While many people now support the idea of unifying them, in my opinion, we should preserve

the tradition of celebrating two separate events.

Skipping the Tet holiday seems implausible and almost impossible for a number of reasons. First
of all, this is an age-old tradition and ignoring it can lead to many other problems. In addition,
the merging of the Lunar New Year and the Solar New Year will affect people's careers and
personal lives. Tet is considered an invaluable time for family reunions and family bonding. This
is one of the longest public holidays in Vietnam, during which all work-related activities are
halted for about ten days. Specifically, more and more people are working far away, living alone,
away from their loved ones, and the Lunar New Year is considered a rare time to make up for
lost time with family and friends. Therefore, merging them will adversely affect the work-life
balance of employees.

Another important reason why these two events should be held separately is that Tet is an
opportunity to boost the economy and stimulate tourism. Some people don't have a countryside
and decide not going home, which can help them raise money in Tet holiday. tet is a day when
the purchasing power of the customers is the highest in a year. Before the Lunar New Year,
people usually stock up on food and clothing to eat and wear in Tet, because in Tet the sellers
have a day-off to back the hometown. Moreover, people usually choose the Lunar New Year to
travel in another country.

In summary, in my opinion, unnecessary because Vietnamese people are attached to the

Well, to start off, I would like to describe Tet, which is the most crucial national festival of
Vietnam. In Vietnamese culture, Tết marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year. It usually lasts
three days but celebrations continue for at least the first week of the New Year.

Tết is a special occasion for family reunions as well as for celebrating the arrival of spring.

To celebrate the New Year, we do lots of things together. Before New Year’s Eve, we prepare
some local specialities, such as Chưng cake, Vietnamese sausage and dried candied fruits to
worship our ancestors and then enjoy during Tet. Houses are thoroughly cleaned out and then
nicely furnished in the hopes of getting rid of the past year’s bad lucks. Additionally, many
families usually decorate their houses with Kumquat trees, Apricot or Peach blossom and
parallel sentences that are believed to bring luckiness, happiness and prosperity to them in the
New Year.

All members in a family gather together and have parties to ring in the New Year. During Tết,
there are a lot of customs practiced, such as giving lucky money to children, visiting friends’
houses and going to churches, temples or pagodas to make good prays for their family.

