The traditional time to set one's house in order and to prepare for the new year with new clothing. Kitchens are cleaned and everyone attempts to start the new year with new clothing ( Van Ngan 1971).
The exchanges of greetings among friends and relatives are familiar, well wishers for prosperity, longevity and happiness, fortunes increasing tenfold, good luck never ending The children, excited with their new gifts of money in crisp red envelopes (tie^`n li`-xi`), quietly whisper to each other, mentally rehearsing what they will be saying as they bow politely to the first visitor who will bring good luck to their family. Never are they so well behaved as on that day, as they turn smilingly to their siblings, admiring each other 's new clothes; waiting patiently for their turn to kneel respectfully in front of the ancestral altars, which are suitably adorned with flowers, fruits, cakes and sweet rice. The house is brightly lit and filled with the sweet fragrances of frangipanis (hoa su+') and orchids (hoa lan) and cherry flowers (hoa anh-dda`o). After the first family banquet, they present solemnly their wishes now to the grandparents now to the parents.....
Memories of past Te^'t rush back in my head, sweet memories of my childhood.....
There are twelve signs in the Vietnamese zodiac. Each year is ruled by an animal Every twelve years, the cycle starts over: Ty' (mouse); Su+?u (buffalo); Da^`n (tiger); Me.o (cat); Thi`n (dragon); Ty. (snake); Ngo. (horse); Mu`i (goat); Tha^n (monkey); Da^.u (rooster); Tua^'t (dog); Ho+.i (Pig). Most Vietnamese do not like the year of their own birth sign, convinced that it might bring them bad luck (Na(m Tuo^?I). Those born in 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 are interestingly known as ambitious, talented , patient, cunning, intellectually keen and eloquent;
Another tradition of the first visitor on the first day of Te^'t (Xo^ng Nha`) has its origin in an ancient belief that whoever comes the first day of Te^'t to visit the family can bring either fortune or misfortune for the whole year. If the first visitor were wealthy, healthy, kind, honest, generous , the family would enjoy his "Good Luck " Consequently, it was sometimes observed in many families to make "arrangements" for the first guest to arrive at a certain propitious time for this new year visit..
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