Every place has its own traditions and customs to welcome a new year, and those traditions, by definition, have been handed down from generation to generation. Some of the Tet customs (lunar New Year holidays) of the different Vietnamese ethnic people are identical and indispensable.
A lunar New Year pole
Erecting a lunar New Year pole is an ancient custom observed during Tet in Vietnam. The pole is a 2.5-3m-high piece of bamboo and is placed in front of the house on New Year's Eve. On the pole are attached a red eight-sign charm, a small basket containing betel and areca, bamboo flutes, and large to small pieces of metal which hit each other and tinkle in the breeze.
In setting up the pole, families feel that they are welcoming their non-living ancestors into their home to enjoy Tet. The pole is also an expression the living's deep gratitude to their forefathers. The betel and areca in the basket symbolizes the village neighborhood, while the bamboo flutes represent the people's joy, optimism and love of life and music.
Flowers for luck and good health
During Tet everyone wants to bring an ornamental plant in to his or her home to make the home more beautiful and striking. This is a very old tradition.
Every Vietnamese family has an ancestral alter somewhere in their home. On that altar during Tet are vases with branches of marigold, peach or apricot blossoms, each of which has a different meaning. Marigolds (yellow) are for good health and longevity, and peach (pink) and apricot (white or yellow) are for luck for their family in the New Year.
Decorating the home with ornamental plants is an attempt to attract luck and good health but is also a way of showing a family's optimism and confidence that there will be a bright future.
Arranging a tray of fruit
Besides preparing a tray piled with Vietnamese traditional foods like sticky rice, banh chung (square glutinous rice cakes), pork-pies, chicken, bamboo shoots and pig feet soup for the ancestors during Tet, the Vietnamese people also arrange a fruit tray and place that on or in front of the ancestral altar. The fruit tray must include five kinds of fruit.
Normally there's a large hand of bananas and a yellow grapefruit. The hand of bananas holds the grapefruit meaning mutual protection and help among family members. The remaining three kinds of fruit depend on where the family lives. Northern families may have kumquats, apples, and sapodilla plums. Southern families usually get papaya (papaya, du du in Vietnamese, means sufficiency).
New Year visits
Making New Year visits is an old tradition in Vietnam, one that is believed to show mutual care. During the New Year holidays, children and grandchildren visit their parents' and grandparents' home to wish them well. They also visit other relatives, friends and neighbors and wish each a happy new year.
During the New Year holiday, everybody tries not to quarrel with each other. In this way, they hope for kindness, tolerance, and mercy among family members.
Giving lucky money
As is the case with most Vietnamese customs, no one knows when or how giving lucky money during Tet got started. However, people believe that by giving lucky money they will bring good to the other. A generation or two ago, people gave the other a small pack of candies or a few apples or persimmons. Now they give each other real money as a wish for an easy and safe life. The lucky money is usually put inside a small red envelope and is given along with the good wishes. Normally, lucky money is given only to children, parents, and grandparents.
These customs have continued until the present day and are thought of as suitable customs in Vietnam.
Source: VEN