However, it has more varied fillings, which may include banana, meats, and beans.
Similar to banh chưng, banh tet is also made from sticky rice. Meanwhile, banh tet is a staple for people in the south during the Tet holiday season. You don’t need to eat much of it to feel very full, and it is eaten as part of a main meal or just as a snack offered to guests. It is made of pork and mung beans tightly wrapped in a leaf called la dong. Banh chưng is a square-shaped solid, sticky rice dish favored by people in the north.
Traditional foods - With traditional celebrations comes special food. This is another tradition that centers on the idea that if you sweep the floor, you may also sweep all the good spirits out of the home, resulting in a bad year for the family.
If it is a person who is welcomed and liked, then good spirits will come in with them and reside there for the coming year.ĭon’t sweep the floor or put out the trash on the first day - If you are fortunate enough to be invited to a party on the first day of Tet, you may notice that nobody sweeps the floor or takes out the trash. This is because it is believed that the first person to enter a home in the new year will also bring their good or bad spirits along with them. Many believe this practice clears out bad spirits and invites good spirits into the home to facilitate a prosperous new year.įirst person to enter the home in the new year - If you find yourself at a home, you may be asked to leave the house before midnight and come back just after the start of the new year. In the West, we call it “spring cleaning”, but in Vietnam, it has much more spiritual roots. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi TreĬleaning the house - It is a very important tradition to clean the house thoroughly before Tet. This is often the first ceremony held to welcome Tet holiday in Vietnam.Ī woman hires a boat to release red carp fish into a river in Ho Chi Minh City for the Kitchen Gods to ride to heaven on January 25, 2022. There is a tradition that a housewife should prepare a food offering for the Kitchen Gods as they make their way to heaven to report on the family. On the 23rd day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar, after praying, people take the fish to the river where they are released so that the Kitchen Gods can ride them away. The Kitchen Gods – The legend of the Kitchen Gods, or ong Tao, has led people to buy a red or golden carp fish for the Kitchen Gods to ride to heaven where they can “report” things that happened on earth during the past year to the King of Gods. It is thought that giving lucky money and wishing good health and fortune to those around you brings good luck during the coming year. Though lì xì is mostly given to children, some families also mừng tuổi older people with lucky money, meaning that they celebrate or acknowledge their continued health and happiness during the upcoming year. But as I learned about Vietnamese culture and what Tet is all about, I started to understand the wonderful traditions that surround the holiday.Ī file photo shows children wearing ao dai pose for photo with models of banh chung and banh tet at a 2020 Tet festival in Ho Chi Minh City. During the first couple of years, I found myself frustrated during the Tet holiday because I wasn’t able to make money (workplaces typically shut down for the holiday) and I was rather bored for the week. Outside of the west, many cultures follow Lunar calendars, which are based on the phases of the moon and can vary in length from year to year. Invented by Pope Gregory in 1582, it is based on solar patterns and is the exact same every year, except during quadrennial ‘leap years’ when an extra day is added to keep the calendar aligned with the sun’s movement. Most popular in the western world is the Gregorian calendar.
There are a number of calendars used around the world. With traditional Vietnamese culture based on the Lunar calendar, Tet, which normally falls in late January or early February, is akin to Christmas, New Year, and Easter all rolled into one, and it is life changing to experience it for yourself here in Vietnam. Those are the symbols that define Tet – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Editorial: The story is written by Ray Kuschert, an Australian citizen, who will spend his 9th Tet holiday in Vietnam.įamilies together, happy times, peace, and love.