Tet Festival (New Year)

A colourful, family occasion the Tet Festival is the most important date in the Vietnamese calendar.

The chief guardian Spirit of the Hearth, Le Tao Quan, is said to depart from the family's home for the heavens, where he updates the Emperor of Jade with the family's activities. A new spirit is then assigned to the household for the coming year. On the day of Le Tao Quan's departure, each member of the family pays tribute to the spirit, burning sacred gold leaf paper and offering him a fish upon which he will ride to Heaven.

The spring-cleaned houses are decorated with a yellow blossom called Hoa Mai and a New Year's Tree known as the Cay Neu is made of bamboo and decorated with red paper. This is planted outside the house to ward off evil spirits while the guardian of the Hearth, Le Tao Quan, is up in Heaven.

Tet Nguyen Dan literally means the first morning of the first day of the new year. Painstaking care is given to starting the year in a good fashion, since it is believed the first day and the first week of the new year will determine ones fortunes for the rest of the year. To put things in order for the New Year, houses are painted and cleaned. Everybody buys new clothes to wear on the first day of Tet, and debts are paid so that people feel they are starting afresh. It is especially important to avoid argument or tension of any kind.

The witching hour between midnight and 1am on the Tet Nguyen Dan is one of the most important times during the entire Tet Festival, as it forms the boundary for the old and the new year. Known as Giao Thua, it is exactly one week after the guardian spirit has been sent off to Heaven and the family ushers out the spirits of the old year in a ritual called Le Tru Tich. It is during Le Tru Tich that a new Spirit of the Hearth is welcomed back into the home. The family beat drums and gongs and set off firecrackers as midnight passes, intended to repel the devil Na A and his wife, who hate light and loud noises. In between bouts of firework mayhem, the Vietnamese listen for the sounds of the new year. A barking dog (and you can guarantee there are always hundreds of them) symbolises confidence and trust; a buffalo's bellow forecasts hard work while an owl's hoot is a doom-laden symbol of impending sickness.

The first visitor to the house on the morning of Tet Nyugen Dan is very important. If a charming, successful, rich and prestigious guest is the first to cross the threshold then the family are assured a good year. Thus the unpopular and the poor are generally passed over when the invitations are sent out! Once the guests have been received, the family travel together to the church or pagoda (depending on their faith), where they pray for good fortune and happiness.

Tet officially lasts for seven days and ends with the Le Kahi Ha ritual, during which the tree Cay Neu is taken down. During the seven days, poems known as 'cau doi' meaning 'sentence pair' are composed and recited to friends and family. People dress up in colourful silk ao dais, and processions of fearsome dragons (each inhabited by two agile young Vietnamese) fill the streets with spectacle and noise.

The Tet Festival, like so many festivals in Asia, is about promoting happiness and well-being, warding off misfortune while engendering oneness between man and heaven. It's a fabulous time to be in Vietnam and probably most exciting in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or in Hué. Make sure you reserve a room in advance, as family reunions tend to mean every available room is full! The Tet Festival always falls on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, while the partying and celebrations continue for at least a month thereafter.