Tết
- In full:
- Tết Nguyên Ɖán (Vietnamese: Festival of the First Morning of the First Day)
- Also called:
- Vietnamese Lunar New Year
- Related Topics:
- Vietnam
- New Year festival
- Lunar New Year
- holiday
Tết, celebration of the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. The holiday likely has its origins in the observance of the Chinese New Year but has taken on its own unique meanings and observances in Vietnam. The festival follows a lunar-solar calendar and occurs at the end of January or in early February. For the Vietnamese people, the Tết New Year festival is one of the most significant annual celebrations. Although the festival is associated with merriment and renewal, it also lent its name to the Tet Offensive, launched in 1968 at the time of the festival by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in the Vietnam War.
History and relation to Chinese New Year
The Tết holiday likely stemmed from the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. Vietnam was under Chinese rule from 111 bce until 939 ce and periodically returned under Chinese control in the ensuing centuries. The Chinese Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) that first ruled Vietnam attempted to uproot local customs and institute and enforce Chinese cultural practices and festivals. Although tensions between the local Vietnamese population and Chinese rulers persisted, the Lunar New Year festival took root in Vietnam and became a popular holiday. Tết has numerous similarities with Chinese New Year that indicate Chinese influence, including the calendar day itself and the gift of lucky money with red envelopes. Like its northern cousin, Tết marks the beginning of a new zodiac year, and each year is associated with one of 12 animals. The Vietnamese zodiac is very similar to the Chinese zodiac, but, for the Chinese system’s sheep, rabbit, and ox, it substitutes goat, cat, and buffalo, respectively.
Some people, however, insist that Tết’s origins can be traced to Vietnamese history prior to Chinese occupation. One rationale for its pre-Chinese origin is the holiday’s association with rice cakes called bánh chưng and bánh dày, which are said to have been created during the Hồng Bàng (or Hung Vuang) dynasty, predating Chinese rule, although the dynasty itself may be the subject of legend. The legend of the cakes tells of the sixth Hồng Bàng dynasty emperor, projected to have lived in the second millennium bce, who is elderly and holds a food contest among his 21 sons to determine which one to anoint as heir to the throne. Lang Liêu, the 18th and poorest son, stays home while the others venture afar to find a winning dish. He has a dream involving a fairy who inspires him to make two stuffed glutinous rice cakes wrapped in leaves: bánh chưng, which is square and represents the Earth, and bánh dày, which is round and represents the sky. Lang Liêu impresses his father, wins the contest, and becomes emperor.
Observances and beliefs
In addition to the rice cakes, the Tết New Year festival is full of many unique and special observances. The holiday begins a week before Vietnamese New Year’s Eve. Families clean and decorate their homes. On the 23rd day of the last month of the year is the Ông Công, Ông Táo (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) ritual, sometimes called Tết Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods festival). It is believed that these deities keep track of a family’s activity throughout the year, and, on the 23rd day of the last month, they ride on the backs of carp to heaven to report the family’s doings to the supreme deity, the Jade Emperor. As a part of this tradition, Vietnamese release orange carp into bodies of water.
Other observances for this holiday, particularly in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, include visiting graves of ancestors, visiting friends and relatives, decorating with flowers, and playing games. As the new year presents an occasion for starting afresh, many people settle debts and purchase new clothes. On New Year’s Eve, celebrants assemble a tray of flower and food offerings—especially a tray of five fruits—for the ancestors. The kitchen deities are also thought to return to the home on New Year’s Eve.
The first person to enter a home on New Year’s Day is said to signify the fortune a family will have over the next year. As a result, Vietnamese will often invite a notable, wealthy, or educated person to their home in the hopes of influencing their family’s fortune for the year to come. In addition, at midnight of New Year’s Day, all people celebrate the date as their own birthday.
The color red suffuses the holiday through decorations and flowers and in the gifting of money in special red envelopes. Red is seen as a particularly lucky color for the holiday and is also thought to ward off ghosts. In a custom shared with the Chinese, Vietnamese people give children money—called lì xì (“lucky money”)—in the red envelopes for the Tết holiday. Celebrants often affix these envelopes to ornamental trees brought inside the home. Greetings for the holiday, printed on the envelopes, include chúc mừng năm mới (“Happy New Year”) and cung chúc tân xuân (“Gracious wishes of the new spring”).
