Tet

There are many kinds of people in Asia. When someone hears about Asia, they will think of China, the biggest country in Asia that has the most people. I am from Vietnam, a small country near China and look like a letter S. Many celebrations in Vietnam are similar to China, and the most popular celebration in Vietnam is Tet.

        Same as China, Vietnam celebrate the Luna New year, we called it Tet. It is always a special day for any Vietnamese. Based on my tradition, Tet is three day long for celebration. The first day is the end of the old year and start the new year, usually on 1st lunar month, the day family reunion. The second day, the children in the family would go visit the elderly. And the third day, we often go to visits our teachers. Tet is a day when all the members of a family want to be with each other, we often stay up late together, tell our own special stories from the past years and have fun. We take Tet as a day to relax, to have fun, and a day to get know more about each other. About Tet, no one can forget apricot; it is a symbol of Tet. In Vietnam, apricot only blooms in the spring, we called it Hoa Mai; Hoa in Vietnamese mean flower and Mai means the sun light. This flower is always a symbol in Vietnam, the symbol of life, the signal of another season and a new adventure. Moreover, when Tet is coming, people often dress up for this day and there are a lot of concerts in the park. We dance and sing the song of the New Year. Few people wear Ao Dai, it is a Vietnamese national costume, now mostly common for women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons. The word is pronounced ow zai in the North and ow yai in the South of the country. Ao is derived from a Middle Chinese word meaning padded coat and Dai means long.

            My culture is very similar with other culture, but Tet have its own special meaning to everyone. In Vietnam, we work non-stop because the life in Vietnam is very complicated, to have a good life; we have to work very hard, and Tet is the only day we can stay together as a small community.