Culture
Every year , on the 23rd day of December in Lunar New Year , they would travel up to the Heavens to give the annual report as well as pray for next year ’ s prosperity . They would come back to Earth on the New Year ’ s Eve , continuing their duties for the rest of the year .
Normally , grandmothers and mothers of the family will cook a lot of delicacies such as new harvest steamed sticky rice or plain porridge . They clean and decorate the altar with fresh flowers and fruits . On the altar also laid three votive paper caps , the yellow one in the middle for Mrs . Tao and two black ones for two Mr . Tao .
Along with these preparations , a |
large bowl of water with one live large |
golden carp or three small |
ones is kept aside . The carps are all |
alive and will be freed |
into a pond , lake or river after the |
worshipping ceremo- |
nies are finished . Tao Quan |
can only travel up to |
the Heavens with the help of |
golden carps , as carp |
is used to be the Heavens ’ |
animal and is a very |
good swimmer . |
Freeing the carps is |
also to show human ’ s respect |
and gratitude towards |
animal worlds , and wishing for |
the good fortune of the up- |
coming year . Nowadays , the image |
of Tao Quan is so familiar that |
they even appear in many dramatics , |
movies or TV shows on the occasion of |
Tet Festival . |
Kitchen Gods are believed as the first gods leaving earth to report , followed by others on the next day . Within the absence of all of the gods , household members start cleaning their houses and decorating them beautifully with a plenty of accessories — a process that must be done before the New Year ’ s Day as the appearance of cleaning equipment after that equals sweeping all the good luck away . In addition , people buy and / or prepare items exclusive in Tet Holiday ( for example : Chung cake , Day cake , pork bologna , pickled onion , candied fruits and seeds )— mainly foods that can be stored for a long time as all services are closed in the event , for about two weeks . Also , they buy new clothes , and give gift to their families , relatives as well as friends . One thing to remember is that everybody needs to pay all of the debt as remaining debts from one year to another is considered bringing bad lucks .
Traditional flowers for Tet holiday .
Like the Western Christmas tree , Vietnamese also use many kinds of flowers and plants to decorate their house in this special period . Some names can be listed out : Chrysanths , marigold , Mao Ga flower , paperwhite flower , lavender , to name a few . Some people nowadays even use orchid and rose , although this is not yet popular . And above all , there are 3 kinds of plants that can not be missing in Tet holidays : peach flower , ochna integerrima and marumi kumquat .
Peach flower and marumi kumquat are familiar in the North while South people prefer ochna itegerrima for Tet holidays . Another reason is the characteristics of the plants . While marumi kumquat and peach trees grow well in cold weather , ochna integerrima just can survive in tropical lands with lots of sunshine .
Tet Food
Xoi ( Sticky rice ) is a very important part of Tet holiday in Vietnam , since the meals to worship the ancestors can not forget this dish . Xoi in Tet holidays can be seen in many forms : Xoi Lac ( sticky rice with peanuts ), Xoi Do Xanh ( sticky rice with mung bean ), Xoi Gac ( sticky rice with special “ gac ” fruit ). Among these types , xoi gac is favorite the most by people because of its special red color – symbolizes the luck and new achievement for the New Year . Xoi is usually served with Gio Cha or boiled chicken in Tet meals . Sometimes it can be served with Che ( sweet soup ) like a dessert . This dish is mainly for the people of North Vietnam
Gio Cha ( Vietnamese ham / sausage ) is usually served with Xoi ( sticky rice ) and Banh Chung . Gio is different from Cha since Gio is boiled and Cha is deep-fried . Vietnamese people make Gio from lean meat , added fish sauce and covered by leaves then boiled for hours . Cha is also made of lean pork and ingredients , but Cha is not wrapped by leaves and boiled but deep-fried in oil .
20 The MAG Vung Tau