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Tet Tet Tet is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year though exceptions arise due to the one - hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Tet shares many of the same customs of its Chinese counterpart, having been derived from it. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tet by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tet, like visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xong nha), ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop. Tet is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. During Tet, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year. They consider Tet to be the first day of spring and the festival is often called Hoi xuan (spring festival).
Tet in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tat Nien (Before New Year's Eve), Giao Thua (New Year's Eve), and Tan Nien (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tet, the eve of Tet, and the days of and following Tet, respectively. All of these customs are to celebrate Tet in Vietnam. Before New Year's Eve In the days leading up to Tet, the streets and markets are full of people. As the shops will be closed during Tet, everyone is busy buying food, clothes, and decorations for their house. Vietnamese families usually have a family altar, to pay respect to their ancestors. Vietnamese families have a tray of five different fruits on their altar called "Ngu Qua" (five fruits type). During T?t the altar is thoroughly cleaned and new offerings are placed there. Traditionally, the three kitchen guardians for each house (Ong Tao) (Kitchen God), who report to the Jade Emperor about the events in that house over the past year, return to heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth month by lunar calendar. Their departure is marked by a modest ceremony where the family offers sacrifices for them to use on their journey. In the days leading up to Tet, each family cooks special holiday foods such as banh chung and banh dry. Preparations for these foods are quite extensive. Family members often take turns to keep watch on the fire overnight, telling each other stories about T?t of past years. The New Year Sweeping during Tet is taboo or xui (unlucky), since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away. It is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tet. During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends. Traditionally but not strictly, the second day of Tet is usually reserved for friends, while the third day is for teachers, who command respect in Vietnam. Local Buddhist temples are popular spots as people like to give donations and to get their fortunes told during Tet. Children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as bau cua ca cop, which can be found in the streets. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house. There are also public performances for everyone to watch. Decorations
At Tet every house is usually decorated by hoa mai ? Ochna integerrima (in the central and southern parts of Vietnam) or hoa ?ao ? peach flower (in the northern part of Vietnam) or hoa ban (in mountain areas). In the north, some people (especially the elite in the past) also decorate their house with a Prunus mume tree (also called mai in Vietnamese, but referring to a totally different species from Ochna integerrima). In the north or central, the kumquat tree is a popular decoration for the living room during Tet. Its many fruits symbolize the fertility and fruitfulness that the family hopes for in the coming year. Vietnamese people also decorate their homes with bonsai and flower plants such as chrysanthemum (hoa cuc), marigold (Van tho) symbolizing longevity, mao ga in Southern Vietnam and paperwhite flower, lavender, hoa buom in Northern Vietnam. In the past, there was a tradition that old people tried to make their paperwhite flowers blossom right the watch-night time. They also hung up Dong Ho Paintings and thu phap (calligraphy pictures). Greetings
Food specialties for TET On the last day of the old year, the preparation of food to offer to the ancestors is of special significance. Dishes to offer to the ancestors differ in the Northern, Central and Southern parts of the country, depending on their respective weather conditions at the time and on different local agricultural products available. What is common in all regions of the country during Tet holidays are the varieties of soups, fried, boiled, or stewed dishes, meat, fish, vegetable... The foods that the Vietnamese eat at Tet are varied and diverse. What they have in common is that the people throughout the country all want to have the best and the most beautiful looking food on this occasion to offer their ancestors and to treat their friends and guests.
Whether the fortunes are taken seriously depends entirely on the person receiving the fortune and the reputation of the fortune teller.
Customs and taboos Do's One should give people lucky presents to enhance the relationship between themselves and others: new clothes, peach branches (for expelling evil), cocks (wishing for good manners), new rice (wishing for being well fed), rice wine in a gourd (wishing for a rich and comfortable life), banh chung (or banh tet) and banh day which symbolize sky and earth (for worshipping the ancestors), red things (red symbolizes happiness, luckiness, advantages) like watermelon, dogs (the bark gau gau which sounds like the word giau or richness in Vietnamese language), medicated oil (dau in Vietnamese, also sounds similar to giau). One should sprinkle lime powder around the house to expel evil. Don'ts
The Tet of the New Year is, above all, is an opportunity for the household genies to meet, those who have helped during the year, namely the Craft Creator, the Land Genie and the Kitchen God. Tet is also an opportunity to invite and welcome deceased ancestors back for a family reunion with their descendants to join the family's Tet celebrations. Finally, Tet is a good opportunity for family members to meet. This custom has become sacred and secular and, therefore, no matter where they are or whatever the circumstances, family members find ways to come back to meet their loved ones, gather for a dinner of traditional foods like "Banh Chung" (a square cake made of sticky rice stuffed with beans and pork), "M?ng" (a soup of boiled bamboo shoots and flied pork) and "Xoi Gac" (orange sticky rice). This is followed by a visit to the local pagodas. Everyone is in a rush to get a haircut, buy new clothes, spruce up their homes, visit friends, settle outstanding debts, and stock up on traditional Tet delicacies. Businesses hang festive red banners which read "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year) and city streets are festoned with colored lights. Stalls spring up all over town to sell Mut (candied fruits and jams), traditional cakes, and fresh fruit and flowers. Certain markets sell nothing but cone-shaped kumquat bushes. Others sell flowering peach trees, symbols of life and good fortune which people bring into their homes to celebrate the coming of spring. As vendors pour into the City with peach trees strapped to their bicycles, the streets look like moving pink forests. The "Mam Ngu Qua"
Dao, Mai, Quat (the Peach, Apricot and Kumquat) Coming to Vietnam during the season of the Tet festival, the visitor is engulfed in an ocean of colorful flowers. Visiting flower shows, contemplating the buds and blooms, and purchasing blossoms represents one of the distinct Vietnamese cultural characteristics. The peach (in the North ) and the apricot blossoms (in the South) are symbols of the Vietnamese Tet. The warm pink of the peach could very well match the dry cold of the North, but the hot South seems to be flourishing in the riot of the yellow of the apricot. The mandarin is symbolic of good fortune and, therefore, people tend to choose the little plants laden with fruit, big and orange, and verdant leaves for a longer display. The Giao Thua ( New Year's eve )
After the Giao Thua is the start of the New Year with many customs and practices, amusements and entertainment, all of a distinct Vietnamese folk culture. If you have an opportunity to visit Vietnam during the Tet Holidays and to welcome the Tet Festivities, together with the Vietnamese people, you will surely be profoundly impressed by the distinct traditional culture that is rich in national identity. On behalf of Le Phong Team, We all wish a happy, lucky and successful NEW YEAR! 2010 Health, Wealth and Happiness!
