Tet is Vietnamese New Year and is the most important festival and public holiday in Vietnam. Tet’s celebration is the longest holiday which may last up to seven days. The purpose of the Tet holiday is that Vietnamese would like to thank gods for the arrival of spring with a variety of blooming trees and flowers. It is the privileged occasion for family members to reunite, celebrating a new year together, and saying farewell to the previous one. All the best things are prepared and consumed during this holiday as people want to ensure that they will have a new year full of prosperity.
In particular for the Vietnamese Catholics, this is a special period for God and for family. The traditional customs of Tet include blessings, lucky money, and food. For Catholics it is a reminder that God is the source of life.
Tet has three days to celebrate:
+ The First Day of the New Year (Mồng Một) we pray for world PEACE, Peace in the country, and families. We praise and bless God for everything. We beg God to pour upon us His Love and Graces to our families, health, happiness and peace for everyone. We also wish for a virtuous life, and give God’s Name glory through our lives.
After Mass, we stay over in the Church to pick Lộc Xuân, these are the Words of God to guide us to live fully His Will in the New Year.
Also in the First Day, children gather together around the grandparents and the parents to say thank you and ask pardon for shortcomings of the past year. The children will receive the words of wisdom and blessings from their parents or the older people. They also receive Lucky Money from the older ones.
+ On the Second Day of the New Year (Mồng Hai), we pray especially for grandparents, parents and those who have gone ahead of us. This is a time for children to fulfill their filial duty toward their elders. We beg God to always keep them healthy, and give them longer lives. Likewise, the grandparents and parents also ask God that the children live worthy lives, that their faith be strong, and that they grow to love God everyday.
We remember all those who have gone before us, and have a special mass in the cemetery to pray for them.
+ The Third Day of the New Year (Mồng Ba) invites us to pray and ask God to sanctify our business throughout the New Year. We offer to God all our business successes and failures in the past year. We pray and wish that our works in the New Year will be successful and the harvest will be good for God’s glory.
It is meaningful and good when everybody knows how to place God in the first place. He is master of everything in our lives, in all the situations. God is our Providence and Source of all things.
May God bless each one of us in this New Year with his abundant blessings and graces.
CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI!
Sr. Anna Marie Phuong shares Tet in the Philippines
In Vietnam, the New Year or Tet, is a time for families to get together. However this year my family is spread in 3 different countries. I only have a sister and her family left in Vietnam so I had mixed emotions; I dared not call her, afraid that we would get emotional, so I just sent her a message.
However this year I had a beautiful and touching celebration of Tet with my Iloilo community. Together with another Vietnamese sister we prepared the traditional Vietnamese food and decorated for this feast. We had Vietnamese and Filipino guests for lunch. What made the day very special was when we prayed Vespers that evening. Little did I know that all my sisters had prepared something for us (Sr. Mary Eugenie Yen and me). Following the tradition of Vietnamese families, we received blessings. We were both given a “BAG of BLESSINGS”, and when it was time we went to each of the sisters who gave us wisdom words, advices, wishes and affirming the New Year for us, filling our “Blessing Bags”. With their words they also expressed their blessing in gestures.
I was so touched; I could not hold my tears from the start of the Evening Prayer when we were told that the Tet blessings will be integrated in our Vespers. That was a strong moment of community life for me and a deep sense of belonging to One Assumption. Because my sisters tried to understand my culture and they were a part of my Tet celebration I thank God for all the blessings and graces He had given me through my community. After I received the blessings, I also expressed my gratitude for all their love, care, and support for me in the past year. Surely, I did not forget to ask pardon for my stubbornness and shortcomings. I also wished them all the best for our mission and life for this New Year and that God’s love be known through our presence and happiness.
Tet celebration did not end there; after dinner I had another surprise. I thought of giving Lucky Money to each one as part of our tradition. But my community did that ahead of me. Each sister gave me a red envelope (Ampaw – Lì xì). I was so happy and touched. Of course, I also gave each sister the Lucky Money I had prepared which my sister sent from Vietnam.
I really thank God for the meaningful and beautiful celebration I had experienced with my community. Now I am more affirmed that my religious family is my second family. Thank you God for everything, for all the surprises and all the emotions; “Miracles really happen when you believe”.
Iloilo celebrates Tet
