What is Tết_ - All about Vietnamese Lunar New Year - Wiki
What is Tết_ - All about Vietnamese Lunar New Year - Wiki
What is Tết_ - All about Vietnamese Lunar New Year - Wiki
Tết is the Vietnamese New Year celebration, which happens every year between
January and February. This Lunar New Year holiday celebrates the coming of spring
and is an important time for people to spend with family and friends.
What is Tết?
Tết is the commonly used name of the Vietnamese New Year, it is short for Tết Nguyên
Đán which means ‘Festival of the First Morning of the First Day.' It is also called the
Spring festival or Lunar New Year.
Read more: All about Vietnamese Lunar New Year, Vietnamese Version.
While there are similarities between the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and the Chinese
Lunar New Year, they should not be confused as these are different holidays with their
traditions. According to historical archaeological relics around the Red River Delta,
Vietnamese people have celebrated Tết since the XVIII century B.C, under the influence
of Chinese New Year. Throughout time and different developments, these two countries
have their ways to celebrate this crucial holiday. The Lunar New Year is celebrated in
many Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. Each country
has their special way to mark the new year.
Vietnamese Lunar New Year is the most important public holiday in the Vietnamese
calendar, with celebrations taking place over three days, but many people celebrate for
up to a week. This is similar to the importance of the Christmas and New Year
celebration period in the UK. Many people take this time to travel home, be with their
families and see friends.
According to Dongfang Shuo, a famous scholar in Han Dynasty, 8 days celebrating Tet
are matched with 8 crucial creatures that God had created: the first day is for chickens,
the second is for dogs, pigs were born in the third, the fourth is for goats, then
buffaloes, horses, and the seventh day is the day human was born, finally God created
cereal in the eighth day.
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Tết celebrates the new year and the start of spring and takes place between mid-
January to late February. It changes every year depending on the Vietnamese lunar
calendar and the first new moon. One reason this festival is so important is that the
Vietnamese people believe the way they spend the first day of the new year will
represent how the rest of the year will go.
When is Tết?
Tết takes place at a different time each year depending on when the first new moon is
in the lunar calendar. However, this is typically between mid-January and late February.
Here are 12 recent and upcoming dates for the Vietnamese Lunar New Year:
25 January 2020
12 February 2021
1 February 2022
22 January 2023
10 February 2024
29 January 2025
17 February 2026
6 February 2027
26 January 2028
13 February 2029
2 February 2030
23 January 2031
The Vietnamese Lunar New Year may sometimes be celebrated on a different day than
other countries that also celebrate the Lunar New Year. This is because of different
time zones, the Lunar New Year is celebrated exactly on the day of a new moon.
The family focus of the holiday is one of the reasons Tết so important, but it’s also a
very symbolic holiday. The Vietnamese New Year involves many traditions to do with
starting afresh and trying to begin the new year with good fortune. It’s thought that your
actions during Tết will reflect how the rest of your year will go. So, celebrating well is
very important!
Other holidays during the Vietnamese calendar start with ‘Tết’, which means festival.
However, it is the New Year celebration which is most important to the Vietnamese
people which is why it has a shortened name. The second most important festival is
Tết Trung Thu, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival or Children’s Festival. But if you
just say Tết everyone will know you are talking about the Lunar New Year.
Another fact about the Vietnamese New Year is that this holiday represents the
psychological and cultural aspects. It's not only the gathering season, Vietnamese New
Year is a special occasion for the public to express their gratitude towards the upper
Gods, therefore maintain a harmonious relationship with The Upper Sky God, which is
Trời (Thiên), and Mother Earth, or Đất (Địa). We can see this through lots of myths in
Vietnam, for instance, The Myth of Squared and Rounded Sticky Rice Cake. In this story,
Lang Lieu, one of the Hung Emperor's sons, invented two types of cake made from rice,
to demonstrate the close bond between human beings and the Spiritual Gods: The solid
Squared Rice Cake represent Mother Earth, while a rounded, white cake is a symbol for
The Upper Sky.
Typically, Tết is celebrated over three days the day before New Year’s Eve, New Year’s
Eve and New Year’s Day. However, many preparations are made in the run-up to the
holiday and festivities can last up to a week. So, there’s lots of time to celebrate and
take part in many traditions!
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Here are some traditions that are commonly observed during the Spring Festival:
Cleaning
An important aspect of the Vietnamese New Year is that it is viewed as a fresh start. In
preparation for Tết, families clean their homes a week before the holiday starts.
Households will do very deep clean chores such as washing mattresses, sorting
through their belongings and even repainting the house. This is seen as a symbolic way
of clearing out the home of any bad luck from the previous year, to make way for good
luck in the new year. Sweeping during the Lunar New Year is considered taboo as it
represents brushing away good luck that you want to welcome in.
