Celebrating Tet- Vietnamese Lunar New Year

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
That’s how you say Happy New Year in the Mekong Delta, where we were during Tet this year. The celebrations officially last a week or so, and began the night we arrived!

Trotter Soup

The first night is the most important. For dinner we tucked into the traditional Tet dish of trotter stew. The broth reminded me of a syrup- with its gelatin consistency and red color. Clam, tripe, quail eggs, shrimp, mystery meat and of course- a pig foot were all suspended in the soup. It was delicious and washed down with a sweet honey tea.

Crowds on Tet Eve

After we all had our fill of soup we followed the crowds to a stage draped with flags and traditional red (the lucky color) where different groups performed slow and fast songs alike. I was recovering from a stomach bug and the crowds and pickpocket attempts convinced Justin and I to head back to the hostel. Michele and Nick stayed up longer.

Vietnamese fireworks are like nothing we had seen before. While Justin and I enjoyed them from the safety of the hotel room Nick and Michele were a bit too close for comfort. For 15 minutes explosion of light and color burst right overhead.

From what they told us a few went off on the roof of the building where they were being lit without even going up first! Another rocket veered off into the side of a near by building! You know how firework shows have a finale? The whole New Years show was the finale. Justin counted 5-10 fireworks going off per second!

The next morning we noticed all of the trees for sale. A little research informed us that buying kumquat trees and special trees whose flowers bloom only around the holiday are good luck. Despite the fact that we only had one more day in Chau Doc and we certainly weren’t bring a tree with us, we picked up a kumquat tree covered in fruit. Oh, and a small flowering tree.

After New Years Eve, the biggest thing about Tet that effected us was the vacationing. Hours of businesses changed and there were less taxis. It is custom for children to go spend the holiday with parents or relatives in ancestral country homes so cities like Can Tho were very quiet. This was a bit disappointing when we went to the floating market 9 out of 10 of the venders were not present. Most restaurants were closed which made finding meals frustrating and the ones that were operating that week were understaffed. And we can’t forget Tet tax. All of our bills increased 5-20% because workers would rather be home with their families.

We observed some other traditions as well. For example, when we were at a home stay the children of the owners received red envelopes of money from their elders. (Unfortunately Mom and Dad didn’t honor this custom) All of the homes and businesses we saw were spotless. This is because the weeks leading up to Tet are spent cleaning out the old year to make room for the new.

Happy year of the pig!

Overall witnessing Tet was really cool. Yes, it was inconvenient at times but we learned a lot about the culture and got to have some fun ourselves!