Friday 25 January 2019

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia
Chinese New Year is around the corner, and if you want a change from the usual hustle and bustle of the festive season, why not take the weekend off?

Up Your Instagram Game in Khao Yai, Thailand

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia
Khao Yai is home to many unique attractions such as the Hobbit Resort (Baan Suan Noi), PB Valley Winery and Primo Piazza. Expect to up your Instagram game at these picturesque locations and capture many wonderful memories with the whole family.

While you are there, check out Khao Yai’s Tuscan-themed Palio Village, a shopping paradise where tourists can expect an array of shopping choices, from eclectic clothes labels, local independent brands to gourmet food and so much more.

Foodie Haven in Penang

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia
Chinese New year festivities are taken seriously in Penang, so don’t miss out on the light display at Kek Lok Si Temple, Malaysia’s largest Buddhist temple. Keep your eyes peeled for lion dances, cheery decorations and firecrackers.

After all the sightseeing, take a stroll around Georgetown, Penang and you will see why this place is known as a foodie paradise. From cendol to Penang laksa, ork luak, char kway teow and more, you can expect to be eating the entire long weekend.

Read more: Top 8 street foods you should try in Penang

Embrace Yourself on Beaches in Bali

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia

Get ready for lots of sun and sea when in Bali, be it relaxing on the beach or gearing up to catch some waves.

Chinese New Year is indeed a colourful one in Bali. Drop by Vihara Dharmayana temple in Kuta to check out the lunar new year festivities and be enthralled by the lively celebrations. While you’re at it, bring home some of that good fortune with you too!

Shop Till You Drop in Bangkok

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia
Bangkok is the hub for great shopping and eating, so get ready to shop till you drop while you stuff your face silly with all that delicious street food.

Visit night markets such as the Rot Fai 2, haggle for the best prices at JJ Market and cafe hop to explore the unique cafe culture that Bangkok has to offer.

Head on down to Yaowarat

5 travel ideas for Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia
Head on down to Yaowarat (Chinatown) to soak in all the Chinese New Year festivities such as Dragon Parades, and visit the temples such as Wat Arun and Mang Nguan Ha Shrine to check out their decorations and take in all that festive spirit.

Source Sethlui

Thursday 24 January 2019

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family
Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. The holiday is a two-week festival filled with reunions among family and friends, an abundance of delicious food and wishes for a new year filled with prosperity, joy and good fortune.

Reuniting with everyone you love

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family
Hands down, the most traditional and cherished aspect of the New Year is reuniting with family. Gathering all of the generations together to celebrate the holiday is so important that many Chinese people return to their native villages for the celebration, even if it means flying in from across the world.
Those who cannot make the trip often get together with neighbors and attend local festivities in their area.

Paying respects to elders and ancestors

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family
At its heart, Lunar New Year is a family reunion. Paying respects to elders can take many forms, from bowing to parents and grandparents to making sure they get the first piece of roast duck at dinner.
For many people, it might be the one time of year where they visit a temple to pay respects to ancestors by lighting incense sticks and making offerings, and praying to deities. It is all part of ensuring a good start to the year for everyone, and putting the old year aside for a new beginning.

Having some childish fun

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family
Before they can sit down to eat, families gather together and spend the evening making Chinese dumplings. One of the common Chinese New Year traditions involves concealing a coin in one of the dumplings and distributing them among family members. Whoever discovers the coin in his or her dumpling will supposedly have good luck for the New Year.

In addition, older family members present children with red money packets (red represents luck in the Chinese culture), decorated with gold designs and filled with "lucky money."

Eating and being merry

How to enjoy Chinese New Year with your family
What holiday is complete without a proper feast (or feasts)? The Chinese New Year is full of delicious meals, none more significant than the highly anticipated New Year's Eve dinner, which honors family ancestors.

Uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, grandchildren, great grandchildren and more attend these savory events, where delicious dishes of nian gao cake, steamed rice pudding, long noodles, and dumplings are commonly served. It is a little-known fact that when fish is included, the Chinese make a particular point not to finish it for superstitious reasons.


Source YourTango

Monday 21 January 2019

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
Tet is by far the biggest celebration in Vietnam. Every year, millions of people fly, drive and float their way back to their hometowns to spend quality time with their friends and families. The meals are big, the songs are loud, and everyone is in a good mood. Vietnamese people wait all year for this, but what is Tet?

