Year of the Dog

We got a second chance at celebrating New Year's Eve when the Vietnamese welcomed the year of the dog at midnight on January 29. Tet (lunar new year) is Vietnam's most important holiday. Families reunite (from all over the world) in the hope of good fortune for the coming year and ancestral spirits are welcomed back into the family home. What this means for us is that it's been a little crazy travelling between towns, the towns themselves have been fairly hectic, and we've gotten to see some interesting preparations and celebrations.

We spent the holiday in the picturesque riverside town of Hoi An in Central Vietnam (just 5 km from the South China Sea).


Frenzied shoppers filled the market here in the days before Tet as people stocked up on necessary New Year's items: new clothes; flowers; kumquat trees and blossoming cherry or apricot branches to be decorated; fruit, watermelon seeds (roasted and dyed red), special pastries and other traditional foods; incense and offerings to be burned at gravesites, family altars, and in front of homes (such as paper versions of things that those in the afterlife may want -- clothes, shoes, money). It's difficult to describe the air of celebration. Entire streets are taken up with the holiday flower markets, huge numbers of businesses are preparing to shut down for a week or more, all households are being cleaned so the new year can be started with a fresh slate.

Frantic last-minute shopping on New Year's Eve


The new year celebration begins at the stroke of midnight. The festival is usually celebrated at home with family eating, spending time, and making noise to honor the entrance of the new year and scare off evil spirits. Being travellers with no home to get to by midnight, we went to the event put on the city. Before midnight, there was a sort of variety show with acts ranging from cheesy costumed pop music performaces by young heart throb ensembles to a traditional game of bingo where each "number" is announced through a folksong verse. As the bewitching hour approached, a leader from the local communist party took the stage to give a short speech and lead the crowd in the countdown and simultaneous flag raising. Midnight was welcomed with popping balloons (fireworks have been banned since 1995), air cannons shooting confetti, and the national anthem.

Next there was a procession through the streets similar to Chinese new year's parades some of you have seen. A long dancing dragon, lions, musicians, a float in honor of the year of the dog (represented as a very Disney-looking Dalmation dog), and other costumed characters pasting red slips of paper on people and businesses wishing them luck in the new year. All was quite festive!


The events of New Year's Day are very important as it's believed they affect the course of life in the year ahead. People take extra care not to be rude, show anger, or break things all of which may attract bad spirits. Similarly, it's crucial that the first visitor of the year to each household is suitable - someone who was born during the year of the dog or one of its 2 compatible signs and preferably someone lucky (e.g. wealthy, married, with several children).

When we woke on the rainy New Year Day, the streets were quiet. As we walked, we could see closed shops and restaurants, ashes on the curbs where people had burned offerings the night before, and families all dressed up travelling to visit other relatives. Every household we passed seemed to have an open door and a table in the front room set with tea and a tray of sweets.

The actual first day of the new lunar year was on January 29 but we've learned that Tet lasts much longer. Many businesses were still closed 10 days later, many local people go on holiday for a week or more, the decorations stay posted, and we still hear what seems to be the favorite Tet holiday song (ABBA's "Happy New Year").

We'll end with the most important (& just about only) Vietnamese phrase we've learned - Chuc mung nam moi - Happy New Year!