Tết - A New Beginning

I'm originally from Vietnam and came to Canada 3 years ago to find a better education. Although Vietnam is still a developing country and has a poor education compared to other places in the world, I'm still proud to be a Vietnamese because of its chastity with a rich, colorful culture we have.

 One of the most important thing that we all celebrate is Tết Holiday (a.k.a Lunar New Year). Tết calculated by the phases of the moon, which usually occur in the late January to early February. During Tết, winter concludes and spring enters, it is known to be the time when the cycle of the universe ends to give way for the beginning of a new one. Flowering peach trees is one of the fast-selling items during this season. As it symbolizes life and good fortune, people believe that bringing one home promises something positive as they celebrate the coming of spring. 

The reason why we celebrate this is because we believe that this is the time to start a new year with a renewed spirit and positive frame of mind. For the Vietnamese, honoring the coming of the New Year looks ahead towards good fortunes while centering on happiness and positive values. The numerous festivities aim on reinforcing Vietnamese culture, beliefs and family ties.

2017 is the year of Rooster 

Depends on the animal of the zodiac, we do different activities to bring the luck for that animal, along with get rid of the things that will impact the animal of the year. Not only that, we also believe that  the first day, as well as the first week of the New Year will determine one’s path for the next twelve months, so we do activities to refresh the year like: clean the house, buy new clothes, cook new foods, pay off the debt, give wishes to others, the most excited part is giving out the lucky money. 

 It is really important to pass this culture to other because these very traditions expresses our National identity, and reconnect out heritage every single year. Even for Vietnamese that stay in different countries like me, we still find a way to celebrate the holiday. For example, most of the Vietnamese will try to fly back home to reunion with their family during Tet or connect through internet during the ceremony, but since Tet Festival is becoming world wide to those areas contain many Vietnamese (i.e America, Australia, Canada, etc), we still come together as a community to practice our culture. Tết is a long and proud tradition of Vietnamese all over the world, this is one symbolic celebration of birth and renewal that will only strengthen over the years to come.

Works Cited

www.viettravelmagazine.com/2016/12/tet-customs-in-vietnam.html.

Vietnamonline. www.vietnamonline.com/tet.html.