The Story of Tet: The Tradition on New Year Eve (aka Giao Thua)

In the last post, I talked about the legend of the Kitchen Gods or as known as Tao Quan. I want to add this detail that I didn't mention in the post. The reason for us to set up an offering tray with food and votive papers is that we believe it is a good way to bribe the Kitchen Gods because they will report what happened in our family in a year to Jade Emperor so with an offering tray, they can help us to say something nice about our family. Of course, it is a little joke that people told me. But here is what I think. Before the Kitchen Gods go, they must eat and have new clothes. It is also a way to pay them for watching out our family.

They said that on the day taking Tao Quan to report to Jade Emperor is the beginning of Tet. I don't agree with it. I feel like it is the beginning of the end of a year. There is a saying "30 chua phai la Tet" (30th is not yet Tet). From 23rd of December to 30th of December according to the Moon calendar, it is the period of time we honor all the work of Gods and our ancestors for blessing and protecting our family in a year. We will clean up our house, buy flowers, decor our houses, and cook food and prepare possesties to offer Gods and ancestors. Continue with Tao Quan, I will talk about our New Year Eve or we always say Giao Thua in Vietnamese and the activities around that day before we enter New Year.

Reunion Party (Tiec Tat Nien).

Reunion dinner is a ritual offering on New Year's Day, taking place on the last days of the lunar year (usually December 30 if it's a full year, or December 29 if it's a short year, some places can also organize it) to celebrate the end of the year earlier depending on specific circumstances, in order to acknowledge the end of the old year and prepare to welcome the new year. In a ritual meaning, we welcome our ancestors and passed family members come back to celebrate Tet with us. Vietnamese people prepare Reunion dinner offerings, then prepare the meal for family members and guests to eat together. The day of the year-end worshiping ceremony is an opportunity for the whole family to gather around a cozy tray of rice, share with each other sad and happy stories that have happened during the year and say their wishes in the coming new year.

Reunion offerings usually include incense, lamps, votive papers, five-fruit trays and offerings of rice. The traditional year-end offering rice tray will have basic dishes such as: Rice, salt; tea, wine, filtered water; confectionery; betel and areca; tea, sticky rice, white porridge; three slugs; Boiled chicken; roast suckling pig; confectionery; Banh chung or banh tet; pork bologna.

Today, the year-end rice tray is much simpler, which can be changed depending on the circumstances and conditions of the owner. In Vietnam, the year-end rice offerings in each region are often different, bearing bold cultural characteristics and customs in that area.

Now, I am in the U.S. Sometimes I missed the feeling of everyone gathering together in Vietnam and have a reunion dinner. It is the only time of the year that everyone can meet each other.

The New Year Eve (Giao Thua).

After the Reunion dinner, everyone come back home and prepare for the New Year Eve (Giao Thua). I'd like to use Giao Thua for the rest of this post. A few hours before Giao Thua, we usually have a tradition, which is the most important one that we do every year. Watching Tao Quan. It is a comedy show on TV released every year. It is a show that collects all the important events in a year and turns it into a satire. The show is based on the Legend of the Kitchen Gods but they make up so many kinds of Gods and each of them is in charge of each job. It is the best show of Giao Thua. Then, after Tao Quan, it is the time to prepare of offering tray for Gods and ancestor at 12 a.m.

The offering tray will be different from other trays in the Reunion dinner and Tao Quan. We will have a boiled chicken, five-fruit tray (soursop, watermelon, coconut, papaya, mango. I will explain to you later on), votive papers, incense, rice and salt, and a vase of flower (normally, it is daisy). The meaning behind Giao Thua is that the sky and earth enter a new year. We will do it outside. It is a way to welcome back Tao Quan. Another Chinese zodiac will be in charge of that year. For example, 2022 is the year of tiger. 2023 will be the year of cat. In Vietnamese tradition, it is the cat. But in Chinese, Japan, or South Korea, it is the rabbit.

Exactly at 12 a.m, we will celebrate Giao Thua from the inside first at the altar. Then, we will go outside to worship the sky and earth as well as the New Year. We thank the Gods and the ancestors. After we finished, we will go inside, open champagne, and wish each other a happy new year. From that moment, we officially enter a new year with a new hope.

The Meaning of Five-fruit Tray.

Soursop, Watermelon, Coconut, Papaya, Mango are the main fruits. In some places, they replace watermelon with pineapple. In Vietnamese, soursop means "mang cau", watermelon means "dưa", coconut means "dừa", papaya means "đu đủ", mango means "xoai". In the tradition, if we combine all those fruits' one syllable together, we will have a quote which is also a wish for new year. "Cầu dư dùa đủ xài" It means wish for enough things but a little more to use for the whole year.

Cherry blossom in the House for New Year.

If you have been to Vietnam during Tet, you will notice that on both sides of a street, there is cherry blossom from the seller. In the North, they decor with cherry blossom. In the South, they decor with apricot blossom. There is a story behind these two flowers. In a folk tale, there were two Gods looking after a mountain and protecting people in a village. They were Than Tra and Uat Luy. They usually use cherry blossom branch to hit all the monsters that want to harm the villagers. So, the monsters, when look at cherry blossom, were afraid. At the end of the year, Than Tra and Uat Luy had to go to the Heaven Court to join Jade Emperor and other Gods for a party. Know that both Gods would not be there to protect the villagers, the monsters would come and harm the villagers. But before Than Tra and Uat Luy left, they told the villagers to get the cherry blossom branches and put them inside their houses. Since the monsters were afraid of the cherry blossoms, they ran away. From that folk tale, every Asian family has the cherry blossom or apricot blossom inside their house.

Conclusion.

The traditions that I mentioned above are continuing inside my family even when I am in the U.S. It is so meaningful to me. Tet is the most wonderful time of the year. In the next posts, I will go deeper inside what we do in Tet and what's different between Tet in foreign countries and in Vietnam.