Vietnamese New Year

The weather becomes warmer; the wind blows through the green meadows; flowers bloom the trees; and the swallows glide in the blue sky. They are all of the signals that alert us; spring is arriving. When spring arrives, Tet also comes. Tet, in short for Tet Nguyen Dan, is the moment moving from an old year to a new year. It marks the beginning of the lunar calendar and starts a new cycle of everything. The Vietnamese love to celebrate Tet, the biggest and the most important festival.

Before Tet comes, everyone is happy to prepare to welcome it back. All markets are very busy with business the week before Tet. People go to the big markets to buy food, clothing, flowers, and items that are needed for the celebration. Merchants know that people need a lot of things to prepare for Tet, so they order and keep tons of products in their warehouses. They arrange products in their stores as hills which disappear quickly like ice cubes melting in the hot summer. In the markets, there are a lot of noises such as the noisy buyers paying for food, clothing, and the rumble of the motorcycles going in and out the markets. At the flower markets, there are many plants and flowers with a variety of color: greens, yellows, reds, and pinks. The kiosks of fruit are not less visited than these markets. The fruit is fresh, green, and arranged very nicely. After buying what they needs, everyone returns home with a happy and satisfied face. The last hour for business is 4 p.m or 5 p.m on the last day of the lunar calendar.

No matter where they are or what they are doing, all the Vietnamese return to their homeland, and their cozy houses to help their family clean and decorate the house on the day of Tet, the house is very beautiful and neat. People clean all the dirt, spider webs on the roof, dust on the tables, closets, altars, and wash all clothing, blankets, and pillows. Everything has to be clean and new in order to get the best luck when Tet arrives. Every house now is a refrigerator with a lot of food, fruit, candy and cakes. In front of the house, people glue red banners with a "Happy New Year" on both sides of the door. On altars of their ancestors, they put the five-fruit tray with custard-apples, coconut, green papaya, mangoes, and grapes, which mean "enough money for the whole year." Square and cylindrical cakes are two kinds of cakes that are indispensable in Tet holiday. They symbolize the Sky and Earth and are made with glutinous rice, green bean, and pork. In addition, apricot blossom and cherry blossom are two kinds of flower that people like the most. They put them on the table and the altar, to make the house more beautiful. People believe that if the flowers bloom fully on the tree, they will bring more health and wealth for that year.

For the three days of Tet's celebration, from the 1st to 3rd of the lunar calendar, people go to visit their relatives and friends. To have good luck, people receive or give