Today is the holiday known as Tết (aka Vietnamese New Year), a day with much celebration amongst the Vietnamese people, including those who fled from Vietnam after the communist takeover and their posterity.

During the days in which we celebrate the holiday (which often extends in the vicinity of the New Year proper), large festivals are held which comprise celebrations ranging from animal dances (múa lân) to the gambling game known as bầu cua cá cọp (squash/crab/fish/tiger), a game where people bet on one or more of 6 spots (with various images) on a board. We also wish family members and relatives good fortune for the new year, and children receive red envelopes known as lì xì containing money after wishing their elders good fortune. The senior members of a family will often reflect on and discuss about what happened in the previous (lunar) year, including the mistakes of that year which are to be rectified in the new year.

The elaborate decor in Tết celebrations include, but are not limited to, flowers such as hoa mai and banners written using traditional Vietnamese calligraphy. Food is quite important to celebrating Tết, which include bánh chưng (a square rice cake with a meat/mung bean filling which represents the land and is more popular in the northern part of Vietnam), bánh tét (similar to bánh chưng, but cylindrical and more popular in the southern part of Vietnam), and mứt (dried fruits which are eaten mainly during Tết).

In Vietnamese, we say chúc mừng năm mới; that is, Happy New Year!