The Story of Tet: What We Abstain During Tet.

Tet is a special time of every Vietnamese and contains so much spiritual meaning. There is a saying. Có thờ có thiêng có kiêng có lành (means There is worship, there is God, there is abstinence and there is good.) They often consider carefully before doing something because if they do something wrong, they will meet the bad luck for the rest of the year. Vietnamese people always believe that what happens during Tet will happen exactly the same. In this post, I will tell you more about what we should not do during Tet. This post is a collection of all things that I learned from everyone around. Of course, there may be some of them not exactly true but because it has been in the mind of every Vietnamese person, so they believe it is true.

No crying, sadness, anger

These bad actions no one will want to do on Tet. If you are in an unhappy situation, you should try to restrain yourself to enjoy a full year of joy with your loved ones, friends and family. The ancients believed that: crying and sad on the first day of the year, the whole year was the same.

No sweeping the house

There was a story of a man who was gifted a housemaid from a God of River after he helped the God to do something. The housemaid took care of the housework really well and since she came to his house, he became prosperity and his business got blooming. But on the first day of New Year, the housemaid did something that made the master angry and he beated her. She got scared and hid inside a pile of garbage. The master didn't know she was inside so threw the garbage away with the girl inside. From that moment, he broke and became poor. Since then people believe sweeping the house on the first 3 days of the year will make the whole year poor and broke. If there is sweeping, you should collect garbage in a corner of the house without picking it up.

No giving water and fire

Abstain from neighbors coming to your house to ask for fire. With the concept that fire is red, is lucky, giving others luck on the 1st day of the New Year, that whole year in the house will have many bad luck such as losing business, messy house, going out or having an accident. damn. In addition, also abstain from water at the beginning of the year because water is likened to a source of fortune and a source of power for the family. If you give water, you will lose "lucky".

No borrowing and debt repayment

Do not borrow money, give stuff on the first days of the new year because it will make the family fall into poverty for the whole year. This taboo comes from the concept that on the first day of Tet, people open the door to welcome fortune into the house, and if they lend or return it, it is like "giving" fortune to another hand.

No breaking stuff

According to ancestors, breaking things is separation, suffering and is a bad omen for your family in the new year.

No coming to a family when there is a pregnant woman

Not only the mourners abstain from going to wish Tet, the old Vietnamese also avoid doing this while pregnant. In fact, even in modern times, many women abstain or are told to abstain from going to other people's homes during the New Year. Because according to folk beliefs, a pregnant woman brings bad luck, not to mention that the baby in the womb will later become an ungrateful talker.

No waking others on the 1st day of Tet

In the case of going to someone's house to wish New Year's greetings, want to give wishes to the sleeping person but can't wait for long, it's best for the guest to wait for another occasion rather than wake him up. Not only guests, even family members should not wake anyone on this day, but must let people wake up by themselves. Otherwise, that sleeper will be at the urging of others in year-round work.

No wearing black or white

White and black are the colors of mourning, so on the first day of the year people abstain from wearing too many white or black clothes. On New Year's Day, people prefer colorful colors, creating excitement and joy, especially two colors red and yellow.