With Vietnamese, Tết is vital as it’s a very meaningful tradition to welcome the New Year. And
it’s more important because Tet is the time for families and relatives to gather under the same
roof for rekindling love and bonding. For me, I always long for Tet as it’s the longest holiday,
which can help me recover my battery after a long working year.
What is Tet Festival? company. Plus, we eat our favorite food
The full name for Tet is Tet Nguyen Dan. It during Tet holiday, we think about being
is the most important and widely celebrated nice for others, which actually creates a
public festival of the year in Vietnam. It is happy chemical in our body.
the occasion for Vietnamese to express their
respects for ancestors as well as welcome What do you do on holidays?
the lunar New Year with family members. Well, I often do something sporty. I love
Overall, the Tet holiday for Vietnam is a bit riding around the town, or going for a walk
like the Spring Festival for Chinese: every outside, playing my favorite sport or even
family will get together to have big meals to trying a new one. Any of these sorts of
welcome the New Year. activities are a good way to get healthy.
Besides, I also go on a road trip with friends
How is Tet Festival celebrated? or family, we often find cool new places to
Since Tet is the most important festival for explore, like visiting a town we have never
Vietnamese, preparations for the celebration been to, or having an adventure in the
begins well in advance. They make offerings woods.
and pray at temples about the two weeks
before and immediately after Tet because How do you celebrate Spring Festival?
visiting temples is considered auspicious. Well, Tet is our most important Spring
Homes are cleaned and decorated with Hoa festival. On New Year’s Days, which
Mai (yellow apricot blossom), Hoa Dao usually last for 5 days, families often visit
(peach blossom), Kumquat tree and many their friends, neighbors and relatives and
other colourful flowers. On the eve of Tet, wish them luck and fortune for a new year.
they cook an abundance of food. On the first Children are most excited about Tet Holiday
days of New Year, everybody, especially as they are given lucky money and are
kids, wears new clothes and shoes to visit allowed to eat as many sweets and treats as
families and friends and enjoy traditional they want. The whole family spend time
Tet food like Banh Chung (a sticky rice together and enjoy a big feast with an ample
cake). Many children receive “lucky variety of traditional food.
money” in red envelopes.
What special food do you have for these
1. Do you like holidays? Why? festivals?
Well, I think I do love holiday time, because For Tet holiday, Vietnamese people often
holidays mean you can take time off work, prepare a range of traditional food each
and spend uninterrupted time with your meal. If you ask anybody in Vietnam which
family, which strengthens family bonds. food comes to their mind first when talking
Holidays also mean new excitements and about Tet, I’m sure that the answer is banh
more time for traveling to places you have chung and banh tet. Both of these banhs are
been looking forward to, and experiencing iconic Tet food. And another classic dish is
new cuisines, new cultures and opening your vietnamese sausage, or Gio Cha. Gio cha’s
perspectives. fillings are lean meat sauced with fish sauce
and pepper, and are packed within green
Which public holiday do you like best? = leaves so it could last for weeks.
What is your favourite festival?
Well for me, Tet holiday or Vietnamese What is the most popular celebration in your
Lunar New year is one of my favorite country?
holidays so far. It’s the best time of the year, Probably, the most famous celebration in
as we can take a whole week off work, and Vietnam is the Tet Holiday. It is not only the
reunite as a family. We decorate everything occasion to mark the beginning of a New
up all nice and pretty, which puts everybody Year in the Lunar Calendar, but also a time
in a good mood. We have time to invite our of reunions for family members and friends.
friends over to talk and enjoy each other’s
How do people celebrate the New Year
Holiday in Vietnam ? Which activities do you enjoy the most
The Vietnamese people usually clean and during the Tet Holiday ?
decorate our homes at least three days In Vietnam, it is customary for adults to give
before the Tet Holiday, as it is said to be lucky money to the young ones during the
unlucky if we do so during the days of the Lunar New Year, and I used to like
event. receiving it. Now, as a grown-up, many
things have changed. I gradually prefer
What do you do on Tet Holiday ? handing out lucky money as I just love
I help my family clean and decorate the seeing the blissful smiles on the children’s
house. Furthermore, I will do go shopping faces when accepting my gifts.
for some necessities.

So you know during Tet holiday, adults often give children red envelopes with paper money
inside. Traditionally, these notes are blessing for a new year of good health, luck and happiness.
However, this custom has become something ugly as many children do not understand such
gestures and think of these gifts as nothing more than some extra pocket money. I was no
exception.

For years, my parents have always been the most generous people when it comes to the amount
of money I received in these red envelopes. Sometimes they gave me a million VND, which was
like a fortune to a kid at the time. However, about five to six years ago, when I received a two-
dollar note, which was about 40 thousand VND, from my parent’s envelope, I was super
disappointed. No further explanations were given for the loss of the large of my “income” during
Tet that year.

Once I had to start giving out money, I began to understand what my parents were trying to teach
me. Kids need to realize that lucky money is only meant for good luck. I hate to see that the first
thing many kids do after receiving my envelopes is to immediately check how much they have
earned. My future kids, therefore, should not expect a thick envelope from me during Tet.

Now I still like Tet, but definitely not because I still receive lucky money. You know what, as
I’ve already grown up, looking back to those beautiful memories in childhood, I realize that
besides the true value of money, “li xi” holds a number of different meanings to me. Now I have
my own earnings from my jobs, I am able to hand out lucky money to my beloved family
members and friends. I value lucky money because of the excitement that I had in my childhood
and the wishes I can make to those close to me.