What is Tet holiday
Tet holiday in Vietnam is considered the most meaningful day of the year for Vietnamese people. This is Vietnamese New Year and marking the time when the spring comes. This is the time when people trying to wrap up everything they do through out the year, forget all the problems and worries to come back home and unite with their families. For people who are working far away from their home town, Tet holiday is very special.
What Vietnamese people do in Tet
Vietnamese people, in Tet holiday, often decorate their house with colorful pictures, trees and flowers to welcome the spring. In the north of Vietnam people often decorate pink cherry blossom (hoa dao) in their house while yellow apricot blossom (hoa mai) is preferred in the south.
Five fruit tray is a must have during the Vietnamese New Year. It’s an offering to the ancestors to express their respect and the wishes for the peace, health and wealth for the whole family.
In this time of the year, people often stay at home to spend time with their family. In Vietnam’s tradition, the 30th of December of the Lunar New year is the time every member of the family should be at home and join the family dinner. Besides, in Tet, people often go to pagoda or temple to pray for peace, health and wealth in the year to come. They also visit their extended family members and close friends in the first few days of new year, giving each other the lucky money to express their gratitude and love. People also going out to join festivals organized in their local areas.
Foods in Tet holiday
In Tet, people often prepare foods that are easy to store and take short time to serve so that they will have time to spend with their family. In Tet, due to the ancient tradition, these foods will be dedicated to the ancestor first and then all family members will enjoy them together.
In Northern of Vietnamese, the traditional foods for Tet are:
- Banh chung (sticky rice square cake)
- Gio/cha (Vietnamese ham/sausage)
- Hanh muoi (pickled onion)
- Canh mang suon (Dried bamboo shoot soup with chicken or pork rib)
- Nem ran (spring roll)
- Ga luoc (boiled chicken)
In the Central and the South of Vietnam:
- Banh chung & banh tet (sticky rice square cake and sticky rice circle cake)
- Gio bo (Vietnamese beef sauces with black pepper)
- Nem chua (Fermented pork roll)
- Thit kho trung vịt (Chinese based pork with duck eggs)
- Cu kieu muoi (pickled scallion head)
- Canh kho qua (Pork stuffed bitter melon soup)
Traditional sweet snack:
In Tet holilday, every Vietnamese family prepare sweet snack at their living room to welcome guests who come to visit the family in this holiday. The popular sweet snacks are dried coconut, dried butternut squash, dried sweetened ginger, roasted melon seeds.
What tourists should prepare when visit Vietnam during Tet holiday:
If you have plan to travel to Vietnam during Tet holiday you should have some preparation. During this time of the year everything will not be the same for tourists. Many restaurants and services will be closed. Those are opened will be charged a bit higher as they are working during the holiday time. Many museums will also be closed and you should have your accommodation booked in advance because most of hotels will be closed or fully booked. Travel will be a bit harder because Vietnamese people will also traveling themselves. Therefore, flights, trains and buses are also fully booked. It will be better if you have your plan a head and book in advance all the tickets.
What for tourists to enjoy during Tet holiday
Despite the difficulties of traveling and services could happen if you travel to Vietnam during Tet holiday, you can enjoy Vietnam in a very local way.
If you come to Vietnam before Lunar New Year Eve,
you can experience great feeling of Vietnamese people preparing for Tet. Going to the flower market would be a wonderful experience. Only during this time of the year, cherry blossom, kumquat, apricot blossom and many different kinds of flowers are displayed almost everywhere in the streets. The feeling of spring touching everywhere is so special in this time.
Quang Ba Flower market is one of the most popular flower market in Hanoi. People in Hanoi bundled up to go to this place to buy good price trees and flowers. Add: 236 Đ. Âu Cơ, Quảng An, Tây Hồ, Hà Nội 100000. In Ho Chi Minh city, Nguyen Hue street in District 1 host the biggest flower show. Going to this street, you can see many people in new clothes, especially young women in colorful “ao dai” taking pictures – in admiring the impressive floral display.
If you are in Vietnam after Lunar New Year Eve,
you can enjoy the tranquil of Hanoi. In this time of the Hanoi is totally different. In the first three days of the New Year, the city is empty of noise and traffic. Take advantage of this time and explore the city by bike or on foot.
Attending Festivals is a good choice if you are in Vietnam during this time of the year. Tet is the time of festivals. In Hanoi, many festivals and public events take place through out the city including a huge street fair in Hoan Kiem district. In Ho Chi Minh city, the streets are much more quiet but there is plenty to do in expat districts such as District 2. Hoi An ancient town is also one of the favorite choice for tourists to visit during Tet as the city celebrate both lunar new year and Chinese New Year. There are many activities to celebrates such as making lanterns, decorating homes, eat traditional foods. This is the wonderful time for tourists to see how local celebrate Tet in an UNESCO heritage site.
Visiting temple and pagoda is also a way to explore Tet in Vietnam. In Tet, a lot of Vietnamese people go to pagodas and temples to pray for luck, health, happiness and prosperity. It will be a bit crowded, but it is a good way for you to explore the meaning and the tradition of Vietnamese people in Tet.