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
Technically, "Tet" is a shortened form of Tết Nguyên Đán, a way to say "Lunar New Year" in Vietnamese.

Tet is seen as a chance for a fresh start. Debts are settled, old grievances are forgiven, and houses are cleaned of clutter, all to set the stage for attracting as much luck and good fortune as possible in the upcoming year.

The basics

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
The Tet holiday coincides with the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls sometime around the end of January, or the beginning of February. Generally speaking, Tet is a time to dish out the spoils from a prosperous year, to bring good fortune through generosity. In the months leading up to the holiday, people work long hours to pay for lavish gifts and celebrations. But it is time spent with family and friends that makes Tet so special.

Traditions

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
The first day of Tet is meant to be for immediate family. Parents and grandparents hand out lucky money to their children and grandchildren, usually cash gifts in red envelopes, which is the color of luck. For kids, this means it is time to load up on new toys and snacks. After the immediate family, it is time to celebrate with friends and neighbors.

Fruits of Tet: "Mam Ngu Qua"

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
The "five-fruit tray" on the ancestral altar during the Tet Holidays symbolizes the admiration and gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their ancestors and demonstrates their aspiration for a life of plenty. The five fruits represent the quintessence hope that Heaven and Earth bless humans. It demonstrates a Vietnamese percept of life, "When taking fruit, you should think of the grower".

Flowers of Tet

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
Coming to Vietnam during the season of the Tet festival, the visitor is engulfed in an ocean of colorful flowers. Visiting flower shows, contemplating the buds and blooms, and purchasing blossoms represents one of the distinct Vietnamese cultural characteristics. The peach (in the North) and the apricot blossoms (in the South) are symbols of the Vietnamese Tet. The warm pink of the peach could very well match the dry cold of the North, but the hot South seems to be flourishing in the riot of the yellow of the apricot. The mandarin is symbolic of good fortune. Therefore, people tend to choose the little plants with verdant leaves which are laden with large, orange fruit for a longer display.

Food

What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
The most famous snack associated with Tet is Banh tet or Tet cake which is sticky rice, mung bean and pork, boiled inside a leaf. Roadside carts selling these cylindrical green bundles pop up everywhere as the holiday approaches. Just the sight of a bicycle loaded with Tet cakes gets people excited, because it means their favorite holiday is almost here.

Read more: Vietnam's traditional foods during Tet

Families also have large fruit trays in their homes, featuring plums, bananas, pomelos and tangerines. The more fruit, the better. They are symbolic of fertility in the upcoming year. No fruit means no babies. Dried fruit is also a popular snack to give to children during the holiday, along with peanut brittle and coconut candies.
What to know about Tet, Vietnamese New Year
The most joyous part of Tet, though, is the meals. They are huge, delicious, and the room is typically full of laughter. People who have not seen each other in months catch up and share stories, drinking a lot of beer and liquor in the process. Do not be surprised if you hear families still going strong in the very early hours of the morning.

Learn these words, because you will be hearing and saying them a lot should you find yourself in Vietnam during Tet.
Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! (Happy New Year!)
Pronounced: Chook Mung Nam Moi!

Source Internet

Monday 17 December 2018

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
Vietnam’s Lunar New Year, also called Tet, is the most crucial event in Vietnamese tradition.  Tet marks the arrival of spring based on the lunisolar calendar, it will be between January and February as usual, after New Year’s Day. Tet occurs from the first day of the first month in Vietnamese lunar calendar to the third day or even more. Occasionally, all Vietnamese people have around 1 week off during Tet holiday, the length of the holiday depends on the change in lunar calendar annually.

How to calculate Tet

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
Different from the Gregorian calendar, Lunar Calendar has a fix number of twelve months with 30 days each, and a leap-year will have a whole intercalary month instead of the 29th day of February. The new year of Lunar Calendar normally will start in late January or beginning of February according to Gregorian calendar. That explains why Tet days vary from year to year, it is because the leap month may fall shorter or longer which create a smaller or bigger gap between the two calendars.

How to say Happy New Year in Vietnamese

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
Like Thai and Chinese, Vietnamese is a tonal language, making pronunciation a challenge for English speakers.
Regardless, locals will understand your attempts through context. You can wish people a happy new year in Vietnamese by telling them "chúc mừng năm mới." Pronounced roughly as it is transliterated, the greeting sounds like "chook moong nahm moi."

