"Tết" in Vietnam

Cleaning up ancestors’ graves and adorning the altar of ancestors with flowers, fruits, and food offerings are the traditional customs of Vietnamese people during Tết.

Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in China when people enjoy a week off to celebrate with their families. There are numerous festivities taking place during this special holiday, sometimes lasting up to 16 days.

Chinese New Year heavily influences the Lunar New Year celebrations of other countries in the world, such as the Losar of Tibet, Tết in Vietnam and the Korean New Year. It is also observed in regions and countries with significant overseas Chinese or Sinophone populations, such as Taiwan, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, the United States, Mauritius, and Canada.

On New Year’s Day, Chinese elders give red envelopes – known as hóngbāo in Mandarin – to children or unmarried people, a tradition that evolved from the practice of giving coins to ward off evil spirits. Performing lion or dragon dances and lighting fireworks or firecrackers on New Year’s Day are some other common ways people celebrate Lunar New Year in China.

Korean New Year, known as Seollal, is a three-day national holiday commemorating the first day of the Korean calendar. During this traditional festival, Korean people usually visit their families, wear hanbok, perform ancestral rites, and eat traditional foods. Joining folk games is also a popular activity to celebrate the new year. Like China and Vietnam, in Korea, after performing a formal bow, children frequently receive money from the elderly.

Two special cultural events for ethnically Chinese Malaysians namely Pai Thnee Kong (in Penang) and Thnee Kong Sei (in Hokkien), take place on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. During these festivities, people offer fruits, flowers, and other types of foods to Jade Emperor to celebrate his birthday.

When the clock strikes midnight in the Philippines, you'll see children and adults jumping for joy, as it's thought to make you grow taller. The most traditional celebration is called Media Noche, a midnight feast to summon a year of prosperity. The table is usually full of round-shaped fruits — a tradition that originates from China — as the shape represents family unity.

The foods typically eaten during the holiday include sticky rice dishes, such as biko, bibingka, and nian gao, all believed to help bind families together. Pancit (long noodles) is also enjoyed to help bring a healthy, long life and good luck for the year ahead.

One of the most unique superstitions is that wearing polka dots will bring prosperity, money, and good fortune, because of their round shape. Fireworks are also set off to create loud noises that scare away bad spirits, while lights are turned on and windows and doors are left open. Many people avoid spending money on the first day of the year to encourage better finances.

It is estimated that about 1.5 billion people around the world observe Lunar New Year. Many of which are ethnically Chinese around the world. In other countries such as Campuchia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, and Cambodia,... people celebrate Lunar New Year by watching fireworks, dragon dances, cooking traditional foods and exchanging red envelopes.