TET CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES

Tet Nguyen Dan, or Tet as it’s more commonly known, is the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year. Literally meaning the first morning of the new year, it is the most important cultural and religious holiday for Vietnamese Americans.

Marking the arrival of spring, it is a time for family reunions and fresh beginnings. Families place offerings before the ancestral altar and give thanks to elders and ancestors.

Painstaking care is taken to start the year out right since it is believed that the first days determine the fortunes and misfortunes of the whole year.

Homes are cleaned and given a new coat of paint. New clothes are bought for the occasion. Old debts are repaid, and great care is taken to avoid arguments.

Typically, families attend either church or temple on New Year’s Eve and pray for good fortune. In Vietnam, the whole country stops working to celebrate the first three days of the new year.

Here are some of the many customs and traditional ceremonies associated with Tet.

Le tao quan--One week before New Year’s, the family gathers for a feast and ceremony to send off the kitchen god, Ong Tao. It marks the day the chief guardian spirit of the hearth returns to heaven to report on the family’s activities in the past year. The family will put out special foods and fruits before the altar, burn sacrificial gold papers and offer a carp fish (as transportation) for the spirit’s journey to heaven.

Le giao thua--The transition between the old and new year happens at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Drums, gongs and firecrackers, which ward off evil spirits, mark the occasion. In the giao thua ritual, the family ushers out the spirits of the old year.

Hai loc--It is customary to hai loc, or pluck a flowering branch off a tree on New Year’s Day, a sign of new life and prosperity.

Dap dat--The first visitor to dap dat, or cross the threshold in a home in the new year, has to be carefully chosen because he or she symbolizes the fortune that befalls a family. Typically, the visitor is someone rich, happy and prestigious. Pregnant women and people in mourning are considered bad luck.

Li xi--Children traditionally greet parents and elders with wishes for prosperity and happiness. In return, they receive lucky money in red envelopes.