Tết Đoan Ngọ is the Vietnamese version of Chinese
Duanwu 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.
Compared to
Cantonese
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
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 Earthly Branches (also called the Terrestrial Branches or the 12-cycle) are a system of twelve ordered symbols used throughout East Asia. They are indigenous to China, and are themselves Chinese characters, corresponding to words with no co ...
, 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 or maleness in the entire year. Therefore, creatures and people must become stronger in both their health and their souls to overcome this.
Traditions
Rượu nếp
''Rượu nếp'' (sometimes also called ''rượu nếp bắc'', or ''rượu nếp cẩm'', ) is a pudding or drink from northern Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnam.
Preparation
It is made from glutinous rice that has been fermented with the aid ...
, a sticky rice wine, is traditionally eaten on this holiday. ''
Bánh tro,'' a kind of
bánh lá
In Vietnamese, the term ''bánh'' ( or , Chữ Nôm: 餅) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, ' ...
, is used during this holiday with hard-boiled eggs.
''Bánh tro'' is considered as "cool", symbolized
yin 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.
Modern festival
On the occasion of Tết Đoan Ngọ, there is Festival of Delicious Fruit celebrated in Chợ Lách,
Bến Tre Province
Bến Tre was a former province of Vietnam. It is one of the country's southern provinces, and is situated in the Mekong Delta. It is also famous for its coconuts and the Coconut Religion nationwide. Disconnected from the mainland, the 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.
See also
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Dano (Korean festival)
Dano (), also called Surit-nal (), is a Korean traditional holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is an official holiday in North Korea and one of the major traditional holidays in South Korea. South ...
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Duanwu Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...
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Kodomo no hi
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tet Doan Ngo
Festivals in Vietnam
vi:Tết Đoan Ngọ