Happy Lunar New Year - Tết

Tết is rooted in wet-rice civilisation and the rhythm of the seasons. The end of the lunar year is when the fields rest after harvest and farmers have time to gather, give thanks to heaven, earth and ancestors, and prepare for the next planting. Nguyên đán joins nguyên, the beginning, and đán, the dawn, so Tết Nguyên đán is the festival of the first morning of the year.

The start of the lunar year as we know it was fixed by the Taichu calendar, issued by Emperor Wu of Han in 104 BC, which made the month of the Tiger the first month. The Vietnamese used the lunisolar calendar through many dynasties yet kept a Tết all their own, from bánh chưng and the nêu pole to lucky money and the first visitor. Since 1968 the Vietnamese calendar has been reckoned on the seventh time zone, so Tết sometimes falls a day apart from countries using other time zones.

According to the Lĩnh Nam chích quái, the sixth Hùng King wished to choose an heir and asked his sons to find offerings for the ancestors at the start of spring, promising the throne to whoever pleased him most. The elder princes searched the mountains and seas for rare delicacies. Lang Liêu, the eighteenth son, whose mother had died young, was poor and had no idea what to offer.

In a dream a spirit told Lang Liêu that nothing in heaven and earth is more precious than the rice that feeds people. He wrapped sticky rice, mung beans and pork in dong leaves to make a square cake representing the earth, called bánh chưng, and pounded sticky rice into a round cake representing the sky, called bánh giầy. Moved by his filial devotion, the king passed the throne to Lang Liêu.

Since then bánh chưng has been an essential offering on northern Tết altars, while the south wraps the long cylindrical bánh tét. Sitting up through the night beside the pot of boiling cakes remains a memory shared by generations of Vietnamese, a time for the family to gather and talk about the year gone by.

Fatty pork, pickled onions, red couplets. The nêu pole, firecrackers, green bánh chưng.

Traditional Tết couplet

In the last days of the twelfth month, families return to their hometowns to visit ancestral graves, clear the weeds, add fresh soil, burn incense and invite the departed home for Tết. Tending graves at year's end expresses the principle of remembering one's roots, and it is also when relatives from far away meet again before the busy days of Tết.

On the afternoon of the thirtieth, after cleaning the house and altar and setting out the five-fruit tray, the family makes the year-end offering and welcomes the ancestors home. Throughout the three days of Tết the altar stays lit, with incense and a meal offered at every mealtime, as if the grandparents were living with their descendants. On the third or fourth day the family burns votive paper to see the ancestors off again.

The Vietnamese believe the first day of the year sets the luck of the whole year. So the first person to step into the house after midnight, the first visitor, is often chosen in advance: someone of a compatible age, cheerful and doing well in life. On the first day many families avoid sweeping, giving away fire, lending money or saying unhappy words, to keep their luck.

The order of the three days of Tết is captured in a familiar saying. On day one the family greets the grandparents and parents on the father's side, on day two the mother's side, and on day three they visit the teachers who taught them. The custom shows how the Vietnamese arrange their bonds: family and roots first, then those who opened the way in life.

Day one for father, day two for mother, day three for teacher.

Vietnamese proverb

In the past the Vietnamese counted age by calendar year, so the whole country grew a year older at the new year. That is where lucky money began: adults give children a little money with wishes to eat well and grow fast, and children give gifts to grandparents and parents wishing them long and healthy lives. The value of the gift lies in the wish, not the amount.

Red envelopes are used because red stands for good fortune. The word lì xì comes from the Cantonese pronunciation of two characters meaning something beneficial and auspicious. Today, alongside paper envelopes, many people send lucky money through banking apps, and many companies hand out lucky money to staff on their first day back at work.

The 2012 Labour Code raised the Lunar New Year holiday from four to five days, and the 2019 Labour Code kept five paid days off. Each year the Government announces the exact dates, usually joined to the weekend to form the longest break of the year. The weeks before Tết are when bus, train and plane tickets home sell out.

After the holiday, many companies choose an auspicious day to reopen, hand out lucky money and set new goals. It is also the liveliest time in the job market: with their Tết bonus in hand, many workers consider a change, while companies step up hiring to meet the year's plans. A new working year truly begins in the first lunar month.