Vietnamese New Year
Tomorrow is the beginning of the Year of the Ram, and the Vietnamese New Year, which officially lasts three days. I’m going to take you on a tour of the wonderful customs and culture surrounding this extremely joyous occasion.
Vietnamese culture is already very interesting, but there is almost another culture present around the time of Tết, the Vietnamese lunar new year celebration, celebrated every winter or spring (depending on the lunar calendar) for over 4,000 years.
Food
No Tết is complete without a wide array of snacks and dishes. The most popular, and by far the most famous, of these pastries is bánh chưng, a cake made of rice, pork, and mung beans, wrapped in banana leaves to give the rice a sweet smell and wonderful taste. Bánh tét is the southern version of this treat. It has a cylindrical shape, and it is made year-round. These cakes are great, balanced meals, which include foods from four food groups.
Many snacks are eaten around this time, including:
- bánh xanh
- a gelatin and coconut pastry
- bánh biá đậu xanh
- mung bean moon cake
- trung thu đậu xanh
- a smaller, fancier mung bean moon cake
- mứt hột sen
- a sweet lotus candy
- coconut rolls
- which are really coconut powder wrapped in a crunchy coating
- đậu phộng de cá
- peanuts coated in crispy shells
- dừa lạt
- assorted-color, candied coconut strips
- bánh tieu
- a large, unglazed doughnut (without the hole), much like the French beignet
Of course, the Vietnamese eat the usual food, too. But they typically dress it up for the occasion. For example, chè is a dessert pudding served year-round, but there are different varieties of this dessert during Tết, and it is served much more.
Games
Children, as well as adults, always love to play a game called Bầu Cua during the New Year celebration. In fact, it is so popular that the Vietnamese government makes gambling (which is what this game amounts to) legal during the Vietnamese New Year, just for this game.
In this game, participants wager anything from 25¢ to $3, and bet on an animal, such as a crab, fish, deer, or tiger, by placing their money on the animal’s picture. Three die (plural of dice, mind you) with the animal’s pictures on them are then cast. The players who bet on the winning animals win good luck — and the money.
Traditions
Because the holiday was originally founded in Buddhism, the Vietnamese have many traditions, or supersitions (depending on how you look at it), during Tết.
For example, the good luck won in Bầu Cua should help you for the rest of the year, because the Vietnamese often believe that the luck or misfortune you have during Tết determines your luck or misfortune throughout the rest of the year.
During this festival, Vietnamese women commonly walk around in áo dài, which is a long, traditional gown, worn only on special occasions (including Sunday Mass).
Houses are also cleaned thoroughly and decorated with flowers, so that the family will have good luck all year. On Tết, the luck of the first person to enter a house determines the household’s luck for the rest of the year. So, if you wanted to be the first to enter a house, you would want to be rich and/or happy. Debts are always paid off, and people always take extra care to avoid arguments, to avoid breaking dishes, and to avoid refusing to eat what your host serves you. Many of the Vietnamese listen carefully on Day One of Tết for the first sound they hear. They believe that certain sounds fortell things to come that year.
In addition, parents always give children red envelopes with lucky money in it, called lìi xì. This tradition has recently moved into the business world, where, ironically, humble employees must give their employers the money.
The Vietnamese, like the Chinese, have a calendar that rotates every 12 years. Unfortunately, if this year were to be the year you were born in (if you’re 12, 24, 36, 48, etc. years old), this year would be unlucky for you.
Religion
Religion is greatly involved with Tết, as the festival started as a Buddhist tradition. People often go to churches and pagodas to pray for a good New Year.
Tết in America
Tết is not very different in America than it is in Vietnam. Of course, there is probably a bit more spending in America; after all, the festival field and countless malls and along Bolsa Ave. in Little Saigon (Los Angeles, CA) and the old-style outdoor market and numerous bakeries of Versailles (New Orleans East, LA) have always made a big deal of this occasion (as they should). Every Vietnamese store should now have a stack of new Vietnamese calendars, a stockpile of bánh chưng, and a wide assortment of delectible snacks.
Tết is the most joyous time of the year for the Vietnamese. If you ever plan to visit Vietnam, or even a large Vietnamese community like Little Saigon in Los Angeles or Versailles in New Orleans, by far the best time to go is during Tết or the weeks surrounding it.
Chúc mừng Năm Mới! Happy New Year!
Copyright © 2002-2003 Minh Nguyen