Before the holiday, families will also clean the shrines of their ancestors. The shrines
will be decorated with photos of past family members, burning incense and leaving
offerings of fruit and flowers. This tradition is an important aspect of Tết to worship
ancestors.
Plus, cleaning the house isn’t just good luck it is also a way to welcome and honour
guests and family members visiting for the holiday. And families can feel proud of their
beautiful homes.
Gifts
Similar to Christmas, the most important aspect of the gift-giving tradition is focused
on children. During Tết children will formally greet their elders, expressing some good
fortune wishes for the year ahead, they will then be given a special red envelope with
money inside. Red is considered to be an auspicious colour, meaning it symbolises
good fortune and prosperity.
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Food
Food is an important aspect of Tết traditions. The festival wouldn’t be the same without
indulging in delicious delicacies and sharing traditional Vietnamese food with family
members.
Bánh chưng is a popular dish, it is a square sticky rice cake filled with mung beans and
pork. To be cooked, bánh chưng is boiled for several hours while wrapped in phrynium
leaves which give it a fragrant flavour. This is a key Tết food as it is also very symbolic,
representing the Earth and is also placed on family altars to honour ancestors.
Following the tradition of visit your families and friends, It is common in most
households during Tết to have a box of dried candied fruit, also known as ‘mứt', serving
at the greeting table. These boxes are sometimes given as gifts to friends and family.
They are filled with a variety of sweet treats such as candied ginger, coconut and
butternut squash. People can have these lip-smacking snacks while talking and
enjoying their conversations.
After the cleaning of the ancestral altar, an offering of fruit is made. Families will place
a tray filled with five different fruits on the shrine as an expression of gratitude and
wishes for prosperity. The five fruits included vary in different regions and families, but
typically have things like mango, banana, orange and dragon fruit. It is important that
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the fruits are different colours and also consideration is given to what they
symbolise.One of the traditional way to welcome the good fortune is to display the fruit
bow which has 5 different fruits: custard apple or soursop, some figs, coconut, papaya
and mango. In Vietnamese these words will make a sentence, Cầu Sung Dừa Đủ Xài,
which is a wish for prosperity, more money will come and less money will go waste.
Decorations
Lanterns are a common Vietnamese decoration for all sorts of holidays and
celebrations. However, during Tết red lanterns are most popular as this is a lucky
colour.
Flowers and plants are an important part of decorating for Tết. In Northern Vietnam,
branches of peach blossoms are very traditional decorations, representing wealth, luck
and happiness while in Southern, a mesmerizing yellow shade from apricot blossoms
will bring in the fortune we wish for. Often they will be in a large vase and decorated
with red envelopes and emerald jades . Other flowers will also decorate people’s
homes. Orchids are a popular choice as they look very elegant and represent good luck.
The Vietnamese Zodiac is similar to the Chinese Zodiac but with two differences. In the
Vietnamese Zodiac, there is a water buffalo and a cat. In the Chinese Zodiac, these are
an ox and a rabbit respectively. We can see this is a honourable mention for the water
buffalo and the cat. These animals are considered to be excellent household friends
that make a great contribution to agriculture.
Here are some hand-picked resources we think your students will enjoy:
To help you teach your class all about this holiday, check out this
information-packed Customs of the Vietnamese New Year PowerPoint &
Google Slides.
For a fun creative activity, craft this brilliant New Year Celebration Lion
Dance Paper Bag Puppet.
Decorate your classroom and create a display for students’ work with this
lovely Tết Vietnamese New Year Display Banner!
For a Tết-themed puzzle to keep little ones busy, try this colourful Customs
of Tết Word Search Activity.
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1-10 Find the Clock Matching Can You Find the Kitchen Bedroom
Bees and Count PowerPoint 2D Shape? Bathroom And
Interactive Version 2 PowerPoint Living Room
PowerPoint Sorting Activity
No Visual
Support
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Bài Tập Phép Powerpoint 20 Trò Chơi Warm What Is Tet?
Cộng Trừ Với Trò Chơi Sáng Up Cho Lớp Học: PowerPoint &
Hình Ảnh Trực Tạo Cho Lớp Học Vòng Quay Ngẫu Google Slides for
Quan Sinh Động - - Tài Liệu Tiểu Nhiên - Tài Liệu 3rd-5th Grade
Toán Lớp 1 Học Tiểu Học What Is Tet?
