The new year of the lunar calendar, in Vietnam is the Lunar New Year, is a big holiday of many Asian countries, marking the end of a cycle and opening a new year in the hope of luck and prosperity. . Each country has typical customs and practices to celebrate Tet, reflect deep cultural values and separate folk beliefs. From ancestral worshiping ceremonies, folk games to unique rituals, the Lunar New Year is not only a family reunion but also an opportunity to show respect, pray for a new year. And Phat Dat.
Here are some typical customs during the Lunar New Year in other countries.
Lucky food on Tet holiday
On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, Chinese families often prepare foods that are thought to bring luck and fortune, such as peanuts (flowers) and red apples (jujube), according to the magazine. Newsweek.
Two popular sweet dishes during the Lunar New Year include “Zaogao” (a cake made from crushed jujube) and Cao Cao (Niangao, also known as nest cake).
Peanuts symbolize the proliferation and longevity, while the word “gao” (cake) in Chinese is homogeneous with a word means “noble” or “great”. Niangao is homogeneous with a term meaning “great progress each year” so this type of cake is often made at the beginning of the year to pray for progress and prosperity.
In Korea, the Lunar New Year is called Seollal. A main dish in the Lunar New Year is the salty rice cake soup called “ddigguk” (also written as “tteokokuk”). This dish is made from slices of thick white rice cakes, beef and eggs.
The slices of rice cakes shaped like a coin, symbolizing wealth while the white color of rice cakes represents purity and starting clean for the new year.
Traditional tteokokuk dish of Korean New Year
Meanwhile, there are also dishes that are thought to be associated with unlucky and often abstain during Tet. According to the sheet South China Morning PostChinese people often do not eat porridge in the new year because the porridge is cooked with a little rice and a lot of water, showing the frugal and difficult.
Besides, there are taboos in the way of eating on Tet holiday such as not eating meat on the first day (for Buddhists); Avoid cutting meat, namely avoiding sharp objects such as knives, scissors, needles, because the use is thought to cut the luck next year.
The Chinese often cook steamed fish at the end of the year because from fish pronounced similar to excess and excess from excess. However, the fish must leave the whole child to indicate the complete and perfect, symbolizing a smooth year from the beginning to the tail, no obstacles. The first part and the fishtail will be reserved for the next day with the notion that in the new year there will be an abundance of fortune and luck. If you eat head and fish tail, you can create a “shortage” or fail to maintain the abundance throughout the year.
Another taboo in the first days of the year is to avoid running out of rice because rice symbolizes money. Therefore, in order to ensure a year of money and not being hungry, both literally and figuratively, rice barrels must always be full in the new year.
The rice barrel must always be full in the first days of the year
New year, adding age
Some regions in Asia region are calculated by taking the current year except for the year of birth, meaning that it only needs to enter the new year to be one more year of age, without the need for birthdays. Some people calculate the age according to the year of the solar calendar while there are also people who are calculated according to the lunar year. In some places, people always calculate the time in the womb is one year old, meaning that when she was born, she was one year old.
Abstain from scanning
According to Eastern tradition, people often avoid using brooms in the first days of the year for fear of sweeping luck from home. Some people even put the broom in a discreet place for fear of seeing the broom can notice a year of hard cleaning.
Eastern people often abstain from brooms on Tet holiday for fear of losing luck
Moving house and repaying before Tet
In Vietnam and some other places, people often go shopping for Tet, buy new clothes, move houses and decorate their houses to welcome a new year. Chinese people have the custom of pasting the word “Phuc” in front of the door because the word reverses the pronunciation close to the word “unique” (to). Therefore, hanging the word “Phuc” reverses the implication of “blessing to the house”. The end of the year is also the time to pay off the debt and resolve the remaining conflicts in the old year.
Lucky lucky children
Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese and some other places have a lucky lucky money tradition in the new year of the lunar calendar. Children and other members of the family bow and wish their grandparents’ health and get lucky money for Loc and celebrate their age.
