|
|
 |
|
Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, in the New Orleans Vietnamese Community
by Dr. Kathleen Carlin and Cam-Thanh Tran
with the advice of Father Vien The Nguyen and Brother Thieu Nguyen
Chuc mung nam moi! Happy New Year!
Importance of Tet to Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans
Preparation - Food and Activities
Celebrating the Days of Tet
Chúc mung nam moi! Happy New Year!
As the new year begins and the old year is put to rest, all Vietnamese rejoice in their most important holiday - New Year. The living pay homage to the dead, and younger community members honor their elders. Families are reunified; the coming of spring and the planting season are celebrated. This is a time for relaxation, joy, and hope. Tet is the time to settle past mistakes and start anew. It is the height of feasting, parties, and gift giving-especially for children, who are rewarded with red envelopes containing "lucky money." Traditionally, this was the time when everyone counted himself or herself one year older. Houses are meticulously cleaned, business accounts are settled, homes are decorated with flowers and budding saplings, and everyone buys new clothes. To celebrate the New Year as a family is an essential part of the Vietnamese experience and a way of validating one's place in the most important group-the family. Everybody who is able to do so goes back home to visit parents and grandparents. Extended families come together to enjoy each other's company and to pay ceremonial respect to the elders of the family and the ancestors; churches or temples are filled with worshippers. People visit family and friends, eat special holiday dishes, give gifts, and play games of chance. Firecrackers welcome the New Year. A good Tet augurs a good year ahead.
Tet, or more accurately Tet Nguyên Ðán, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday in Vietnam. Officially filling the first three days of the lunar calendar, which is shared with China, Japan, and Korea, the holiday unofficially continues for more than a week. Vietnamese, and also Western writers, trying to explain how important Tet is to Vietnamese culture, often describe it as a combination of New Year's Day, Christmas, birthdays, Easter, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. Not only is it the time for reunion with family, but also for material and spiritual renewal. Its traditions, folklore, foodways, music, and dances hark back centuries in Vietnamese history and are central to Vietnamese culture. Some customs are shared with China; many are unique to Vietnam. Even after more than thirty years of living in New Orleans, this holiday is still extremely important to the Vietnamese living here in the United States and, if anything, has grown more vibrant as the Vietnamese community has become more stable.
The word Tet comes from another Vietnamese word, "tiet," which means "a unit." There are four seasons (units of the year) and, therefore, there are four Tets. By far the most important of them is Tet Nguyên Ðán, because it marks the beginning of the New Year, and it is often referred to simply as "Tet". Since Vietnam has been an intensely agricultural country for thousands of years, the New Year starts at the beginning of spring when the next season's crops have been planted and have begun to grow. Midnight between the last day of the old year and the first day of the new one is full of profound meaning. That moment, that millisecond, represents the meeting of winter and spring, of hunger and plenty, of death and life. This is when people stand before household altars to their ancestors, offering incense and prayers, reporting what went on in the family during the past year, and asking for good fortune in the future, because the spirits of one's ancestors still live and remain closely connected to their descendants.
Next - Importance of Tet to Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans
Dr. Kathleen Carlin is an educator and an independent anthropologist in New Orleans. She has been working with the Vietnamese community in New Orleans for many years, lately especially with the Intercultural Charter School and the Tulane School of Public Health. Cam-Thanh Tran is an educator who moved to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She works with Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation and has been very involved in founding the Intercultural Charter School in New Orleans East. She is active in community affairs and has a longtime interest in Vietnamese culture. This article was prepared as part of the New Populations Project.
|