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Nguyen Dan pronunciation, more commonly known by its shortened name Tet, is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Lunar calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The name Tet Nguyen Dan is Sino -Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from the Han nom characters ߌU.
Tat Nien offeringThis period begins one or two weeks before the actual celebration. The general atmosphere leading up to Tet is in the bustle of shopping, decorating the home, cooking traditional Tet food and waiting for relatives to return home. People try to pay off their debts in advance so that they can be debt - free on Tet. Parents buy new clothes for their children so that the children can wear them when Tet arrives. Because a lot of commercial activity will cease during the celebrations, people try to stock up on supplies as much as possible.
A boy in front of a tree decorated for Tet. The first day of Tet is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called mung tuoi (happy new age) in the north and li xi in the south. Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tet greetings before receiving the money. Since the Vietnamese believe that the first visitor a family receives in the year determines their fortune for the entire year, people never enter any house on the first day without being invited first. The act of being the first person to enter a house on Tet is called xong ?at, xong nha or ?ap ?at, which is one of the most important rituals during Tet. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to the family on the first day of the lunar New Year, the entire following year will also be full of blessings. Usually, a person of good temper, morality and success will be the lucky sign for the host family and be invited first into the house. However, just to be safe, the owner of the house will leave the house a few minutes before midnight and come back just as the clock strikes midnight to prevent anyone else entering the house first who might potentially bring any unfortunate events in the new year to the household.
Peach flower. 
Hoa mai (Apricot).Traditionally, each family displays cay neu, an artificial New Year Tree consisting of a bamboo pole 5 to 6 m long. The top end is usually decorated with many objects, depending on the locality, including good luck charms, origami fish, cactus branches, etc.
Song lau tram tuoi (Live up to 100 years): used by children for elders. Traditionally, everyone is one year older on Tet, so children would wish their grandparents health and longevity in exchange for mung tuoi or li xi. (red envelop)
Suc khoe doi dao dao(Plenty of health) 
In Vietnam, to celebrate Tet is to ?n Tet, literally meaning "Tet eating", showing the importance of food in its celebration. Some of the food is also eaten year round, while other dishes are only eaten during T?t. Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on Tet. Some traditional food on Tet are:
Banh Chung and banh day: essentially tightly packed sticky rice with meat or bean fillings wrapped in Dong
(Phrynium placentarium) leaves. When this leaves is unavailable, banana leaves can be used as a subtitute. Banh chung (rectangular) and banh day (circular) are symbolically connected with Tet and are essential in any Tet celebration. Preparation is time-consuming, and can take days to cook. The story of their origins and their connection with Tet is often recounted to children while cooking them overnight. 
Hat Dua: roasted watermelon seeds, also eaten during Tet. 
Dua Hanh": pickled onion and pickled cabbage. 
Thit kho nuoc dua: Meaning "Meat Stewed in Coconut Juice", it is a traditional dish of fatty pork stomach and medium boiled eggs stewed in a broth-like sauce made overnight of young coconut juice and nuoc mam. It is often eaten with pickled bean sprouts and chives, and white rice. 
People can also visit fortune tellers, in temples and in the streets, to have their fortunes told. You must know your
zodiac sign and the star you were born under to have your fortune read. 
This scared Festival sometimes between late January or early February (depend on Lunar Calendar ) and Tet has become so familiar to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives. The Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavors of the Vietnamese festivities. Although officially a three-day affair, festivities may continue for a week or more with every effort made to indulge in eating, drinking, and enjoyable social activities. It is also a time for family reunions, and for paying respect to ancestors and the elders. Gifts of food are made to friends, neighbors and relatives in the days before Tet. 
The "five-fruit tray" on the ancestral altar during the Tet Holidays symbolizes the admiration and gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their ancestors, and demonstrates their aspiration for a life of plenty. Legend said alot of theories but in a simpler way, the five fruits represent the quintessence that Heaven and Earth bless humans. This is one of the general perceptions of life of the Vietnamese, which is "When taking fruit, you should think of the grower". 
The Giao Thua is the most sacred point of time, the passage from the old to the New Year. It is popularly believed that in Heaven there are twelve Highnesses in charge of monitoring and controlling the affairs on earth, each of them taking charge of one year. The Giao Thua is the moment of seeing off the old chieftain upon the conclusion of his term and welcoming in the new one upon his assumption of office. For this reason, every home makes offerings in the open air to pray for a good new year.t 