Tet

TET - Test Environment Toolkit project coordinated by X/Open.

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Tet

January-February; first to seventh days of first lunar month

The Vietnamese New Year, Tet, is an abbreviation for Tet Nguyen Dan, meaning "first day." This is the most important festival of the year, signifying both the beginning of the year and of spring. It's also seen as a precursor of everything that will happen in the coming year, and for that reason, efforts are made to start the year properly with family reunions, paying homage to ancestors, and wiping out debts.
At the start of the festival, the Spirit of the Hearth goes to the abode of the Emperor of Jade to report on family members. The spirit should be in a good frame of mind, so a tree is built of bamboo and red paper to ward off evil spirits. At midnight the New Year and the return of the Spirit of the Hearth are welcomed with firecrackers, gongs, and drums. The festival then continues for a week, with special events on each day. A favorite food of the festival is banh chung, which is made of sticky rice, yellow beans, pig fat, and spices wrapped in leaves and boiled for half a day.
Tet became known worldwide in 1968 for the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. The Lunar New Year truce was shattered on Jan. 31 with attacks by North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front against more than 100 South Vietnamese cities. The United States embassy in Saigon was attacked and parts of it held by the Viet Cong for six hours; the headquarters of U.S. Gen. William Westmoreland at Tan Son Nhut Airport outside Saigon was also attacked. The city of Hue was captured. The attacks were repulsed, and the U.S. and South Vietnam claimed victory. But television viewers had seen the ferocity of the attack and the flight of Saigon residents, and the offensive led to increased movements in the United States to end the war.

CONTACTS:
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
80 Quan Su Rd.
Hanoi, Vietnam
84-4-942-1061; fax: 84-4-826-3956
www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.a

SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 239
FolkAmerHol-1999, p. 61
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 76
HolSymbols-2009, p. 948
RelHolCal-2004, p. 230