[The 7-day Tet series] Day 2 – Pink or Yellow, which team are you in?

Tet decoration is one of the most important Vietnamese customs. Decorate homes on Tet holiday to dispel bad things and welcome new fortune into the house. Not only that, Tet is usually an occasion when many guests come to the house and give New Year wishes, the house cannot be messy to welcome guests. Being praised by the guests coming to the house on the occasion of the new year, those are also the “golden” words that help the homeowner believe that this year he will meet more joy and luck.

Vietnam people use to said, “Tết Đến Xuân Về” (Tết Come, Spring return), therefore, Tet is an occasion to mark the return of spring – the season of sprouting tree and blooming flowers. So that, during such happy days, everyone wants to decorate the house with all kinds of plants and flowers. Tet flowers are endless with all kinds of flowers such as Gladiolus, marigold, chrysanthemum, persimmon … but typical plants and flowers are only encapsulated in two things: Northern Peach and Southern Yellow Apricot. It is because the Peach blossom loves cold weather and can only live in the north and the apricot blossoms like the warm sun of the south.

For the Northern people, when referring to Tet, people will immediately think of peach blossoms – flowers only bloom in the spring, to serve the Lunar New Year. In the old days, in order to prevent the devil from disturbing life, people thought of a way to break peach branches and put them in jars. Accordingly, just seeing the peach branch, the demons will run away, not near the house anymore. In addition, peach blossoms are also a symbol of innovation, proliferation and strong development, it can bring a new source of vitality, helping everyone in the house to be healthy, peaceful and everything goes well in the New Year.

The North has peach blossoms, the South has apricot blossoms. The yellow colour of apricot blossom has long been considered a symbol of wealth. People display apricot flowers on the occasion of Tet with the wish of a new year of prosperity and wealth. According to the opinion of many people, the more petals blooming in a house, the luckier and more prosperous that the house is in the new year.  In the concept of the five elements, the yellow colour is Earth (earth), located in the centre, bringing together Kim, Moc, Thuy, Hoa (metal, wood, water, fire), representing the ability reproduction. The apricot blossom has 5 petals, representing 5 good things in life: happiness, luck, longevity, success and peace.

In addition to floral decorations, Vietnamese also decorate their homes for the New Year with fruits and other red and yellow decorations.

Therefore, in the house of Vietnamese people on Tet holidays, there is always an apricot tree or a peach tree and a Quat tree decorated with red envelopes as the belief and wish for a lucky, prosperous new year, happy, warm and full. In addition, the Vietnamese also decorate these flowers with red couplets, small lantern, New year greeting card or small fireworks to increase the red colour for the new year.

 

 

Posted in BeluxCham News, Useful information.

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