Tết Đoan Ngọ (

Chữ Hán Chữ Hán (𡨸漢, literally "Chinese characters", ), Chữ Nho (𡨸儒, literally "Confucian characters", ) or Hán tự (漢字, ), is the Vietnamese term for Chinese characters, used to write Văn ngôn (which is a form of Classical Chinese ...

: 節端午), Tết Đoan Dương or Tết giết sâu bọ is the Vietnamese version of Chinese

Duanwu The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節) is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. Names The Engl ...

festival (literally: Tết: festival, Đoan: the start/straight/middle/righteousness/just, Ngọ: at noon (from 11 am to 1 pm). Đoan Ngọ is the moment that the sun is the most near the earth and this day often is "The middle day of summer" (Hạ chí). In Vietnam, this day is also the death anniversary of National Mother

Âu Cơ Âu Cơ ( Chữ Hán: ; ) was, according to the creation myth of the Vietnamese people, an immortal mountain snow fairy who married Lạc Long Quân (), and bore an egg sac that hatched a hundred children known collectively as Bách Việt, a ...

. Compared to

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

Chinese term "dyun eng" (which is duan wu in Mandarin Chinese) ngo/eng/wu all refer to the ancient Chinese calendar term: the seventh of the twelve

Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals. Origin This system was built ...

, which was a component for determining time based on a series of 60 years (just as today we refer to 100 year periods as centuries).) Ngo/eng/wu refers to the sun at noon. : Tết Đoan Dương (Dương: yang) - yang being sun : Tết Trùng Ngũ (Trùng: double, Ngũ: the fifth), : Tết Đoan Ngũ, Tết Trùng Nhĩ or Tết Nửa Năm (Nửa Năm: a half of a year) is a festival celebrated at noon on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This day is the day around the time when the tail of the Great Bear points directly to the south, that is, around the time of the summer solstice. At this time, the universe brings the greatest amount of

yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration pr ...

or maleness in the entire year. Therefore, creatures and people must become stronger in both their health and their souls to overcome this.

Traditions

Cơm rượu ''Cơm rượu'' () also known as ''rượu nếp cái'' is a traditional Vietnamese dessert from Southern Vietnam, made from glutinous rice. To prepare ''cơm rượu'', glutinous rice is cooked, mixed with yeast, and rolled into small balls. ...

, a sticky rice dessert, is traditionally eaten on this holiday. '' Bánh tro,'' a kind of

bánh lá ''Bánh lá'' (/bǎɲ lǎ/), literally meaning "leaf cake", is a category of ''bánh'', or Vietnamese cakes, that consist of a parcel of a variety of rice stuffed with some fillings and wrapped in a leaf or leaves. Varieties *Bánh bột lọc ...

, is used during this holiday with hard-boiled eggs. ''Bánh tro'' is considered as "cool", symbolized

yin Yin may refer to: *the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine *Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty **Yinxu or Yin, the S ...

because it includes vegetable ash water as an ingredient. ''Bánh tro'' is a perfect match with extreme hot day like May 5 in the lunar year. According to tradition, on the morning of the Tết Đoan ngọ, when people wake up, they often eat fruit and

rượu nếp ''Rượu nếp'' (sometimes also called ''rượu nếp bắc'', or ''rượu nếp cẩm'', ) is a pudding or drink from northern Vietnam. Preparation It is made from glutinous rice that has been fermented with the aid of yeast and steamed ...

to kill insects and diseases in people.

Modern festival

On the occasion of Tết Đoan Ngọ, there is Festival of Delicious Fruit celebrated in Chợ Lách, Bến Tre Province with activities: fruit competition, fruit arrangement competition and fruit crop competition. At this time, there is also Festival of Southern Fruit celebrated in Suối Tiên amusement park, Ho Chi Minh city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tet Doan Ngo Festivals in Vietnam vi:Tết Đoan Ngọ

Traditions

Modern festival

See also

References