Tet Nguyen Dan translates literally to “the first morning of the first day of the new year.” This day varies by the year but is always in either January or February. The Vietnamese consider Tet to be their most important holiday. We arrive on the day before New Years Eve. The Hanoi airport is packed with families waiting for their loved ones to arrive. It is the custom to go home for this holiday. We don our masks and wear them on the plane and airport to decrease the risk of the new coronavirus from China. The Vietnamese teacher who is my seat-mate is excited to see her family. Vietnam feels different than Thailand immediately, more motorcycles, more horns more people in small shops eating and shopping together. I like it!
Tet is a time for paying tribute to ancestors. Each day for the duration of the week of New Year, offerings are placed on the household altar and incense is burned in memory of the departed.
Locals purchase cherry blossoms and kumquat trees and place them around the house, these plants are iconic in Tet folklore, symbolizing prosperity and health.
After our arrival we join the cacophony of people and motorcycles and make our way to a generations old coffee shop that makes “egg coffee”. Better than Vietnamese coffee even, they serve expresso strong coffee with egg yolk whipped with sugar on the top! Super! We sit in tiny seats 10 inches off the ground. The coffee is served in a small bowl of hot water to keep it warm!
WATER PUPPETS
Dating back centuries is the art of water puppetry for which northern Vietnam is well known. Hanoi’s famous Thang Long Water Puppet Theater houses a show that is not to be missed. We got to go behind the scenes to visit a water puppet artist and see his studio and small theater. The puppets are made of a light wood and are lacquered and foiled with several layers and take up to a month to make just one. Hint: The dragons spew water at the audience. This puppet master’s family has been creating these beauties for generations.
It’s nothing but New Years here… shopping for food, decorations and of course making sure you have envelopes for “happy money” for the children for good luck! Don’t forget the chicken with a crown for lunch and sticky rice with mung bean paste in the middle.
Mostly this is a holiday like anywhere else in the world… you spend it with family.
