Tết

Vietnamese New Year
Tết at the Saigon Tax Trade Center (2012)
Official name	Tết Nguyên Đán
Also called	Tết Lunar New Year (as a collective term including other Asian Lunar New Year festivals, used outside of Asia.)
Observed by	Vietnamese people
Type	Religious, cultural, national
Significance	Marks the first day of the lunar new year
Celebrations	Lion dances, Dragon dances, fireworks, family gathering, family meal, visiting friends' homes on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), visiting friends and relatives, ancestor worship, giving red envelopes to children and elderly, and opening a shop.
2016 date	8 February, Monkey
2017 date	28 January, Rooster
2018 date	16 February, Dog
2019 date	5 February, Pig
Frequency	Annual
Related to	Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, Japanese New Year, Mongolian New Year, Tibetan New Year

Tết ([tet˧˥] or [tɜːt˧˥]), or Vietnamese New Year, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word is a shortened form of Tết Nguyên Đán, which is Sino-Vietnamese for "Feast of the First Morning of the First Day". Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, which usually has the date falling in January or February.

Tết is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, except when the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China results in new moon occurring on different days. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. These foods include bánh chưng, bánh dày, dried young bamboo soup (canh măng), giò, and sticky rice. Many customs are practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestor worship, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year. They consider Tết to be the first day of spring, and the festival is often called Hội xuân (spring festival).

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. They also clean the graves of their family as a sign of respect. Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

Tết in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods, known as Tất Niên (penultimate New Year's Eve), Giao Thừa (New Year's Eve), and Tân Niên (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively.