In Vietnam, there are many beautiful festivals each year such as Huong pagoda festival, Da Lat flower festival, etc and Tet is a traditional important holiday of Vietnam and an occasion for everyone to get together in warm atmosphere. Most people have some days-off for this holiday with family after a working hard year.
Tet is a national and family festival celebrated on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Vietnamese people will have a good time to think about the last year and the next year. At Tet, most of the streets also are decorated beautifully with colorful lights and flowers.
At that time, all of people try to come back home to prepare for Tet. People will clean their house, the altar and repaint the wall. Besides, they also buy new clothes, furniture, etc .and many shops will give big discount for Tet. We decorate the altar with a trap full of fruits and flowers and usually decorate bunch of apricot blossom in our living room. There are many types of Tet’s food such as coconut jam, watermelon seeds, tamarind jam, “thit kho”, etc. And a special food that can’t be absent is sticky rice cake or Chung cake (square glutinous rice cake in the North of Vietnam).
On Tet holiday, people have many activities. One of the most activities I love is the Lunar New Year’s Eve. This is an important moment of the year, beginning on 1st January by the Lunar Calendar. My whole family will have dinner together at 0:00 o’clock and listening to firework on the sky together. And on New Year Day, many people visit relatives, friends and colleagues to wish a happy new year. Adult will give lucky money for children. Women go to pagoda to wish good things to their family.
I think Tet holiday is the most important festival for Vietnamese people. It is a very special occasion for Vietnamese family to reunite. After all, Tet means so much to me!