Delicious Food for Christmas and New Year

Try experiencing your country's food along with Vietnamese ones in Vietnam to see how wonderful it is.

Enjoy these wonderful foods with your friends and family on these special holidays of the year in Vietnam.

Dessert & beverage for Christmas and New Year

Understand about Tet - Traditional Holiday of Vietnam

Ancestor worship is an indispensable activity for Vietnamese people in special ceremonies, especially at Tet (Lunar New Year). Reported by Thanh, Nguyen

“Birds have nests, humans have ancestors” – is a well-known saying that has existed long time ago so the belief of ancestral worship dates is known from that time. It has been playing an important role in Vietnamese and influencing on the spiritual life of the country when Tet comes. Every time Tet comes, Vietnamese carefully prepare for worshipping; they are very serious about this.

Ancestor worship, one of the Vietnamese customs, was under the influence of China, but after thousands years of existing, it becomes the Vietnamese particular cultural character and long-standing custom that can be indispensable in every Vietnamese people.

Tet is an opportunity to invite and welcome deceased ancestor back for family reunion with their descendants to join the family’s Tet celebration. Preparation for the celebration of the New Year is usually make weeks ahead. On that day, family members together make food, fruit and incense that offer on the altars to commemorate their ancestors.

Food and A tray of five kinds of fruits:

According to the ancient Oriental people, the universe was taken its shape by five elements – called five basic elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Ideology as well as the image of “five basic elements” entered into the material and spiritual life of Oriental people with many features. The Vietnamese people’s custom of worshipping the Tet fruit tray is one of these features.

The fruit tray in the North is, as a whole, smaller than that in the South. It must have three kinds of fruits: banana, grapefruit, mandarin (or orange) while a pair of watermelons and four kinds of fruits: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango cannot be missing on the fruit tray in the South. For Southerners, this fruit tray means that it will bring a comfortable life and best wishes – the most common demand in the New Year. Tet days are always regarded as a perfect time for people to offer traditional food such as banh chung - a square-shaped sticky rice cake and boiled-chicken on the altar to welcome back our ancestors.

Read more about Tet Food

The lightning of incense:

On the Eve of the New Year’s Day, almost Vietnamese families place trays of offering outside the house to offer the God of the old year and God of the New Year. They also burn joss-stick and joss-paper to mark the occasion.

The lighting of incense is a form of communication between the real world and the death world, between Heaven and Earth. It is believed that during the time for a stick of incense burn out (about from 15 to 20 minutes) the spirit can take the invisible aspect of the offerings and they are considered “blessed” in the other world.

The worshipping of the dead ancestors is the most solemn ceremony in Vietnam. It is mainly devoted to those who have great merit or to ancestor to express respect and deep gratitude. Vietnamese traditional worship is no longer superstition, it now becomes a popular social habit that is retained and respected. Worship, to me, is not only a way to show my respect to my ancestors but also a way to keep a good pride of Vietnamese people.

Read more: How to travel Vietnam

Vietnam travel

Ha Long Bay - Vietnam

Most visitors to Vietnam are overwhelmed by the sublime beauty of the country's natural setting: the Red River Delta in the north, the Mekong Delta in the south and almost the entire coastal strip are a patchwork of brilliant green rice paddies tended by women in conical hats.

There are some divine beaches along the coast, while inland there are soaring mountains, some of which are cloaked by dense, misty forests। Vietnam also offers an opportunity to see a country of traditional charm and rare beauty rapidly opening up to the outside world.

There are no good or bad seasons to visit Vietnam। When one region is wet, cold or steamy hot, there is always somewhere else that is sunny and pleasant। Basically, the south has two seasons: the wet (May to November, wettest from June to August) and the dry (December to April). The hottest and most humid time is from the end of February to May. The central coast is dry from May to October and wet from December to February. The highland areas are significantly cooler than the lowlands, and temperatures can get down to freezing in winter. The north has two seasons: cool, damp winters (November to April) and hot summers (May to October). There is the possibility of typhoons between July and November, affecting the north and central areas.

Travellers should take the Tet Festival (late January or early February) into account when planning a trip। Travel (including international travel) becomes very difficult, hotels are full and many services close down for at least a week and possibly a lot longer.

The vast majority of the population is Vietnamese with minute percentages of Chinese। The Viet culture originated on the delta of the Red River and the Ma River where the Viet people cultivated paddy fields। They led a simple farming life in small villages, usually living around a communal house. Today the people living in the countryside follow this lifestyle. The Viet people are influenced by Confucianism, in particular the principle of respect for their elders.

In spite of the immense suffering of the Vietnamese and the somewhat ruined state of the country, they are generally warm and friendly, and surprisingly, the Vietnamese bear little if any resentment or bitterness toward Americans। Children in the streets will commonly greet visitors with the name Lien Xo, which means Russian, but they will easily be corrected if you respond, "Hello!" or "Good morning" and explain you are an American, European or Australian, etc.

Ethnic Groups:
The country is predominantly 85-90% Vietnamese, 3% Chinese, ethnic minorities include Muong, Thai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham, and other mountain tribes.

Languages:
Vietnamese is the official language; French, Chinese, English, Khmer and tribal dialects (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) are also spoken.

Religion:
Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Roman Catholic, indigenous beliefs, Islamic and Protestant.

Vietnam, a name too long associated with the horrors of war, has finally won its last battle - to capture the imagination of the travelling public. Elegant Hanoi now vies with its dynamic sister, Ho Chi Minh City (still fondly called Saigon by the locals), for the attention of visitors drawn by the eclectic mix of old and new. In both cities the streets are jam-packed with motorbikes and scooters, often carrying whole families, and the markets are chaotically busy.

Elsewhere, the scenes are timeless। Early morning on the Mekong Delta brings the daily floating markets where fruit and vegetables are peddled। Everywhere the green patchwork of rice paddies stretches into the distance, broken only by the silhouette of water buffalo and conical-hatted farm workers bending down to tend the young plants.

The soaring mountains in the north of the country tower over tiny villages where life continues much as it has done for centuries, with traditional costumes still proudly worn. Old French hill stations survive throughout the country offering welcome respite from the heat of the plains below.

The ancient former imperial capital, Hué, takes visitors back to a time of concubines and eunuchs. In every town, young women wearing the simple but feminine national dress, the ao dai, weave their way through the traffic at the controls of a motorbike.

Only in Vietnam could the past and the present be encapsulated so perfectly.

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