How to celebrate Tet

Since Tet occupies an important role in Vietnamese’s religious beliefs, Vietnamese will begin their preparations well in advance of the upcoming New Year. In an effort to get rid of the bad luck of the old year, people will spend a few days cleaning their homes, polishing every utensil, or even repaint and decorate the house with kumquat tree, branches of peach blossom, and many other colorful flowers. The ancestral altar is especially taken care of, with careful decoration of five kinds of fruits and votive papers, along with many religious rituals. Everybody, especially children, buy new clothes and shoes to wear on the first days of New Year. People also try to pay all their pending debts and resolve all the arguments among colleagues, friends or members of family.
Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
Like other Asian countries, Vietnamese believe that the color of red and yellow will bring good fortune, which may explain why these colors can be seen everywhere in Lunar New Year. People consider what they do on the dawn of Tet will determine their fate for the whole year, hence people always smile and behave as nice as they can in the hope for a better year. Besides, gifts are exchanged between family members and friends and relatives, while children receive lucky money kept in red envelope.
No matter where Tet is celebrated, it must be clarified from the beginning that Tet is not a day, but several days of celebration.

What to eat on Lunar New Year

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
When it comes to Tet holiday, there are some traditional dishes you should try to find in a Vietnamese restaurant
Fatty pork braised with duck egg in coconut juice – Thit kho hot vit
Pickled onion – Dua hanh
Pickled small leeks with dried shrimp and century egg – Tom kho, hot vit bach thao va cu kieu
Square glutinous rice cake – Chung cake
Banana glutinous rice cake – Banh tet chuoi
Bitter melon soup – Canh kho qua
Spring rolls southern style – goi cuon

Read more: 10 traditional Vietnamese New Year dishes

If you are invited to be a guest, you should…

Prepare a few red envelopes to give the children of the family. Normally, people put 50,000 VND or $2 USD in the envelope (because Vietnamese consider 2 dollars to be lucky money). However, you can also put the smallest bill of your currency in the envelope.

Dress up in Ao Dai or any piece of clothing that has a vibrant or bright color. White is acceptable to some families but avoid wearing black and dark colors.
Bringing a gift basket or cards to give the head of the family is optional but you should do so to show your goodwill.
Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
If you make a wish to the family members or a friend, follow these simple rules as wish for health to the elderly, intelligence and happiness to the children, prosperity and luck to the rest.
Receive lucky money with both of your hands. This is how we show our respect to other people.

And wish

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese
Chuc mung nam moi – Happy New Year
Van su nhu y – Everything you wish will come true!
An khang thinh vuong – Security and prosperity
Doi dao suc khoe – Plenty of health
Song lau tram tuoi – Live up to 100 years old (only say this to the elderly)
Tien vo nhu nuoc – Money will flow in your pocket

Source Internet

Friday 14 December 2018

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet

Tet is the Lunar New Year for Vietnam and falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year. For the Vietnamese, Tet is like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all rolled up in one. Moreover,  this is a great time to be in Vietnam for travelers. Everyone is in a very festive spirit and the streets are filled with flowers.

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet

Moc Chau plateau

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
200 kilometers apart from Hanoi, Moc Chau is a well-known destination for backpackers. The best time to go to Moc Chau is from the end of January to February, when plum blossoms and sakura bloom everywhere, making the plateau looks like a white heaven.

Tam Dao

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
It is quite hot in Vietnam this winter, and if you miss the feeling of those cold winds blowing to your face, why don’t you come to Tam Dao where the weather is always cool? Visiting the Van Pagoda, Silver Waterfall, Sky Gate and enjoying local dishes like chayote, hill chicken, man pig as well.

Dalat

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
With no doubt, visiting the “City of flower” in the blooming season is a great plan for your Tet holiday. You can hire a motorbike and wander around this city to enjoy its quiet beauty and of course flowers. Must-thing to do when you come to Dalat is visiting Dalat Flower Garden. You can even find an impressive cacti garden, many of them originally from Africa. The garden is in the center of the city, so don’t miss it.

See more: 10 traditional Vietnamese New Year dishes

Hoi An

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
Used to be a South-East Asian trading port from the 15th to the 19th century, it seems like Hoi An is left by the modern world and still sleeping in its glorious past. With the well-preserved ancient architecture, it makes you feel like you are coming back to hundreds of years ago. It is a small town, so you should spend around 1 to 2 days here.

