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SECTION 2: FESTIVALS

9. What are some important festivals in your country?''
Beyond the national festivals mentioned onwards many local festivals take place throughout the year around the country. There are also scores of regional festivals, often jointly celebrated by collections of villages. Many ethnic groups also celebrate festivals.
Tet - Vietnamese and Chinese New Year- With a history that dates back thousands of years, the Tet festival was originally a celebration held by Vietnamese farmers to thank the gods for the arrival of spring, sometime between late January or early February. 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.
Mid-Autumn or Children’s Moon Festival (Tet-Trung-Thu)
- The essence of Tet-Trung-Thu - celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month - is to promote education, culture, music, sports, arts and crafts, and poetry.
- Beginning at noon and ending at midnight, the festival includes:
- folklore displays.
- Children's games.
- Lantern processions.
- Dragon Dances.
- Multicultural performances.
- Delicacies include moon cakes, sticky rice, fruits and various sweets.
10. Describe a Vietnamese traditional festival:
Vietnam has many traditional and religious holidays but none can be compared to New Year festival, Tet Nguyen-Dan or, in short, Tet.
- Where and when does it take place?
Tet starts on the first day of the first lunar month and is the first season of the new year (according to the lunar calendar).
Tet has become so familiar, so sacred 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 flavours of the Vietnamese festivities.
- Do you have special food or dress for this festival? tell me about it.
The Banh Chung has been a "must" during the Tet holidays. The Banh Chung is very nutritious, has an original tasty flavour and may be kept for a long time. All of its ingredients and materials, from the green wrapping leaves to sticky rice and pork, green peas and pepper inside, are all medicines (according to Oriental Medicine) that act to keep harmony between the positive and the negative, thus helping the blood circulate well and preventing diseases. Certainly, no other cakes could be of such cultural significance and produce such medical effects as the green Banh Chung of Vietnam.
- What do people do to prepare for such occasion? How do people celebrate?
- The first signs of the impending holiday show up a month before Tet. Workmen start building stalls near the markets to sell holiday items such as New Year's greeting cards, candied fruits and decorations. Prices for everything begin to rise.
- Houses and buildings get a new paint. People buy new clothes, exchange greeting cards, wish each other Happy New Year Chuc Mung Nam Moi).
- It's auspicious if the branches bloom on the first morning of Tet: apricot blossoms are reputed to keep demons out of the homes at this time. The ideal is to have the flowers bloom just at Tet, so much care is given in picking just the right braches. Some families buy entire apricot tree and decorate it with greeting cards from well-wishers. Families also paste up strips of red paper “cau doi” with sayings of wealth, happiness, prosperity, and longevity; They also buy fruits with names reminding of their wishes for the coming year.
- Family gather making the traditional Banh Chung, the cake of sticky rice, and fruit candies (Mut).
- Traditionally, no cooking is done during the three day holiday, so all food must be prepared beforehand.
- What happens during this festival?
- At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a ceremony called "Giao Thua" is held in which a sacrifice for the spirits and the ancestors is made on a lovely candle-lit altar in the open air near the home.
- After this, the family may break off some new buds from the special new plants and trees recently purchased for Tet and go to the Pagoda. There, they place incense before the altar and pray for the prosperity of the new year. When they leave the pagoda, another new bud is picked from a plant or tree and placed on the top of a column at their home on returning. This symbolizes good luck.
- The next morning, the family arises early and dress in their new clothes. Dishes of special foods are prepared to be placed on the family altar for the ancestors who are back in the home during Tet. This will be repeated twice daily until Tet is over.
- Everyone offers each other New Year wishes, and the children are given lucky red envelopes containing money.
- On the fourth day of Tet, the Vietnamese believe that their ancestors return to their heavenly abode. The stores begin to re-open and life regains its normalcy. People visit graves on this day acting as an escort for their departing ancestors.
- During Tet festival, all stores are closed and businesses are interrupted for at least 3 days.
- Things not to do in Tet festival:
Some things are considered to be very bad luck if done at Tet. A few of them to do at Tet are as follows.
- Never clean house during Tet.
- Do not insult others or misbehave.
- Do not use profanity (rude words).
- Do not look fretful or show any anger or grief.
- Do not break any dishes.
- Compare how people celebrate it now with how people may have celebrated it in the past.
- Prepa