This year, Tet, Chinese New Year, falls on Sunday, February 14th. In preparation for Tet, the Vietnamese community is busy cleaning, buying flowers, preparing food, and stuffing packages of lucky money for the annual celebration, the most important holiday of the year. When I arrived in Viet Nam, Tet was explained as birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving (any Western holiday) all rolled into one. This explanation was not meant to diminish the significance of the holiday by comparison, but it's easier for Westerners to understand if explained this way. In other words, it's one big event.
There are traditions for the day before Tet, Tet, and the days following Tet, but my favorite tradition (explained to me today) is the tradition of exiting and entering one's house. According to my students, the luckiest person, the oldest person, or the person who is connected closely with the year of the Tiger is to exit and enter the house (exiting before midnight and entering after midnight). The tradition is centered on luck: wealth, family, business, education, etc. The first person to enter the house will bring luck for the rest of the New year. Dan, Megan, Michael, Karinna...Who is the luckiest of us all?
This is a great site about the traditions, foods, and folklore of Tet.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment