Vietnam Lunar New Year, 10 things to do and don’t
Vietnam Lunar New Year, 10 things to do and don’t
Dec 14, 2011 8:27:59 AM
The meaning for 10 things to do and don’t in Vietnam
For many of us younger Vietnamese, Tet always had been something veryimportant to our families, to our culture and to our people. However, we oftendon’t understand certain things that the older folks in the family usually sayand do during these 3 important days of the Lunar New Year. Just like many ofthe young Vietnamese living overseas, I have been through the age of wonderingand struggling to find out the real stories and reasons behind each activityand behavior that the Vietnamese people do for Tet.You may not agree with someof the believes and traditions that I’m going to list below, but reading thislist will save you a lot of headache and hopefully will help you in starting toappreciate the beauty of our Vietnamese culture and traditions:
The 10 Do’s:
1.Say “Happy New Year” in any language that you can when you see aVietnamese or an Asian person. In Vietnamese, it is “Chuc Mung Nam Moi,” with abig smile!
2.Give red envelopes (Li Xi), though in the old days, only married peoplewere supposed to do this task in the new year because married people werebelieved to be more successful than single individuals. However, nowadays,giving away Li Xi is an act of showing your generosity and wishing therecipients luck throughout the year. Who doesn’t like getting money from thosered envelopes? Because, I DO!
3. Smile, laugh often, and be energetic. Just don’t overdo the smiling andlaughing because people may misjudge you as someone recently discharged from anasylum or someone on dope. Nevertheless, seeing someone with a smile on his/herface will brighten the mood of anybody on any day, so definitely do this!
4. Offer others something sweet such as candies or “mut Tet”. People believe that sweet things will bring sweetness for the rest of the year.
5. Offer the elderly a warm cup of tea if they have lost all their teeth orhave diabetes. A warm cup of tea is believed to deliver happiness, warmth, andthe flavorful sweet taste to the person. Vietnamese families usually gatheraround during Tet to just drink tea. The tea might not be warm, but love offamily is surely warm.
6. Visit all your relatives. This is your golden excuse to visit yourrelatives and catch up with them. This is my golden excuse to meet the rest ofmy crowded family members to make sure that that cute chick I’m dating doesn’thappen to be my 5th cousin. (J/K!)
7. Give anything related to number 6 or 8. This is because our culture hasbeen tied with some aspects of Chinese culture. Number 6 in Cantonese soundslike the word “Loc” in Vietnamese, which means Luck. Number 8 in Cantonesesounds like the word “Phat” in Vietnamese, which means Prosperity. I personallydon’t believe in these, but I will do anything to make people happy. So, giving$6 or $8 for Li Xi would beat the $10. In the end, I save $2 to $4 for each LiXi and still make others happy. Nice trick huh?
8. Give anything red in color, such as watermelon, li xi, dried fruits in ared box (mut Tet), etc. The color red is associated with Luckyand High Classrankings in Asian culture, especially the ones that are heavily influenced byChinese culture.� In addition, the color red brings warm feelings or hotness,like fire. So in short, red brings luck and warmth to the family.
9. Wear new, colorful, beautifulclothes with light colors. Put those wrinkled, stinky clothes in the washeralready!
10. Give the following package of fruits: custard apple, coconut, papaya,and mango. In Vietnamese, the fruits, respectively: Mang Cau, Dua, Du Du, Xo Inthe Vietnamese Southern accent, the fruits will be pronounced as “Cau Dua DuXai”, which means “wishing you having enough money to spend”. However, if youread number 4 on the 10 Dont’s List below, you will see that people usuallytake out the custard apple from the package due to the difficulty of finding itduring Tet and the belief that 4 is a bad number. You will often see thepackage contains only coconut, papaya, and mango, which gives you thecombination of “Dua Du Xai”, the truncated version with the meaning of “EnoughMoney to Spend”.
The 10 Dont’s:
1.Don’t show up at somebody’s house on the 1st day unless you have beeninvited by the house owner first. Otherwise, go on the 2nd day or at a latertime. People believe that the first person who shows up at their house willbring to the family all the characteristics of that person. If a person is asuccessful person, the family will be successful. If the person has beenunlucky last year, the family will be in bad luck all this new year. So it isbest for you to stay home until someone has invited you over. It’s their signalof telling you that either someone already has entered their house for thisyear or they personally like your characteristics to have you over and bringthem luck. Believe it or not, I don’t think all this luck stuff is true, but I recommendyou to listen to this advice to avoid being unreasonably blamed.
2. Don’t wear dark clothing or just black and white. Dark, black, and whiteclothing is believed to be associated with death and funerals. By the way, wearsomething nice and lively–it’s New Year!
3. Don’t swear, curse, trash talk, or argue. Any of these is already bad for any time of the year, not alone the New Year…
4. Don’t give presents with unlucky signs. For example: Any foods with squidor duck meat and number 4 and 7. Squid produces black liquid, which isconsidered to be dirty and harmful, though the squid itself tastes super good!Ducks are believed to be stupid and their meat is dark (at least darker thanchicken meat). Number 4 is pronounced as “Tu” in the old Vietnamese languagesystem which sounds almost like “Tu”, which means Die or Death in the oldVietnamese language that is heavily influenced by the Chinese language. Mostpeople have mistaken the fact of number 7 being a lucky number. However, in oldVietnamese language, 7 is pronounced as “That”, which is the same spelling andsame sound as the word “Lost” or “Missing” in old Vietnamese language. So inVietnamese, number 7 is actually very bad! Not as lucky as you thought. Ohyeah, and if you are in Vietnam, don’t eat or give dog meat during New Year.I’ll tell you the reason in person.
5. Don’t talk about negative topics such as accidents, deaths, or funerals. Who likes to talk about these things anyway?
6. Don’t ask someone to repay you a debt or loan. Wait until the next 2-3weeks. People believe that if they have to repay or borrow money at thebeginning of the year, they will have to borrow and repay money for the rest ofthe year. Best time of the year to dodge your debt, eh?
7. Don’t ask for “Li Xi” if it was not given. This is considered equivalentto asking the person to pay their debt. In my personal opinion, this has moreto do with courtesy and politeness.
8. Don’t visit anyone’s house for the first 3 days of the lunar calendar ifyou have funeral in your immediate family in the last 3 years. Vietnamesepeople believe that the dead person in the family will not go to Hell withinthe first 3 years of his or her death. Their spirit will follow the familymembers for 3 years before they either get tired from it or witness the factthat the family has gotten over the fact of their death. People don’t wantspirits to go into their house during New Year because gods, goddesses, andBuddhas are partying it up during this time and paying less attention inguarding the house of the owners from ghosts and spirits. So, sit home withyour beloved spirit; people will come to your house to share your sadness ifthey are considerate. You do not want to take any stupid blame if some familysheds some blood for something that is totally unrelated to you.
9. Don’t take or ask to take things that are related to fire out ofsomebody’s house such as: lighters, matches, coals, fire fluid, gas, etc. Fireis considered to be the source of the warmth of the family, the desire ofcouple’s love. It is believed that families with fire taken away will haveproblems within the family. Firefighters should take 3 vacation days during Tetif their station happens to be within the Asian neighborhood.
10. Don’t take or ask to take things that are related to water out ofsomebody’s house such as: bottles of water, water containers, water dispensers,drinking cups, glasses, etc. People usually wish each other “Tai Loc Nhu Nuoc”or “Money and success coming in like water”. So, taking water out of somebody’shouse is equivalent to taking away their wealth. If you are thirsty, drink thewater inside the house, don’t take the bottle home or you will see the ownercoming to your house to take back their waterbottle with an angry face.
Lastly, I wish all the readers and travelers a happy new year, a successful12 months, an amazing 365 days, and a wonderful 8,760 hours with your lovedones!
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
This article is written by Jane Nguyen from Vacation toVietnam For original article and more information about Vietnam Lunar New Year,please visit
http://vacationstovietnam.com/lastest-travel-news/the-meaning-for-10-things-to-do-and-don-t-during-vietnam-lunar-new-year.html
Vacation to Vietnam
Vietnam Honeymoon Vacation
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Travel agency in Vietnam
For many of us younger Vietnamese, Tet always had been something veryimportant to our families, to our culture and to our people. However, we oftendon’t understand certain things that the older folks in the family usually sayand do during these 3 important days of the Lunar New Year. Just like many ofthe young Vietnamese living overseas, I have been through the age of wonderingand struggling to find out the real stories and reasons behind each activityand behavior that the Vietnamese people do for Tet.You may not agree with someof the believes and traditions that I’m going to list below, but reading thislist will save you a lot of headache and hopefully will help you in starting toappreciate the beauty of our Vietnamese culture and traditions:
The 10 Do’s:
1.Say “Happy New Year” in any language that you can when you see aVietnamese or an Asian person. In Vietnamese, it is “Chuc Mung Nam Moi,” with abig smile!
2.Give red envelopes (Li Xi), though in the old days, only married peoplewere supposed to do this task in the new year because married people werebelieved to be more successful than single individuals. However, nowadays,giving away Li Xi is an act of showing your generosity and wishing therecipients luck throughout the year. Who doesn’t like getting money from thosered envelopes? Because, I DO!
3. Smile, laugh often, and be energetic. Just don’t overdo the smiling andlaughing because people may misjudge you as someone recently discharged from anasylum or someone on dope. Nevertheless, seeing someone with a smile on his/herface will brighten the mood of anybody on any day, so definitely do this!
4. Offer others something sweet such as candies or “mut Tet”. People believe that sweet things will bring sweetness for the rest of the year.
5. Offer the elderly a warm cup of tea if they have lost all their teeth orhave diabetes. A warm cup of tea is believed to deliver happiness, warmth, andthe flavorful sweet taste to the person. Vietnamese families usually gatheraround during Tet to just drink tea. The tea might not be warm, but love offamily is surely warm.
6. Visit all your relatives. This is your golden excuse to visit yourrelatives and catch up with them. This is my golden excuse to meet the rest ofmy crowded family members to make sure that that cute chick I’m dating doesn’thappen to be my 5th cousin. (J/K!)
7. Give anything related to number 6 or 8. This is because our culture hasbeen tied with some aspects of Chinese culture. Number 6 in Cantonese soundslike the word “Loc” in Vietnamese, which means Luck. Number 8 in Cantonesesounds like the word “Phat” in Vietnamese, which means Prosperity. I personallydon’t believe in these, but I will do anything to make people happy. So, giving$6 or $8 for Li Xi would beat the $10. In the end, I save $2 to $4 for each LiXi and still make others happy. Nice trick huh?
8. Give anything red in color, such as watermelon, li xi, dried fruits in ared box (mut Tet), etc. The color red is associated with Luckyand High Classrankings in Asian culture, especially the ones that are heavily influenced byChinese culture.� In addition, the color red brings warm feelings or hotness,like fire. So in short, red brings luck and warmth to the family.
9. Wear new, colorful, beautifulclothes with light colors. Put those wrinkled, stinky clothes in the washeralready!
10. Give the following package of fruits: custard apple, coconut, papaya,and mango. In Vietnamese, the fruits, respectively: Mang Cau, Dua, Du Du, Xo Inthe Vietnamese Southern accent, the fruits will be pronounced as “Cau Dua DuXai”, which means “wishing you having enough money to spend”. However, if youread number 4 on the 10 Dont’s List below, you will see that people usuallytake out the custard apple from the package due to the difficulty of finding itduring Tet and the belief that 4 is a bad number. You will often see thepackage contains only coconut, papaya, and mango, which gives you thecombination of “Dua Du Xai”, the truncated version with the meaning of “EnoughMoney to Spend”.
The 10 Dont’s:
1.Don’t show up at somebody’s house on the 1st day unless you have beeninvited by the house owner first. Otherwise, go on the 2nd day or at a latertime. People believe that the first person who shows up at their house willbring to the family all the characteristics of that person. If a person is asuccessful person, the family will be successful. If the person has beenunlucky last year, the family will be in bad luck all this new year. So it isbest for you to stay home until someone has invited you over. It’s their signalof telling you that either someone already has entered their house for thisyear or they personally like your characteristics to have you over and bringthem luck. Believe it or not, I don’t think all this luck stuff is true, but I recommendyou to listen to this advice to avoid being unreasonably blamed.
2. Don’t wear dark clothing or just black and white. Dark, black, and whiteclothing is believed to be associated with death and funerals. By the way, wearsomething nice and lively–it’s New Year!
3. Don’t swear, curse, trash talk, or argue. Any of these is already bad for any time of the year, not alone the New Year…
4. Don’t give presents with unlucky signs. For example: Any foods with squidor duck meat and number 4 and 7. Squid produces black liquid, which isconsidered to be dirty and harmful, though the squid itself tastes super good!Ducks are believed to be stupid and their meat is dark (at least darker thanchicken meat). Number 4 is pronounced as “Tu” in the old Vietnamese languagesystem which sounds almost like “Tu”, which means Die or Death in the oldVietnamese language that is heavily influenced by the Chinese language. Mostpeople have mistaken the fact of number 7 being a lucky number. However, in oldVietnamese language, 7 is pronounced as “That”, which is the same spelling andsame sound as the word “Lost” or “Missing” in old Vietnamese language. So inVietnamese, number 7 is actually very bad! Not as lucky as you thought. Ohyeah, and if you are in Vietnam, don’t eat or give dog meat during New Year.I’ll tell you the reason in person.
5. Don’t talk about negative topics such as accidents, deaths, or funerals. Who likes to talk about these things anyway?
6. Don’t ask someone to repay you a debt or loan. Wait until the next 2-3weeks. People believe that if they have to repay or borrow money at thebeginning of the year, they will have to borrow and repay money for the rest ofthe year. Best time of the year to dodge your debt, eh?
7. Don’t ask for “Li Xi” if it was not given. This is considered equivalentto asking the person to pay their debt. In my personal opinion, this has moreto do with courtesy and politeness.
8. Don’t visit anyone’s house for the first 3 days of the lunar calendar ifyou have funeral in your immediate family in the last 3 years. Vietnamesepeople believe that the dead person in the family will not go to Hell withinthe first 3 years of his or her death. Their spirit will follow the familymembers for 3 years before they either get tired from it or witness the factthat the family has gotten over the fact of their death. People don’t wantspirits to go into their house during New Year because gods, goddesses, andBuddhas are partying it up during this time and paying less attention inguarding the house of the owners from ghosts and spirits. So, sit home withyour beloved spirit; people will come to your house to share your sadness ifthey are considerate. You do not want to take any stupid blame if some familysheds some blood for something that is totally unrelated to you.
9. Don’t take or ask to take things that are related to fire out ofsomebody’s house such as: lighters, matches, coals, fire fluid, gas, etc. Fireis considered to be the source of the warmth of the family, the desire ofcouple’s love. It is believed that families with fire taken away will haveproblems within the family. Firefighters should take 3 vacation days during Tetif their station happens to be within the Asian neighborhood.
10. Don’t take or ask to take things that are related to water out ofsomebody’s house such as: bottles of water, water containers, water dispensers,drinking cups, glasses, etc. People usually wish each other “Tai Loc Nhu Nuoc”or “Money and success coming in like water”. So, taking water out of somebody’shouse is equivalent to taking away their wealth. If you are thirsty, drink thewater inside the house, don’t take the bottle home or you will see the ownercoming to your house to take back their waterbottle with an angry face.
Lastly, I wish all the readers and travelers a happy new year, a successful12 months, an amazing 365 days, and a wonderful 8,760 hours with your lovedones!
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
This article is written by Jane Nguyen from Vacation toVietnam For original article and more information about Vietnam Lunar New Year,please visit
http://vacationstovietnam.com/lastest-travel-news/the-meaning-for-10-things-to-do-and-don-t-during-vietnam-lunar-new-year.html
Vacation to Vietnam
Vietnam Honeymoon Vacation
Vietnam vacation
Travel agency in Vietnam
