Green_frog^^

Lunar New Year in Vietnam!!

Thursday, February 7, 2008 7:25:22 AM

Tet ( These pix were collected on the Internet)

In the world, many holidays are celebrated every year. Specially, Lunar New Year’s Day is a big holiday in many Asian countries, in Vietnam too. I will tell something for you about this day. In Vietnam, Lunar New Year’s Day is called “Tet Nguyen Dan”. It's usually celebrate in late January, or early February; it changes every year. Due to the fact that “Tet ” is a big day of the year, many people from many ages are very excited. There are many activities on this day. First, people have to clean and paint everything in their house before the New Year day. Do you know why? Because they believe that there is a Goddess Fortune will go to every house and give lucks for them. And if he goes to a messy house, he will… run away. Besides, young people like me often go shopping to buy news clothes, shoes, and everything can make them have a good looking in New Year’s Day.

Second, you can’t lack of the traditional foods. For example, Vietnamese eat “Banh Chung”- a kind of square cake. It is made from sticky-rice and included green bean and pork inside. My family always cooks it on December 30th of lunar calendar. It is a good time for everybody stays together. Oh! Also, Vietnamese always eat “Banh Chung” with “Dua mon” -it made from dry carrots, green papayas and onions. They were put in to fish- sauce. It’s kind of delicious and full of tradition. But, somebody who lives far from Vietnam like me can eat “Banh Chung” with soy sauce. It isn’t bad! Besides, we have jams are made from many kinds of fruits: mangos, coconuts, gingers, kumquats, sweet potatoes…etc. Also, we have watermelon seeds, and candies. Humm.I miss them. In Vietnam, you can have 10 days stay at home for New Year’s vacation. Especially, they have three main days. On January 1st - the first day of the year, all people in family will visit their relatives. Young people will stand in front of the older and say some good thing for them, make them smile…etc. It’s help old people feel happy and they can live longer. If they have children, the adult will give them some money is put in a red pocket. It’s called “li` xi`”. Vietnamese people believe that the first three day on new year will determine their luck for the whole year. So, it isn’t important that how much money do the children have, but that is the lucky money for them. Also, many people will have a family dinner together. They can talk, laugh and do everything at dinner’s time. It’s quite very warm! On the next day-January 2nd, everybody will go and visit their friends’ houses. On January 3rd – it’s a special day for young people because they can go out and have fun with their friends or siblings. Otherwise, they can stay at home to greet visitors, play cards, and watch special movies and so on. Finally, nobody will sweep the watermelon seeds’ pod until January 4th. It sound very weird, but if you do that your luck and money will be gone in New Year…. I still have many many things to tell you. However, I think that enough for you to imagine about New Year’s Day in Vietnam. If you confuse something, you can ask me! 6_6 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!