Hanoi

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
Hanoi is quite quiet during the holiday because a lot of Vietnamese people visit their family. So let's take advantage of this holiday to avoid traffic jams in this city. Wandering around Hoan Kiem Lake, you can enjoy the holiday decorations and locals in traditional clothing. In addition, you can visit Ngoc Son Temple and Tran Quoc Temple to enjoy the atmosphere of the holiday.

Sapa

Best places to travel in Vietnam during Tet
Another Northern destination in this list must-visit Vietnam. If you come to Vietnam and you don’t visit Sapa, it’s such a pity. The breathtaking mountainous scenery of Hoang Lien Son range, the terraced fields on rolling hills, the villages of Highland ethics, the colorfulness of brocade fabric. You just don’t want to miss it.

See more: 5 traditional activities during Tet holiday for families
Source Internet

Thursday 13 December 2018

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
Each ethnic minority group has its own festivals, customs, beliefs and farming practice. Tet festival lasts about half a month, during which time many exciting cultural and community activities take place. Following are traditional Tet festival customs of some ethnic minority groups in Vietnam.

Dao ethnic minority

Tet festival of the Dao ethnic minority usually takes place in the first month of the lunar calendar, beginning a new year with good weather and a lush green harvest. This is a nice traditional culture of Dao people.
Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
Before the festival, Dao people usually prepare an altar. The altar is made of four timbers, surrounded with bamboo. Inside the altar are three big round tubes, used as thuribles symbolizing sky, land and people. There is votive paper money in the censers. Space under of the alter is a bundle of sugar-cane to wish for good things.

Cham people

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
Like other ethnic groups, the Cham ethnic people also celebrate their Tet sumptuously. They kill pigs, poultry and enjoy a variety of fruits and cakes. During the Lunar New Year Festival, the Cham ethnic group has no taboo so their friends and neighbours can share happiness with them easily. During the Tet festival, the Cham ethnic people also organize games such as fan-dancing, gong-beating, singing, drinking and archery.

Tay ethnic minority

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
The Tet festival of Tay ethnic people starts on the 30th of the last lunar month to the morning of the third day of the New Year. On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, they go to work in field, but only as a formality. On the 15th day of the first lunar month, they celebrate Tet festival again.

Different from Thai ethnic people, Tay ethnic minority’s taboo is that a person who is not invited to come their home on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The first caller on New Year’s Day chosen is a virtuous person or a person well respected in the hamlet, and they especially refrain anyone in mourning. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Tay ethnic men usually go to their parents-in-law to wish a Happy New Year and the third day of the New Year to wish magician.

Co Tu ethnic people

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
On the Lunar New Year festival of the Co Tu people, the crossbows, spears, broadsword, cymbal, drums and gongs are carefully cleaned. Many cultural activities take place in Guol house (communal house) such as telling stories, dancing, singing folk songs. Co Tu girls have chance to exchange feelings and invite others to go out for a month-long.

H're ethnic minority

The Tet festival of the Hre ethnic group, who live in Quang Ngai province, lasts for several months. Each family must make large quantities of Tet (cylindrical glutinous rice) cake, can wine and slaughter a buffalo to make a feast for guests, relatives and neighbours.
Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
To celebrate Tet, all the villagers gather at the house of the village chief to enjoy the banquet and offer him their best wishes. Afterwards, they visit each other’s houses in the hamlet. During Tet, the locals enjoy good foods and drinks while dancing and singing. The Hre have their own unique way of counting their age. Each year, when local people make Tet cake or serve guests during Tet, they wrap a plain cake without stuffing and have it as their individual portion.

San Chi (Cao Lan) ethnic minority 

Traditional custom of Vietnamese ethnics on Lunar New Year
When spring comes, the ethnic San Chi people start preparing for Tet. They make traditional food to offer to their ancestors during the holiday. Like other ethnic groups, San Chi people also erect Neu poles from Vau trees, symbols of spring,to pray for peace and prosperity. High Neu poles, they believe, will bring good business. Any house without a pole is not considered to be really celebrating Tet.

Before lowering the Neu poles, the San Chi ethnic group select an auspicious direction to pray for support from the spirits. 

Source Vietnam CultureInformation