As another Tet holiday, welcoming in the Lunar New year slides past as life gets back to the normal craziness, here in Ho Chi Minh City.
Tet is the biggest of all holiday's ever in Vietnam; something like combining all the US holidays into one big event and then still celebrated all of them again as they came up at their regular time.
In Tet you have the gift giving, decorating and preparation components, much like Christmas in the USA but much bigger. Officially it’s a three day holiday but many people are given a week off and many restaurants and stores close for three days and some stay closed for the whole week.
Vietnam has also caught onto Christmas, embracing the social aspects of it, if not the religious parts, as another opportunity for gift giving, special decorations and holiday music. Also, the western New Year’s is celebrated, much the same as we do in the states, fireworks, parties and all that. Though, Tet still remains the mother of all holidays.
One of the components of Tet is the concept of "Lucky money". This is where special red colored New Year’s envelopes with small denomination of money inside, say - 20,000 dong, are given to younger /older Vietnamese and helpers on New Year’s eve or New Year’s day, by people like me. The enclosed bills must be crisp and clean, probably symbolizing the fresh start of the New Year. I've read that this practice is so popular it has caused shortages of currency at the banks. While I don't fully understand the reasoning behind "lucky money" I'm here to tell you – if you want to create a stir, hand out some of those red envelopes, that’ll do it.
Getting the New Year off to a good start is first and foremost in the minds of most Vietnamese. New clothes are bought, food is stored for the three days of the holiday, houses are cleaned and the spruced up, as my landlord repainted the entrance way to our building a couple days before Tet it is good form to make an attempt at resolving any personal disagreements to halt bad feelings following you into the New Year.
Cleaning is done before Tet to insure that good luck is not inadvertently swept out while cleaning during Tet. Vietnamese believe that digging and drawing water should not be done during Tet to allow the ground and water a chance to enjoy the holiday.
Tet can be very boring for foreigners, many of the stores and restaurants are closed and the streets were deserted here in Saigon. Many people that live and work in the city are from the countryside, Tet is a time for families and many have long holidays over the period so they head home. More affluent Vietnamese may take this time to travel to a holiday destination in country or to another country.
I’m lucky, as I have Vietnamese friends who look after me and take me along to family celebrations and meals. So for me the Tet weekend is a great time to be in Saigon, lots of good meals, beautiful flower markets, Tet displays like the one on Nguyen Hue St. to visit, a fantastic fireworks display on New Years Eve and the streets are just about peaceful.
