Tết is the biggest holiday in Vietnam. It is often known as Tet Holiday, Vietnamese New Year or Vietnamese Lunar New Year.
During Tết period, people would get several days off from work and children would get time off from school to celebrate. People are usually off work the day before Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year and the day after Lunar New Year. Depending on the employers and schools, people may get more days off before or after Lunar New Year.
Table of Contents
- Before Lunar New Year
- First few days of Lunar New Year
- Tết
- 30 Tết
- Giao thừa
- Mồng, mùng
- Lì xì
- Bao lì xì
- Mừng tuổi
- Chúc mừng năm mới
- Chúc Tết
- Bánh tét
- Bánh chưng
- Cây Mai, hoa Mai
- Cây Đào, hoa Đào
Before Lunar New Year
During this Tet holiday and before Lunar New Year, people would go out to shop for specific plants to decorate the house and specific food that are popular to have during this holiday.
On the streets everywhere, you will see beautiful flowers and decorations for this biggest event of the year. You will also see red envelopes hanging in the front of many shops for sale on the streets. You may also hear songs about Tết and shows about Tết that are only played and performed mostly during Tet holiday. It is hard not to notice this special event if you just walk around the streets or watch TV.
One popular location in Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city of the South, during the days before Vietnamese Lunar New Year is “đường hoa Nguyễn Huệ,” which is literally translated as Nguyễn Huệ Flower Street. It is one of the most beautiful streets in the city and is full of flowers and art exhibits every year during Tet holiday. The theme is usually about the Zodiac animal of the year. The street would be blocked during this period and only allow pedestrians. It is a very long street. In recent years, this street has been turned into a walking street; therefore, people sometimes call it Nguyễn Huệ walking street.
First few days of Lunar New Year
During the first few days of Lunar New Year, people would go give each other New Year wishes and give kids and younger people lucky money. They will also visit their relatives’ families and friends to give New Year wishes and lucky money to the kids and spend time together.
Now let’s go over some common vocabulary for Tet holiday.
Tết
The correct spelling for Tet in Tet holiday is “Tết”. Someone may refer to Tết as Tet in English, as short for Tet holiday, but note that Tet is actually English form of Tết because there are no accent marks in English.
When you mention Tết to Vietnamese, we know that you are referring to a period that we celebrate Lunar New Year. Tết is not a one-day holiday like New Year. It is a period that lasts from several days before Lunar New Year to several days after Lunar New Year.
30 Tết
The day before Vietnamese Lunar New Year.
Giao thừa
It is the midnight of 30 Tết. It is the transition period from one year to another.
Mồng, mùng
Mồng or mùng is often used with number from 1 through 10 to refer to the days immediately following “giao thừa.”
Vietnamese New Year or the first day of the new Lunar year is called mùng 1. The second day is called mùng 2, third day is called mùng 3, and so on. We stop at mùng 10 though. We don’t call the 11th day mùng 11.
Mùng and mồng can be used interchangeably. Personally, I use mùng and the people I know say mùng. But if you say “mồng 1” or “mồng một”, I understand what you mean.
If you don’t remember how to pronounce 1-10 in Vietnamese, you can review here.
Lì xì
Lì xì means to give someone a red envelope with lucky money inside.
Older people usually give red envelopes with money inside to younger people and kids during Tết, during the mùng days (mùng 1, mùng 2, etc.).
Bao lì xì
Bao lì xì is the red envelope that you put lucky money inside. They come in various designs.
Mừng tuổi
“Mừng” means to congratulate or be happy. “Tuổi” means age. “Mừng tuổi” means to congratulate someone for being a year older. There’s no equivalent one word or phrase in English for “mừng tuổi.”
When you mừng tuổi someone during Tết, after giving them New Year wishes, you usually give them “bao lì xì” with lucky money inside as good luck for New Year.
Chúc mừng năm mới
“Chúc” means wish (you). “Mừng” means to congratulate or be happy. “Năm” means year. “Mới” means new. Together, chúc mừng năm mới literally means to congratulate someone on the new year. It is often used in a wish, for example, “Wish you a new year year full of luck and happiness,” which means “chúc (mừng) bạn năm mới đầy may mắn và hạnh phúc.” “Chúc mừng năm mới” is also often translated as “Happy New Year,” though happy new year has a different meaning.
Happy means “vui” or “vui vẻ.” New year means “năm mới” as mentioned above. Therefore, “năm mới vui vẻ” is the literal translation of “Happy New Year.”
Chúc Tết
“Chúc” means to give someone wishes. The phrase “Chúc Tết” means to give someone New Year wishes during Tết holiday.
Bánh tét
We have several types of Vietnamese rice cake that we usually eat during Tết but not other occasions. Bánh tét is a type of Vietnamese sticky rice cake wrapped with banana leaves. It is usually packed in the cylindrical shape.
Bánh chưng
Bánh chưng is another popular type of Vietnamese sticky rice cake that we eat during Tết. It is also wrapped with banana leaves but usually packed in a square shape.
It is said that the origin of bánh chưng is related to the famous fairy tale of bánh chưng, bánh dầy of the 18th son of King Hùng, Lang Liêu, in Vietnam. According to the fairy tale, Bánh chưng represents the earth. You can read the story in Vietnamese on this website I just found thegioicotich.vn. (thegioi is a non-accent mark version of “thế giới,” which means world; cotich is a non-accent mark version of “cổ tích,” which means fairy tales; together, it means world of fairy tales).
Cây Mai, hoa Mai
Photo credit to Tuấn Cường
“Mai” has a few meanings. “Mai” means tomorrow, or the type of yellow flower/tree you see in the photo. This yellow flower tree’s scientific name is Ochna Integerrima, common name is yellow apricot blossom.
“Cây” means tree. “Cây Mai” is the Ochna Integerrima plant (or the yellow flower tree you see in the photo). It is a popular tree to have during Tết in Vietnam. It is kind of like having Christmas tree during Christmas. People usually shop for this type of tree days before Vietnamese Lunar New Year and have it out during Tết.
“Hoa” means flower or flowers. “Hoa Mai” are the yellow flowers you see in the photo.
Cây Đào, hoa Đào
Cây Đào is another type of plants. Đào in cây Đào is peach blossom. Like Mai, Đào is a popular plant to have during Tết. Cây Đào or hoa Đào is more popular in the Northern regions in Vietnam.