Vietnamese New year – how is it celebrated in Hoi An?

Tet Nguyen Dan (known as ” Tet ”) is the most important Vietnamese holiday. This is the period when the Vietnamese celebrate the Lunar New Year (the date is taken from the lunar calendar). It is a movable feast, which falls at the end of January or in early February – at exactly the same time as the Chinese New Year. This year the Vietnamese have celebrated the New Year on January 28. It is said that the celebration lasts normally 3 days, but in practice we saw it continued up to 1 week and it significantly differed from the typical New Year celebration in Europe.  There are no grand balls and parties, it rather resembles the Polish Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when gifts are handed in to relatives who gather together at a big table covered with lots of nice food. Let’s have a closer look at it then 🙂

We spent the Vietnamese New Year in Hoi An, an amazing city being one of UNESCO world heritage sites with charming French colonial buildings and Chinese temples; the city acclaimed by a Pole, Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, who did not allow for the construction of blocks of flats there to replace the old colonial buildings and led to the restoration of  nearly decrepit buildings. Hoi An is a city of narrow streets with colourful lampions, where the air at night is filled with magic. New Year celebrations were combined there with the Light Festival, but surprisingly the streets of the Old Town were empty and quiet during the day and it was only at night that you could encounter crowds of people,what’s more, half the restaurants and small shops in the Old Town were closed. It seemed as if the city was deserted, and this is due to the fact that people went to their homes to celebrate Tet holiday with their families.

So… to feel the real atmosphere of this holiday you need to observe the Vietnamese at home, to see how they prepare themselves for the big celebration, what food they eat, and as the clocks strikes midnight to see what is happening in their homes, as what you will see in the city will not give you the real image of this holiday. .. How to do it ? Simply book your stay in a homestay instead of staying in a hotel, hostel or guest house  (on the internet you will find many homestays on booking.com).

We stayed in Hai Dang Homestay for about 6USD which included breakfast and we can honestly say it was our best stay of all in Vietnam!

For breakfast we were served some traditional Vietnamese dishes, instead of Western breakfast with buns and fried egg which was anywhere else.

But coming back to the main subject the Lunar New Year: we were were asked to treat ourselves to some typical meals prepared by the family on this occasion: a so-called Banh Tet (glutinous rice cake stuffed with pork), spring rolls and gio lua (Vietnamese sausage, also cooked at home).

Besides Vietnamese families prepare also: pickled onions, roasted nuts and seeds, boiled chicken mung bean pudding.

As the clock strikes midnight they pass each other wishes and distribute gifts. Children tend to receive a charac teristic red envelope with money inside. 🙂

Many people exit the house and stop in front of it just a few minutes before midnight (usually the host does it) and observe  the sky, look around and at sharp midnight go back home. This is one of the rituals supporting the belief that when on the New Year’s Day there happens something good to to the family, then the next year will be marked with prosperity. It’s as if the host passed the aura of prosperity to the house.

You could hear only a few firecrackers on the New Year’s Eve, but honestly it was not until the first day of the new year, that the Vietnamese started using fireworks and were gathering together in front of their houses, arranging a karaoke with a microphone and drinking Vietnamese green tea or local vodka:)

And how do the preparation for Tet look like?

That is the most interesting stuff of all! A few days before the end of the old year the Vietnamese tidy houses, courtyards, shops, to get rid of the evil spirits that have accumulated in the nooks of the house. Besides they decorate houses with pink peach flowers peach, so called Mickey-Mouse plants / ochna integerrima (having a yellow colour), lampions, they hang the Vietnamese flag, and put a tangerine tree at the entrance or in front of the house (symbolizing happiness and prosperity in the upcoming year), and sometimes pots of chrysanthemums symbolizing longevity and bonsai trees. Besides, in front of many houses and shops the Vietnamese set a small altar/ a small table , where you can see many exotic fruits and incense. They light incense before the last dinner in the old year and proceed to eat. The altar is a symbol of ancestor worshipping.

Furthermore, much earlier in the day you will see a lot of people coming in front of their houses and setting up fire in metal buckets. Why they are doing it? They need to burn fake banknotes which means that they literally ” send ” them to their ancestors, to be able to use them in teh afterlife.

Children are bought new clothes and shoes for the New Year and during this period parents cannot scold them or scream at them, because it can bring bad luck in the upcoming year. People have to be nice to each other, reconcile with his enemies, and welcome the New Year with clear conscience:)

The city of Hoi An was organizing 3 evenings in a row with music & art shows (it wasn’t for free) on the wall of the building located close to the famous Japanese bridge, which meant that the bridge was closed to pedestrians wanting to reach the other part of the Old Town and could pass only in one direction using another bridge over the river.

Going further you could find yourself near a stage, where performances were held including dance and singing along with the image of a rooster, as the year 2017 is called the Rooster Year! What does it mean? ‘Rooster’ is a sign of zodiac, which is characterized by enthusiasm, Energy and vitality. To take advantage of the positive energy of the fiery Rooster in 2017 you should be hard-working but not act on your own, but be part of a team, and then you will be able to achieve success. You need to be involved in what you are doing and determined, then the Rooster will lead to the fulfillment of your dreams. And to achieve something we need to focus on the quality of stuff we are doing, not on the quantity and pursue perfection. The Chinese / Vietnamese Rooster Year 2017 started on the 28th January 2017 and will last until 15th February 2018.

The city of Hoi An enchanted us with its unique cozy atmosphere. Such were our evening walks in climatic streets of the city illuminated with colorful lampions:

During the day you can explore the phenomenal Chinese temples and see the famous Japanese bridge (a covered bridge also called the pagoda bridge built by Japanese craftsmen). The admission fee to all the sites in the Old Town is 120.000 dong/5,50USD, but as it turned out, during Tet there were some days when you could visit them for free 🙂

Don’t skip this city during your stay in Vietnam! Let yourself be drawn into its nooks and crannies, and you will not regret!

Besides, we recommend you hiring a bike and going through some rural areas around the city (don’t go by walk through the rice fields as you never know where the ground is as muddy as it will pull your legs down/see our pictures 🙂 ) and later going to the Anbang beach.

You can spend another day visiting Da Nang (you can reach it on a motorbike – the cost is around 120.000 dong/5,50USD) and its famous Marble Mountains, then relax yourself on one of Da Nang’s beach:)

There is really a lot to do in Hoi An and its surroundings. Riding a motorbike during the Tet holiday is enjoyable as there are less Vietnamese in the streets, so there is not so much chaos which you will not avoid on a normal day. Besides during Tet it’s not allowed to ride a car or motorbike in the Old Town, you can only ride a bike or go there by walk:)