Tet - Vietnamese New year

Tet - or also called Vietnamese New Year is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Vietnamese New Year celebrated the same day as China, because Vietnam culture was influenced by China. In America, New Year will be on the first day of the first month of the year, but in Vietnam, they have a different calendar, and New Year most of the time will be in late January and early February. This year, Vietnamese New Year is on February 8, 2016.

  Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. These foods include bánh chưng, bánh dày, dried young bamboo soup (canh măng), giò, and sticky rice.

Banh Day

Banh Chung

The round cakes can stand for Heaven and called "Banh Day". The square cakes can symbolize the Earth and called "Banh Chung". Pork, rice, peas and "dong" leave can stand for animals and plants. The leaves wrapping the delicious inside imply mutual protection. Every year during the New Year celebration, the Vietnamese people would cook Banh Chung and Banh Day, first as a tribute to their ancestors, and second to have as a good meal with the traditional flavor.