Tet holiday- Vietnamese traditional New year

The holidays are all about tradition. What is your most cherished family holiday tradition? Tell us about it, how it came to be, and why it's special to you.

For me, Tet ( the Lunar New Year) is always the most anticipated holiday of the year. In Vietnam, Tet is always considered a holiday for family, it's the time when everyone's heart turns to their family. I feel very lucky because my childhood has been through many Tet when it still carries many traditional features. Tet today has been greatly simplified to fit the busy and hectic lifestyle. However, I believe that its family values will be preserved and maintained forever.

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The time that I like the most during Tet holiday is not the first days of the new year, but the busy last days of the old year preparing for Tet. The first thing would be to clean the house, my family usually did this about 1 week before Tet. I still remember vividly the image of my whole family happily cleaning our house together, my parents said that the house must be clean so that in the new year we can have a lot of luck and successful work. After cleaning the house, my dad will go to buy peach blossom and kumquat trees, me and my sister will follow my mom to the market to buy flowers to decorate the house. The days near Tet are the busiest days, traditionally we cook a lot of dishes for Tet, the market will be closed during Tet so we often cook quite a lot of food, enough to eat before market is reopened.

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The most special dish of Tet is banh chung made from glutinous rice, green beans and pork. My dad was the one to pack the cakes and my sister and I would sit around watching and waiting for him to pack us small banh chung, I don't know why kids like us at that time especially liked those little cakes. I even tried to mark my cake so it wouldn't get mixed up with my sister's. Banh chung will be boiled with firewood for 24 hours and staying up at night watching the pot of banh chung by the fire is something that I will always remember about Tet.

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There are many things we need to do to prepare for a full Tet. The most precious thing is that our whole family can do those things together. That is the time when I feel that all members of my family are closest and spend the most time together. As I grow up, I have less time to be with my family, the memories of Tet holidays with all my loved ones are the emotional bonds that make me always cherish the love for family.

Thank you for reading my post!