thu, the feast of the mid-autumn.
It is the most important holiday of the year. It's a riot of color, an explosion of firecrackers, the neighborhoods compete in ingenuity to be the best in their dances, their decorations. The Party takes place on the day of the first new moon, in the middle of the period between the winter solstice and the spring equinox; between January 21 and February 20. The festivities last from the first day of the year to the third, but can very well be spread over a week ... The golden dragon comes to chase the last evil spirits which could haunt the place.
Tet is usually celebrated on the same day as the Chinese New Year, since the Vietnam and China have the same lunisolar type calendar. However, the observation period for the new moon, which marks the start of the year, can vary by one day depending on the respective capitals from which it is observed. Likewise, many of the modalities of the holiday are the same.
Origins: It is the luni-solar calendar which dictates the dates of the traditional festivals in Vietnam , which is said to have been created under Chinese Emperor Huang Di in the year 2 BC.
Since then, in China as in Vietnam, this calendar has remained the reference for celebrating holidays and in particular the New Year.
Practices: During the first days any coarse act or word is banned. The acts must embody the harmony and the love of the fellow-man because they will reflect the twelve months to come.
All the members of the family clean the family house and then get into the kitchen, in particular to prepare the famous ball (moon cake) in the North, and ´banh tet 'in the South, to present them on the altar of the ancestors, before being eaten together.
Tet is celebrated for three days: it is an opportunity for families to go to the pagoda or to visit their relatives and friends. However, care is taken not to visit other families too early: the first visitor of the year brings good or bad luck with him. To thwart the fate, some heads of families leave their house at midnight and return immediately after. You can also invite a person who has succeeded or considered particularly lucky. The ritualistic greeting is "phúc lộc thọ" ("happiness, prosperity, longevity"). The children receive money in red envelopes and all of them burst firecrackers to chase away evil spirits.
Other traditional practices in the celebration of “Têt Nguyen Dan”
As the Tet Festival carries the spirit of the end of a lunar year, from the moment it begins (normally after midnight of the last day in the lunar calendar), all the actions that one would take will influence the fortune. of the person during the new year. So, we are used to doing activities that symbolize or bring good luck. Alternatively, as the measurements progressed, the activities did not focus on luck but also on intellectual, fortune, health, etc.
“Khai But”: “Khai But” is the act of writing the first characters on the first day of the New Year. Before the Romanization of the Vietnamese characters of Alexander of Rhodes, most of the population was familiar with "chữ hán" or "chữ nôm". Normally, we wrote the characters like "福" for happiness or "平安" for security. Recently, less and less people know these characters, which is why they started to write in Roman characters.
“Khai Ân”: “Khai Ân” is a tradition that had been started for a long time. As Vietnam had spent much of a feudal dynasty, it had the tradition of putting the seals on the documents of the authorities: the king, officials, etc. So, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the public authorities inaugurate their official seals on the new works.
“Cây Nêu”: As Vietnamese superstition believes in the existence of evil spirits or malevolence, in the Tet festival, people take the “Cây Nêu” or the “Taboo Tree” as an instrument of exorcism. It is a bamboo planted in the middle of the house. We tie red ribbons at its end or feathers. This tree also carries another meaning: a guide so that the ancestors could find the homes of their descendants when they returned to Earth to participate in the Tet festival.
Symbols: The red envelopes: "Bao lì xì" in Vietnamese. They are given to the youngest and to close family members on the first day of the Lunar New Year. They contain a little money and especially wishes.
The color red: symbol of luck, and often chosen for traditional clothes.
Flowers: Two flowers in particular are particularly present during Tet: the flower of to fish (North Vietnam) and the flower ofapricot tree (South Vietnam). The first, dark pink in color, embodies luck and prosperity. The second is yellow and shiny and brings serenity to the home. It embodies peace and longevity since this shrub can live for tens or even hundreds of years.
Mets: two dish are always made during Tet:
- The ball : Square in shape, made in the days preceding the New Year, it is cooked from 4 main ingredients: leaves of " there dong ", the sticky rice, mung bean and chest de porc.
- The banh tet : It is made with the same ingredients than the banh chung but the shape is long and enveloped by banana leaves.