WHAT IS TET NGUYEN DAN ?

Tết Nguyên Đán, more commonly known by its shortened nameTết, is the most important and popularholidayand festival inVietnam.It is the VietnameseNew Yearderived from theChinese New Yearbased on theLunarcalendar, alunisolar calendar. The nameTết Nguyên ĐánisSino-VietnameseforFeast of the First Morning

Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year though exceptions arise due to the one-hour time difference betweenHanoiandBeijing. It takes place from the first day of the first month of theLunarcalendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Tết shares many of the same customs of itsChinesecounterpart, having been derived from it. ManyVietnameseprepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, like visiting a person's house on the first day of thenew year(xông nhà), ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. During Tết, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year. They consider Tết to be the first day of spring and the festival is often called Hội xuân(spring festival).