FESTIVAL

As you know, VietNam has lots of festival. Festivals in Vietnam offer visitors the best opportunity for getting close and personal with the myths, customs and fun-loving spirit of this proud nation. Despite undergoing modern developments, Vietnam is still a predominantly traditional country, with thousands of pagodas and shrines dedicated to Buddha as well as various deities and iconic figures. There are also plenty of cultural events that are only celebrated during certain times of the year (or years).

Lunar New Year, locally called Tet, is the biggest festival of the year with the whole country downing tools for family get-togethers. Principally a religious celebration, don’t expect too much of a wild party, but it’s still a fascinating time to visit Vietnam and you’ll certainly find locals lighting fireworks, visiting temples with their families, and the interesting sight of many flower stalls set up as giving flowers is customary during Tet.

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tet. 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.

Vietnamese people celebrate the Lunar New Year annually, which is based on a lunisolar calendar (calculating both the earth's movement around the sun and the moon around the earth). 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 practices 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).

With me, Tet is an opportunity for me to express me gratefulness to my parents, grandparents and to help my mother cook traditional foods. I hope Tet will be a tradition of VietNamese people and won’t be ....................

FAVORITE FOOD

VietNamese cuisine is really abundant and I love it so much. It’s very hard to choose which is my favorite one. But, well, I’ll choose Pho. Because if we talk about VietNamese cuisine, we will think about Pho first, right?

The main ingredient of pho is noodles and broth with sliced beef or chicken. The extra ingredient are pepper, lemon, fish sauce, chili ... They are added depending on the taste of each person

The first time when I ate Pho is when I was 7 years old. I joined a writting contest and after the contest, my mother took me to a small foodstore, then I was attracted by Pho. I was a little bit suprised, because I heard lots of things about Pho but I haven’t taste it at all. Pho had a good impression with me.

When I was a student in primary school, I ate Pho twice a week, because my mother used to take me to the market with her, so I can eat it very often. But now, my family have another member, my little brother, and my school life is much busier so I just can eat Pho about twice a month.

To cook Pho, we need lots of things : vegetables, spices, beef ( or chicken )... and the cooking section is also really complex so I can’t cook it...

I’m so pride, because VietNam has a traditional dish like Pho and I hope, in the future, I can spread Pho and VietNamese culture to foreigners.