New Year in Vietnam

by Kim

As the glamorous chrysanthemum flowers bloom beautiful in their pots on January 1st, it indicates that the old year has passed and a new year is yet to come. In Viet Nam, everybody celebrates their New Year in their own special way. I am going to tell you how my family celebrates our New Year.

On the morning of January 1st, everyone in my family wakes up and dresses in our new clothes that we bought especially for the New Year. Our clothing has vivid colors that describe our happiness for the New Year. Little girls and boys wear our traditional long dress that is fitted perfectly for their size. They would jump up and down happily as they show off their garments.

Fresh fruits are already set on our table that we use to worship our ancestors with to wish us a good luck on New Year’s Eve. These certain fruits are custard apples, coconuts, papayas, mangos, etc. The sight of it organized on the table makes me want to devour into its taste. Candies are also passed out to the little kids. The tastes of candies are sweet, sour, and carefully covered with beautiful wrappings.

The kids in our family wish their elders a happy New Year. As for wishing us back, we receive bright red envelopes with money in them. The designs on the envelope are drawings that represent the New Year. Our faces light up right away indicating that we really like it.

There is always a lion dance somewhere near my house. One person wears a mask with a big stomach, two people do the bells and gongs, one drummer, and the rest are lion dancers. The drums set a certain beat that the lion has to dance to, and as these beats are carefully followed, creating a dance that we all liked to see. My family always loves to watch the lion dance because we believe that the lion brings good luck to our house.

The sound of laughter and joy is heard everywhere, and especially in our family where we get to have time to bond and just enjoy the warmness of the people around us. My New Year’s resolution this year is to spend as much time with my family as possible because I know that these memories of New Year will never be forgotten.

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