Vietnamese New Year Celebration Do’s and Dont’s

If you see once Vietnamese New Year Celebration, you’ll know it’s the year's most important festival in my country.

During that special event, there are many things that people should do and don’t. Here the five of each for your reading.

Should do in Vietnamese Tet

1. Pay tribute to ancestors

Almost all Vietnamese families have an ancestral altar in houses. We value ancestry worship.

Lunar New Year Tet is a time to think about and show our gratitude to ancestors. During the festival, we clean the household altar, prepare a plate of five fruits (Mâm ngũ quả), incense, candles, and delicious dishes to worship the departed.

2. Clean house, polish utensils, dress nice clothes

Almost all Vietnamese families have an ancestral altar in houses. We value ancestry worship.

Lunar New Year Tet is a time to think about and show our gratitude to ancestors. During the festival, we clean the household altar, prepare a plate of five fruits (Mâm ngũ quả), incense, candles, and delicious dishes to worship the departed.

3. Smile, have a nice attitude and behavior

People love nice attitude, and even more in new year. That will apparently invite fortune on the occasion of new year.

4. Give good wishes to everybody

Whenever people meet one other, they greet with good wishes like “Happy new year”.

Personally, I am not quite comfortable with a stereotyped repetition like that. But year after year, I feel more natual. When we do something positively, even by wish, it brings us an merry feeling, and life becomes brighter and better.

5. Give lucky money to kids (mừng tuổi / lì xì)

During Vietnamese New Year Celebration, every single child liove to receive lucky money from their parents, relatives, and other adults. Popular amount ranges from 10,000VND to 100,000VND (See more about Vietnamese currency).

You can give directly or put money in a red color small envelop that is only used in Tet duration.

Should not do in Vietnamese lunar new year

1. Don’t quarrel, fight, swear, curse, talk about unlucky things like accidents, death, funerals

Those actions are considered to bring bad luck in the next whole year. So, you should remember to avoid such negative things. Perhaps, no one likes such bad things in normal days, let alone in Vietnamese New Year Celebration.

2. Don’t ask for debt repayment

We don’t such thing in every 1st day of each lunar month, and especially avoid in the whole new year festival. That viewpoint applies in business also: we don’t make settlement in 1st day in lunar calendar. Otherwise, we will presuably pay out all such duration (month or year).

3. Don’t visit a family in 1st day, if not invited.

Vietnamese has a customs of visitting a family in the first day of a year, called xông nhà. The person to do this should be carefully selected man, who's a successful, trustworthy, and with good character. Many times, especially to people doing business, the selected man should have matching age (based on in 12 zodiac signs in astrology) with the family’s eldest man in that new year.

If uninvited person come to your house and he does not to match to your age, that will be considered to bring bad luck to your family. You don’t want to be in such situation, do you?

4. Don’t show off at other people’s house if your immediate family has a funeral last year.

Because that will bring bad luck to the visiting family. If that’s a closed friend’s or someone’s you really want to stop by, just wait at least till the 4th.

5. Don’t sweeping house during the first 3 days.

That’s because of a legend about the God of Wealth who lives in a corner of a house. If you sweep floor, you’ll drive him together with your luck and proper away. So, just clean your house before or after the first three days of a lunar year.

How’s about you? Do you agree with above list of things that people do and don’t during Vietnamese New Year Celebration? Please share some of your thoughts or comments here as well.

Return from Vietnamese New Year Celebration to Vietnamese New Year

Return from Vietnamese New Year Celebration to Home Page