Bài Tập Phép Powerpoint 20 Trò Chơi Warm PowerPoint &
Cộng Trừ Với Trò Chơi Sáng Up Cho Lớp Học: Google Slides for
Hình Ảnh Trực Tạo Cho Lớp Học Vòng Quay Ngẫu 3rd-5th Grade
Quan Sinh Động - - Tài Liệu Tiểu Nhiên - Tài Liệu
Toán Lớp 1 Học Tiểu Học
Tet Words and Tet Can You Tet Read and Tet Activity
Pictures Find? Picture Sequence Activity Pack for K-2nd
PowerPoint & Activity Worksheet Grade
Google Slides for Worksheet Tet Read and Tet Activity Pack
K-2nd Grade Tet Can You Find? Sequence Activity for K-2nd Grade
Tet Words and Picture Activity Worksheet
Pictures Worksheet
PowerPoint &
Google Slides for
K-2nd Grade
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Customs of the Customs of Tet Sixth Grade Tet Celebrating
Vietnamese New Word Search for Folklore Reading Lunar New Year
Year Doodle 6th-8th Grade Passage PowerPoint
Organizer for 6th- Customs of Tet Comprehension Celebrating Lunar
8th Grade Word Search for Worksheet New Year
Customs of the 6th-8th Grade Sixth Grade Tet PowerPoint
Vietnamese New Folklore Reading
Year Doodle Passage
Organizer for 6th- Comprehension
8th Grade Worksheet
EYFS All About Từ vựng về Lunar New Year Hoạt Động Khai
Lunar New Year năm mới Matching Game Bút Đầu Năm -
PowerPoint Từ vựng về năm Lunar New Year Chào Năm Mới
EYFS All About mới Matching Game Hoạt Động Khai
Lunar New Year Bút Đầu Năm -
PowerPoint Chào Năm Mới
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PowerPoint PowerPoint 12 Flashcard 34 Bài Tập Phép
Học Từ Tiếng Việt Con Giáp - Tết Thẻ Học Đánh Cộng Trong Phạm
Về Ngày Tết - Tết Nguyên Đán Vần Lớp 1 Cho Bé Vi 10 Chủ Đề Tết
Nguyên Đán PowerPoint 12 - Tiếng Việt Lớp 1 Nguyên Đán -
PowerPoint Học Con Giáp - Tết Flashcard 34 Thẻ Toán Lớp 1
Từ Tiếng Việt Về Nguyên Đán Học Đánh Vần Bài Tập Phép
Ngày Tết - Tết Lớp 1 Cho Bé - Cộng Trong Phạm
Nguyên Đán Tiếng Việt Lớp 1 Vi 10 Chủ Đề Tết
Nguyên Đán -
Toán Lớp 1
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Trò Chơi Bảng Flashcard 29 PowerPoint PowerPoint
Chữ Cái Giúp Trẻ Thẻ Học Bảng Dạy Bé Học Chữ Bảng Chữ Ghép
Làm Quen Với Chữ Cái Tiếng Cái Có Hình Minh Trong Tiếng Việt
Bảng Chữ Cái Việt In Thường - Họa - Tiếng Việt Kèm Ví Dụ - Tiếng
Tiếng Việt - Tiếng Việt Lớp 1 Lớp 1 Việt Lớp 1
PowerPoint Tiểu Flashcard 29 Thẻ PowerPoint Dạy PowerPoint Bảng
Học Học Bảng Chữ Bé Học Chữ Cái Chữ Ghép Trong
Trò Chơi Bảng Cái Tiếng Việt In Có Hình Minh Tiếng Việt Kèm Ví
Chữ Cái Giúp Trẻ Thường - Tiếng Họa - Tiếng Việt Dụ - Tiếng Việt
Làm Quen Với Việt Lớp 1 Lớp 1 Lớp 1
Bảng Chữ Cái
Tiếng Việt -
PowerPoint Tiểu
Học
Phiếu Bài Tập Phiếu Bài Tập Trò Chơi Ghép PPT Truyện
Phép Cộng Trong Phép Cộng Trong Số Và Hình Trứng song ngữ Sự tích
Phạm Vi 10 Chủ Phạm Vi 10 Trên Âu Cơ bánh chưng, bánh
Đề Dưới Đại Trang Trại Trò Chơi Ghép Số dày
Dương Phiếu Bài Tập Và Hình Trứng Âu PPT Truyện song
Phiếu Bài Tập Phép Cộng Trong Cơ ngữ Sự tích bánh
Phép Cộng Trong Phạm Vi 10 Trên chưng, bánh dày
Phạm Vi 10 Chủ Trang Trại
Đề Dưới Đại
Dương
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Tổng hợp phiếu PowerPoint Thì PowerPoint Thì PowerPoint Thì
bài tập ngữ âm hiện tại đơn tiếng hiện tại tiếp diễn hiện tại hoàn
29 chữ cái Anh tiếng Anh thành tiếng Anh
Tổng hợp phiếu PowerPoint Thì PowerPoint Thì PowerPoint Thì
bài tập ngữ âm hiện tại đơn tiếng hiện tại tiếp diễn hiện tại hoàn
29 chữ cái Anh tiếng Anh thành tiếng Anh
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