TET HOLIDAY IN VIETNAM

The weather becomes warmer; buds and shoots burst; and the swallows glide in the

blue sky. All of them signify that spring is arriving. When spring arrives, Tet also comes.

Tet, in short for Tet Nguyen Dan, takes place mainly for three days. It is the time for

families to reunite and welcome a new coming year with good health, lucks and success.

Therefore, in Vietnam, Tet is the biggest and the most important festival that is enjoyed

by both children and adults.

Vietnamese spend almost half of a month preparing for Tet holiday because it requires

many steps. In this occasion, there is a need for an extremely huge amount of goods.

People go to the market to buy food and drink, such as sweets, melon seeds, beer and

soft drink to offer their guests. Children are the most eager as their parents will buy them

new clothes. In addition to going shopping, people get together to spring-clean and

decorate their houses and neighborhoods. Everything must be clean and new in order to

get the best lucks. Streets are adorned with colorful flowers, national flags, and banners

reading “Happy New Year” after people clear bushes and collect garbage. Meanwhile, in

every house, family members clean all the dirt, spider webs and wash all clothing,

blanket and pillow. These days, houses are perfectly beautiful with flash lights, red

parallels, branches of peach blossom and kumquat trees. Then, people begin to prepare

foods for Tet holiday. A lot of delicious dishes are cooked since it is believed that on the

three days of Tet, everyone must be full. Among them, traditional foods like pickled

onion, frozen meat, spring rolls and Chung cake (sticky rice cake with the stuffing made

of pork and green been) are the best ones.

In the last day of the previous year, people become excited as they feel that the New

Year is very near to them. When Tet comes, people all return home despite how far they

are away from home. On New Year Eve, members of the family get together to enjoy the

reunion dinner and wait for the most meaningful moment when the clock points 0 am

and listen to the President’s speech on TV. After that, people go out in groups to visit

pagoda and watch fireworks. Some of them stay out until breaking dawn as if night no

longer existed.

On the three days of Tet, many special and meaningful activities are carried out. First,

children dressing in new fine clothes follow their parents to visit friends and relatives.

Everybody exchanges best wishes and lucky money with the hope that their beloveds

will be lucky, happy and have a lot of money in the New Year. There are also many

interesting traditional customs in this occasion. By writing their first essay, students long

for good results in school. In spring festivals, people take part in traditional games such

as cooking rice, cook fighting, and bag jumping to relax after a hard year working. Smiles

appear on every face and peals of laughter are here everywhere.

Tet holiday is the primary thing people think of when we talk about our country because

of all Vietnamese festivals, this is looked forward the most. Though it keeps people busy

preparing, this holiday is wonderful time of joy, for family reunion, and for people to

express their love for others.