Vietnam Lunar New Year

The wet rice civilization has brought to the Vietnamese the fragrant grains of sticky rice, used for making square glutinous cakes and glutinous rice dumplings, while farming has brought to this nation its love for the ricefields, the buffalo, and the plough.

The wet rice civilization has brought to the Vietnamese the fragrant grains of sticky rice, used for making square glutinous cakes and glutinous rice dumplings, while farming has brought to this nation its love for the ricefields, the buffalo, and the plough.

The ceremony to begin work in the fields among the Mường people takes place in the small hours of a morning set by the Vietnamese calendar.

However, everybody continues to enjoy spring for he has to wait for a ceremony asking permission from the Genius of the Earth to begin working in the fields.

The Vietnamese not only worship their ancestors but also pay their respect to other people’s ancestors. Hence the custom of going for Tết ceremonies.

However, there are villages that organize the “ceremony to wish for longevity” accordingly to a strict hierarchical defining – based on the old age reached.

After the three days of Tết, well-to-do people hold a Tết ceremony for their buffaloes.

This is because the booming of crackers brings about a sense of joy, happiness and enlivening for the Vietnamese. For that reason, people also fire crackers on occasions such as entertainments, weddings and mournings.

Although Tết ends since the fourth day of the first month, the villagers continue their holiday until they bring down the Tết pole to begin farming and trading.

From the Court means from Huế, the City in which the Court still exists. But, how was Tết greeted by everybody? Let’s hear Tú Xương describing it to us.