"Tet, tet, tet has come..."

Happy New Year! These are my best wishes to all of you out there, reading this post. I wish you a wonderful new year, with lots and lots of laughs and lucks. Let the year of Dog be your year of success, happiness and fortune. May all your wishes come true in this special occasion. I wish the elders good health and the children fast growth. I wish the man strength and the woman beauty. I wish the couples having each other forever, and the lonely souls meeting soon Mr./Ms. Right. And I wish the businessmen/women growing profits, the employers many enlargements and the employees worthy promotions. I wish the teachers and students a successful year. And I wish you, my friend, having more and more valuable friendships like the one we are having. Happy New Year!
Tet comes and goes every year; and it has something different every time it happens. However, there are things that never change in Vietnam. They call traditions! Among those, the most mentioned ones are: ancestor worship at midnight of the New Year's Eve and at first light of the first day, first visitor of the year, and "first day is the Tet of father, second day is of Mother, and third day is of Teacher" ("mùng một tết cha, mùng hai tết mẹ, mùng ba tết thầy").
As I mentioned in the previous post, Vietnamese usually prepare the five-fruit dish (mâm ngũ quả), a couble green square cakes (bánh chưng), a whole boiled male chicken, and red roses (it could be different kind of flowers, but the number must be odd) for the worship. The ceremony starts around 11:30 when everything is placed on the altar of the family, or a clean table facing South. The incenses then will be burned to invite the souls of the deceased come and witness this special moment, as well as all the prayers people might have. The incenses must not go out before midnight, and the shape of their remaining after burning out will tell people how their ancestors respond to their prayers. This practice is also called "Cúng giao thừa" in Vietnamese, meaning worship the eve moment. After the ceremony is over, some family will go out immediately to find one or two branches of tree that have a lot of green leaves, to bring home as a symbol of growing fortune... Early the next morning, the ceremony repeats with more or less the same meanings, which ask for happiness, luck, health and success in the coming year.
After the early morning event, people will prepare to welcome the first visitor. In rare cases, this person is a random one, because Vietnamese believe that whether their year is good or bad depends much on this visitor. Hence, they would make arrangement beforehand with a close family member, a successful friend, and/or especially kids to step through their door on the first day. This is also the reason that although Vietnamese maintain caring and loving relationship with their neighbors, they seldom visit each other on the first few days of a new year. Sometimes, it might even be offensive to do as such.
Furthermore, each day of Tet has its own purposed. "First day is the Tet of Father, second day is of Mother, and third day is of Teacher." Thus, on the first two day, the family will spend time with people from the husband's side and then with the wife's side. They will have a small get-together party, during which people tell each other what they have achieve in the previous year, and what they wish for in the coming year. The kids will get their good-luck money. After the party, everybody might visit each other's house, or go together to a temple to pray. The day goes on with laughter and joys.
For the third day, as the "tôn sư, trọng đạo" tradition (respecting educators- respecting education) has been a part of the people's belief for thousands of years, this day is specially for teachers. Family of students will visit their children' teachers on this day to show their respect and appreciation. However, when they come, the teachers might not even be at home because he or she might be visiting his/her old teachers as well. Vietnamese has a saying: "Nhất tự vi sư, bán tự vi sư", meaning teaching a word is a teacher, teaching half of a word is also a teacher. And once someone teaches you something, he or she is your teacher for life.
All in all, Tet is an exciting and happy event in Vietnam; it is the best too! Many traditions have been well respected and need to be carried on. This is the job of the next generation to keep them alive, and pass them on to their children and grandchildren. So, Happy New Year to you, and happy New Year to all the traditions we have!
-nxh