Tết Quý Mão 2023 - New Year highlights

While the rest of the sinophile world follows China in ringing in the Year of Rabbit, Vietnam observes the Year of the Cat. The reason why Vietnamese have the Year of the Cat rather than the Year of the Rabbit is that the Chinese word for rabbit (mao) sounds like the Vietnamese word for cat, which is con mèo. Also, whereas for the Chinese the rabbit symbolizes mercy, elegance, and beauty, for Vietnamese, those qualities appear in the more familiar cat. Likewise, Vietnamese switch the more familiar water buffalo for the Chinese zodiac's ox. Anything cute brings out the women in their colourful clothing saved for this time of year so they look gorgeous in the photos that go on to fill social media. Most urban centres cater for this eruption of photo-taking by providing an array of flowers and vivid displays appropriate to the the lunar year's animal.

This from HCM City's annual Nguyen Hue Street extravaganza. In fact, wherever colour or some interesting feature is seen, there seems to be the right place for a Tết photo.

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Flowers are an essential component of Tết, which heralds the northern hemisphere's spring. That's why the Lunar New Year is sometimes referred to as the Spring Festival. 

To decorate their homes, Vietnamese spend large amounts on flowers. Accordingly plants are tended so that they flower just as Tết approaches. Here we at an extensive night market, where we follow a family as they struggle to make a choice. 

A whole park is taken over for the sale of flowers, especially the Tết blossom trees, the yellow apricot mai of the south and the deep pink peach đào of the north.

To have the trees flower on the first day of the new year is believed to bring good luck, one of the superstitions that alienate Christians from the traditional aspects of  the festival. Instead of activities aimed at placating the gods of luck, health, wealth and happiness, Christians focus on the other features of the festival, those of fostering family and fellowship.

The vendor has done a wonderful job in having the flowers blossom at exactly the right time.

A decision has been made, a small grafted bonsai mai, probably five years old, is set to be taken home and put on display in a prominent place. The price for the potted prize was 400,000 dong, about US$17. For those who enjoy bargaining, this is the time to shine, especially as the days count down closer to New Year's Day, when the markets disappear, and vendors take unsold stock home till next year. 

A burst of colour to greet visitors to apartment and office blocks, even shops and homes. This splendid example of the mai will hold its flowers for up to two weeks, and then be returned to the entity it was rented from. On the tree are the red envelopes, bao lì xì in Vietnamese, referring to "lucky money", which show the regard of the older person for the young, or adults for those who are old. Gifts of fruit and a selection of foodstuffs are also common. In fact, there are many cultural elements related to Tết, such as special rice cake treats to eat, but also protocols relating to the sequence of a family's visiting relatives and social "elders".

Businesses get in on act at Tết with special advertising, just for the festival time, even down to providing beautifully designed envelopes for money gifts, with their brand name of course! Above is an example from a supermarket chain, showing the gifts people might buy for the occasion. The third pictorial envelope shows people going to a pagoda, a matter of course for many of the mainly Buddhist population. Thanks to ScooterSaigonTour for this example. 

I hope you enjoyed this insight into a rejuvenating event that consumes the attention of a large part of the world's population because of the shared happiness it provides and the solidarity it cultivates by focusing, not on the desires of the individual, but on the family and the ties that bind a society together. 

All that remains is to wish you a belated Chúc mừng năm mới!

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