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IV Tet

One day that is extremely important for Vietnamese people is the Lunar New Year. Most Americans would recognize the Vietnamese word for the holiday, ‘Tet’, because of the famous uprising throughout the South in 1968.

There, however, is quite a difference from the way I understood ‘Tet’ before I came to Vietnam and how I understood the word after words. In American I didn’t understand the customs of this very important holiday. My first ‘Tet’ experience happened at the beginning of 2003 which I had been in Vietnam for about four months and before I had many friends. At school, one person told me that during ‘Tet’ everyone stays at home.

Americans who visit Vietnam always notice how packed the streets are and possibly can’t imagine a day when everyone is at home. Maybe my friend meant to say, ‘Many people stay at home.’ I guessed wrong.

The first day of Tet, 2003, the year of the Goat, I woke up early. At about 8 o’clock in the morning I went out to try to find something to eat but was greeted with a surprise. Vietnamese flags were posted all over the sides of the roads but no one was there. It even appeared like the myriad dogs that usually passed back and forth searching for food had even found homes. No people, no animals but a plethora of flags. I was hungry but I didn’t know what to do, surprised by the absence of people and traffic.

It’s hard to imagine the Vietnamese streets as silent as they are during the Lunar New year celebrations. I had to pedal my bicycle quite far just to find a place to eat. My first ‘Tet’ experience was seeing that empty road and no food.

The 2004 celebrations, the year of the Monkey, were quite different. At that time I had made friends with many people and many of those people invited me over to their house to eat with their families. I was really excited to experience ‘Tet’ with a family because I had heard so much about this day but didn’t at all understand it.

The last day of the 2003 lunar year was a very special day for me. I ate with my friend’s family and was given a new Vietnamese name. I am now named H? Minh Trí and I truly felt like a member of the family. I felt lucky to have two families: one in America and one in Vietnam. They even considered me their son.

That night we sat down and ate a delicious meal. My friend told me that if I wished my new parents good health, happiness and the like I would experience another Vietnamese custom. I walked up to them and wished that everything went their way in the year of the Monkey. After that, I was given a red envelope with lucky money in it. I was quite content with my new family. They allowed me to experience ‘Tet’ not like a foreigner who was staying and leaving but as a true member of the family.

After we had eaten the year of the Monkey was almost upon us. We went and prayed to the family’s ancestors at the alter of the house and then went to the local pagoda to wish all of our friends and neighbors a happy new year.

Following my experiences of the Lunar New year, I believe that society as a whole implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relationship. The first day is for only the most important people in your life, your parents. You have to wish them health and happiness because they gave you life, you have to give thanks to your ancestors because; ‘To drink the water is to remember the source’.

However, before everything implodes, everyone has to wish all of their friends a happy new year. It’s almost like people are saying, ‘I’m about to go home for about three or four days and we won’t have a chance to meet. Have a good ‘Tet’.’

After we prayed at the pagoda and wished our friends happiness, I went home and slept the first night of the New Year. ‘Tet’ doesn’t really begin until the first day of the Lunar New year. The last day of the last year is the day that everyone will wish everyone else health and happiness before they spend time with their family and other people very important to their lives.

The first day of the New Year is a day for the family and also one custom I really enjoy called ‘Ng??i xông ??t’. This phrase is used to describe the first person to enter your home who isn’t a member of your family after the New Year begins. Depending on their social status or personal life, the following year will be lucky or it will be bad. In America we don’t have a concept like this and I was quite afraid to be the first person to enter the house of a stranger. That’s one of the reasons that my friend’s family gave me a new name, so I could eat with them and I wouldn’t be considered to be breaking any of the rules.

I spoke with a bunch of people and always ask them if they really believe in that custom. Most say that only a few people in the family follow that custom but it really isn’t everyone.

The first day of ‘Tet’ I didn’t know what to do but I also didn’t want to go out and visit friends because I didn’t want to be the first stranger to enter the house after the new year arrived if that family had wanted someone else to come.

Before I experienced ‘Tet’, I had asked my friend this question, ‘If everyone is at home, what do they end up doing?’ My friend said that most of the time is spent eating together. It was hard to imagine spending a whole day simply at home without going out at all.

I woke up a little late and ate with my new family. We sat around and ate a wonderful meal and talked about life, desires and the future. One full day of doing nothing except talking about life with people who are the closest to you in your life is very special because our modern lives are so busy and they rarely afford us an opportunity like that. If there wasn’t the ‘Ng??i xông ??t’ rule and if people didn’t spend so much time at home, the ‘Tet’ holiday just wouldn’t be the same. We need to talk in order to understand each other better.

The second day of the Lunar New year is when every family goes and visits the ancestral homeland. We went and spoke to other members of the family who were also making the trip.

In America we don’t have anything that is similar to the Lunar New year in Vietnam. We have Christmas and that day is very important for many Americans but not for everyone. Christmas is also a day for family but it isn’t as important, or doesn’t last as long as the Lunar New year. Also, if you want to spend time with friends on Christmas after your family as been together, it isn’t really a problem.

Thanksgiving is also an important day for many families because it isn’t necessarily religious. Most Americans spend time together over Thanksgiving but it still isn’t the same as the Lunar New year. Thanksgiving is only one day and there are not the 10 days to travel around and meet people as there are in the Lunar New year celebrations of Vietnam.

The Lunar New year celebrations are extremely important for the people of Vietnam. While everyone has their separate lives on a normal day, when ‘Tet’ rolls around each family comes together and celebrates themselves. It’s just as if society implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relatives on the same day. The Lunar New year begins at the beginning of the month and stretches until the end of January. After spending time with your family, you move out and meet other families until all of Vietnam is reunited through familial ties and normal life can begin again.