Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

The Vietnamese new year is known as Tết, and it is a very important celebration to the people of Vietnam. "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" is how you wish someone a happy new year in Vietnamese! Based on the lunar calendar, Tết usually falls near the end of January or the beginning of February. There are many important traditions associated with Tết, but I think that one of the most interesting is the idea that what happens during the beginning of the year determines how the rest of the year will go. This is why people believe that for the first few days of the new year, everyone must be nice, even to people they typically don't like. People also make an effort to visit family and spend the holiday with the ones they love. Another of my favorite traditions is the giving of "lucky money," or lì xì :)

A very important (and delicious) part of Tết is the food! Families work to prepare the most beautiful food for their new year festivities. Food is also offered to ancestors, usually in the form of fruit at an altar. Pork seems to be a common ingredient in Tết dishes, but most other dishes vary from region to region. A staple of Tết is bánh chưng, which happens to be my favorite dish. It consists of sticky rice, pork, and mung beans wrapped up in banana leaves, and it is so good!