Feb 18 2007
Vietnamese New Year
Comments on Tet, Lunar New Year, originally posted by Jenny : a Vietnamese American fascinated by the subtleties and differences between cultures.
If you read my previous post: What is cooking during Chinese New Year, then check like Jennie says the subtleties between Chinese and Vietnamese culture celebrating the Spring Festival : Tet
Vietnamese New Year
Like Chinese New Year is the most important festival for the Chinese, likewise Tet or Vietnamese New Year is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam.
Tet is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, yet due to the one-hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing.
Vietnamese culture
Vietnamese new year shares many of the same customs of Chinese New year:
delicious food. My mother in law also makes them, the most delicious cakes in the world! and it is a dying art: Banh Chung in Vietnamese: a rice cake with mung bean and meat filling, wrapped in banana leaf (picture courtesy of Jenny)- new year in Vietnam is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar (around late January or
early February) until at least the third day. - Vietnamese cooking will be different than on any other festival with a lot of special holiday foods
- houses will be cleaned
- Vietnamese like Chinese will visit families and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year.
- firecrackers
- you have to be home on Lunar New Year’s Eve before midnight (this is my first new year not doing so, so I will have a lot of feng shui to do to make up for this..)
- visiting relatives for those red envelopes filled with cash (ang bao in Chinese)
- Cong xi fa xai in Vietnamese becomes Chuc Mung Nam Moi
Technorati Tags: Vietnam | Vietnamese New Year | Chinese New Year | Tet | Hanoi | Beijing | Travel | Chinese | Vietnamese
2 Responses to “Vietnamese New Year”
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It’s interesting for you to compare the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year celebrations. That Banh Chung does look yummy =). I just had some! One piece makes me full for the rest of the day!
Of course the Banh hung looks yummy, comes from….. your site!