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Meanwhile Doctor Nguyen Van Huy,
former director of the Vietnam Museum
of Ethnology, recommends the tradition-
al Tet should be celebrated with a view
toward saving costs.
Huy also raises the fact that the
current Tet is not the original New Year
of the Vietnamese people. A long time
ago, the ancient Vietnamese celebrated
their New Year during the crop collec-
tion of October and it was known as
the Paddy New Year. Some of the Vi-
etnamese minorities retain this festival
and celebrate it as the main holiday of
the year.
“This means that the time to cel-
ebrate New Year can be changed; the
important thing is that whenever we
celebrate it, we have to keep all of the
cultural and traditional customs of older
generations,” Huy said.
He went on: “Tet is a culture. And
culture is not fixed. It is always chang-
ing with the good things from older
generations developing and adapting
with society.”
Huy is of the opinion that tradi-
tional customs must be kept because
they are part of Vietnamese people’s
cultural characteristics. However, in the
current economic and social climate, he
says the celebration should be adjusted
to a suitable duration and cost. This
would mean offices do not shut for as
long and people would spend less on
preparing for Tet.
“The Vietnamese society is a mov-
ing society - that is why when the
economic and social condition in Viet-
nam changes, the Tet holiday should
change,” Huy said.
Meanwhile, the shift faces fierce
opposition from many other scholars.
According to professor of history, Le
Van Lan, the western New Year was
an addition to Vietnamese culture, but
cannot become the biggest festive day
of the year: “We [Vietnamese people]
have celebrated Tet for many genera-
tions. It is very dear to Vietnamese
people and it is not easy to wipe it
away quickly.”
He also says that if the traditional
New Year is replaced by the western
New Year, many customs would not
be carried out at the right time: “The
images of the whole family sat togeth-
er for the whole night cooking
banh
chung
, or the worshipping
Ong Cong
Ong Tao
(the Three Kitchen Gods) are
deeply ingrained in the mind of Viet-
namese people, and I personally would
be very sad if those things are lost.
Traditional New Year is the only time at
which all the family’s members can sit
together, talk about their private lives,
and share all the bad and good news.
This reunion of Vietnamese people is
very significant.”
Lan is also concerned about the
particular importance of midnight on
New Year’s Eve. In Vietnam, this mo-
ment can decide the fortunes of the
following year. “This moment is very
meaningful - Vietnamese people be-
lieve that their ancestors and gods
enjoy Tet with them. This moment
cannot be changed to another day,”
explained Lan.
Cultural doctor Phan Quoc Linh
agrees that traditional customs could
be wiped out if the traditional Tet is
changed: “It is impossible - it would
cause too many ill-effects for the na-
tion. It would be rejected by the major-
ity of Vietnamese people. This would
impact the whole culture.”
This matter is no doubt set to rum-
ble on, but for now at least, the tradi-
tional Tet is here to stay.
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