Every year, Tet celebrations are held at the beginning of the first lunar month all over the country and in some other countries where Vietnamese people live. During the Spring Festival, thousands of families reunite, visit relatives and friends, wish good luck and worship gods and ancestors.
For Vietnamese people, Tet is extremely important and sacred, and people, especially those who work outside the home, are looking forward to returning home to reunite with their loved ones and enjoy the joy of reunion.
Therefore, despite the passage of time, the traditional customs of the Vietnamese people to celebrate the Tet still retain their cultural characteristics and strong national characteristics.
With the progress of society and the advancement of modernization, many changes have taken place in the way the Spring Festival is celebrated. However, both traditional and modern, for the Vietnamese people, the core values of Tet are still alive and well. Because, most importantly, the Spring Festival itself is a return to the roots.Sacred customsDepending on the region or different beliefs, religions and customs, the traditional Tet festival in different parts of Vietnam also has different characteristics. However, in general, the Spring Festival customs are divided into three periods, including: preparing for the new year, Chinese New Year's Eve and opening the new year.
There are corresponding activities for each time period, including: Stove King Festival on the 23rd day of the lunar month, sending the stove king**; wrapping square zongzi and round zongzi; flower arrangement (peach blossom, plum blossom and kumquat bonsai, etc.); Arrange a five-fruit plate; sweep the grave and worship the ancestors; Chinese New Year's Eve sacrifice; Celebrate the New Year; New Year's greetings to elders, relatives and friends; At the beginning of the year, I went to the temple to burn incense and worship the Buddha. These sacred customs are all about praying for good luck, success and good health in the new year.
In addition to sacred customs, the Vietnamese people also held recreational activities such as wrestling, tossing hydrangeas, swinging, canoeing, bullfighting, and horse racing during the Spring Festival, reflecting the traditional virtues of neighborly friendship, solidarity and mutual assistance.
The most sacred moment of the Spring Festival is the moment when heaven and earth live in harmony with nature - the night of Chinese New Year's Eve. At this time, the family gathered together to welcome the new year, and everyone talked about the harvest of the year and the plans for the coming year. Vietnamese people also have the custom of "rushing for the New Year" on Chinese New Year's Eve.
New Year's greetings and giving red envelopes are also a long-standing custom of the Vietnamese people. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone in the family puts on new clothes and gathers together to greet the New Year and send New Year's money. The younger generations gave red envelopes to the elders, wishing them good health and a long life. The elders wish the younger generations a prosperous career and success in their studies. The children will receive New Year's money from the adults as a sign of good wishes to the children.
During the Spring Festival, relatives, neighbors, and colleagues visit each other to wish everyone a happy and smooth new year, bid farewell to the troubles of the old year, and make the relationship between relatives and society better in the new year.
The taste of the Chinese New Year
When it comes to the Spring Festival, it is impossible not to talk about the related activities held during the Spring Festival, including folk games, Spring Festival markets, flower markets, etc. Every year during the Spring Festival, Tet fairs and flower fairs are also held in various parts of Vietnam to add to the taste of the Spring Festival.
For Vietnamese, the traditional Tet usually lasts for three days, but a week before that, people are busy shopping for Chinese New Year goods. Residents of the north and central part of the country like to enjoy peach blossoms, while residents of the south like to enjoy yellow plums.
The five-fruit plate is an indispensable sacrifice during the traditional Vietnamese National Spring Festival. This is also the difference between northerners and southerners. The northerners' five-fruit plate includes grapefruit, banana, persimmon, orange, and pepper. The southerners' five-fruit plate includes fruit varieties such as soursop, fig, coconut, papaya, and mango.
Another custom is to visit temples during the Spring Festival. The fairs at famous temples across Vietnam attract Buddhas and tourists from far and wide to pray for peace and prosperity in the new year.
With the diversity of community cultures, Tet is one of the main cultural heritages of the Vietnamese people, which deserves to be understood, preserved, promoted, developed and promoted.In the context of increasing globalization and international integration, preserving the beautiful value of the traditional Tet will help promote the national cultural characteristics and make the Vietnamese people love their homeland and motherland more, connect more closely with their families and communities, and live more responsibly in the past, present and future.
And whenever the cultural beauty of the traditional Tet is spread in the soul of every Vietnamese person, it will become a huge endogenous resource and contribute to the sustainable development of the country.
The Thai New Year of the Vietnamese nation is of great significance, and the beautiful customs during the Spring Festival represent the cultural and civilizational traditions, especially in the context of global integration, which need to be protected and carried forward by future generations, because this is the soul and characteristics of the Vietnamese nation.