What is Lunar New Year? The Origin and Meaning of the Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is the biggest traditional festival of the year for Vietnamese people. However, not everyone understands the origin and meaning of Tet. The following article will give you useful information about this traditional Tet holiday!

What is Lunar New Year?

The Lunar New Year (also known as Tet Ca, Tet Ta, Lunar New Year, Traditional New Year or simply Tet) is the most important and meaningful Lunar New Year celebration in Vietnam.

“Tet” is the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the word “tie”, “yuan” in Chinese means the beginning or the beginning and “dan” is early morning, so the correct pronunciation must be “Tiet” Lunar New Year”.

How is the time of the Lunar New Year calculated?

Vietnam’s Lunar New Year is calculated according to the lunar calendar, later than the New Year (or Western New Year). Due to the rule of 3 leap years and a month of the lunar calendar, the first day of the Lunar New Year is never before January 21 of the solar calendar and after February 19 of the solar calendar, but usually falls in the middle of these days.

The time of the annual Lunar New Year usually lasts about 7-8 days at the end of the old year and the first 7 days of the new year (December 23 to the end of January 7).

Origin of Lunar New Year

How the Lunar New Year originated is still a matter of debate.

Most information suggests that the Lunar New Year day originated in China and was introduced to Vietnam in 1000 years of Northern domination. But according to the story of “Banh chung and banh day”, Vietnamese people have been celebrating Tet since the Hung Kings, that is, before 1000 years of Northern domination.

The meaning of Tet holiday

For Vietnamese people, the Lunar New Year is not only the transition period between the old year and the new lunar year, but it also contains many spiritual and cultural meanings,… According to the Eastern concept, this is the period the time when heaven and earth were reconciled and people became close to the gods.

The old Lunar New Year was an occasion for farmers to pay their respects to gods such as Earth god, Rain god, Thunder god, Water god, Sun god, … and pray for a year of favorable rain and wind, abundant crops.

Besides, this is also considered a “refreshing” day, a day for people to hope for a peaceful, prosperous and favorable new year for the whole year and put aside all bad luck in the old year. Therefore, on Tet holiday, every house is busy cleaning, shopping, and decorating the house beautifully.

This is also an opportunity for people to renew emotionally and spiritually so that the relationship with their loved ones is closer, the spirit is more comfortable and joyful. During the Tet holiday, families often gather to wish each other New Year’s Eve, light incense sticks together in memory of their grandparents and ancestors, and thank them for their blessing over the past year.

Hopefully, through the above article, you have understood more about the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year!