With its central location in the South, Saigon is a place where cultural values from all regions converge, and is also a pioneer in the process of cultural exchange and integration with countries in the Eastern and Western cultural regions. Therefore, Tet in Saigon has a mixed flavor with many nuances, creating diverse and very special cultural colors.
About the Chinese New Year Association
District 5 has a rich cultural history of more than 300 years of formation and development in the Saigon - Cho Lon area. Talking about the Lunar New Year customs of the Chinese community, it is impossible not to mention the assembly halls. The Cho Lon area has a large concentration of Vietnamese people of Chinese origin who have lived there for a long time, and the assembly halls here were built, existed and developed in parallel with the community here.
The Assembly Hall is a relic containing many historical and cultural meanings, most notably its architectural and artistic value influenced by the ancient Chinese temple building style, especially the shapes and decorations of the tiled roofs bearing the bold style of the Fujian people.
Talking about the Lunar New Year customs of the Chinese community, we cannot fail to mention the assembly halls.
The Assembly Hall is a relic containing many historical and cultural meanings, most notably its architectural and artistic value influenced by the ancient Chinese temple building style.
In the spring, visitors can follow the locals around the assembly halls and temples to admire the beauty of ancient architectural works such as Tue Thanh Assembly Hall (Thien Hau Pagoda), Nhi Phu Assembly Hall (Ong Bon Pagoda), On Lang Assembly Hall (Quan Am Pagoda), Phuoc An Assembly Hall,...
On New Year’s Eve, many families come together at the communal house. Children come to receive lucky red envelopes. Adults wish each other well, holding hands to welcome the sacred moment.
Tue Thanh Assembly Hall (Thien Hau Pagoda) is one of the prominent destinations for young people in Saigon.
In spring, visitors can follow the locals around the assembly halls and temples to admire the beauty of ancient architectural works.
Visit Cho Lon to buy luck
On Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, the section from Chau Van Liem roundabout to Kim Bien market is bustling on the days before Lunar New Year. Many items, such as strings, pictures, gold coins, lucky money envelopes, etc., used to decorate houses for Tet are hung and spread all over the storefronts. The two main colors, red and yellow, make the points of sale stand out and attract the eye. People come and go to buy and sell busily, everyone wants to bring luck home.
Many items, such as strings, pictures, gold coins, lucky money envelopes, etc., used to decorate houses during Tet are hung and strung all over the storefronts.
From the days before Tet, just walking along the streets of Cho Lon area, visitors will easily come across bright yellow banh to, printed with red patterns on sale. Banh To is read in Chinese as "nian gao". "Nian" means "sticky" and "Gao" means "cake". Nian gao is a homophone with "nian cao", eating "nian gao" symbolizes improving oneself in each new year, the new year will have more good things than the old year. Therefore, Banh To is an indispensable dish on the Chinese altar.
Just walking along the streets of Cho Lon area, visitors will easily come across bright yellow rice cakes with red patterns on display.
In addition, there are countless types of five-color cakes with diverse and eye-catching shapes that Cho Lon people offer on the altar to their ancestors.
The ingredients of the original Chinese cake include sticky rice, red beans and sugar, printed with the word Phuc in red to offer to grandparents and ancestors every spring. According to Chinese beliefs, offering sweets to ancestors will make them say sweet and good words when they return to report to the Jade Emperor...
Duck laba stalls, a traditional Chinese dish, are always crowded at the end of the year.
Go to the calligraphy shop and bring "Phuc dao" home
To prepare for Tet, Chinese houses are often decorated with bright red. For them, this is the color of luck and happiness. Red-wrapped flower pots, red parallel sentences on the altar or red lucky money envelopes… partly express their wishes for a lucky and happy new year.
Parallel sentences often carry the meaning of wishing for luck, prosperity, and peace.
Parallel sentences often carry the meaning of wishing for good luck, prosperity and peace such as "Ngu phuc lam mon", "Xuat nhap binh", "Van su van y", "Nghinh xuan tiep phuc", "Tan tai tan loc", "Hiep gia binh an", "Khai truc hung hoat", "Sinh y hung long". In addition, people also stick the words "Xuan" and "Phuc" upside down on the door, the word "inverted" in Chinese is read as "dao", meaning Spring comes, Happiness comes. The culture of asking for calligraphy is still preserved by the people of Cho Lon in particular and the people of Saigon in general every New Year. That is why the calligraphy shops of calligraphers on Nguyen Trai and Hai Thuong Lan Ong streets are always crowded with people coming to ask for calligraphy on the occasion of the New Year until the 30th of Tet.
The culture of asking for calligraphy is still preserved by the people of Cho Lon in particular and the people of Saigon in general at the beginning of each year.
Visitors can ask the calligraphers for suggestions or choose any words they like to write on the couplet. Such a service will cost from 30,000 VND to 50,000 VND depending on the size of the letters.
Lion and dragon dance troupe brings Tet home in sound
In the last days of December, all the Chinese temples and pagodas are bustling with the excellent performances of the lion dance teams after months of hard training. Lion dance brings the most symbolic meanings: blessing, prosperity, peace, luck. The bustling sounds of gongs and drums, the skillful and unique dances of this folk art form in the temples and on the streets before and during Tet have created a unique flavor of "Chinese Tet" in Cho Lon with special appeal even to the Vietnamese.
Lion dance brings the most symbolic meanings: blessing, prosperity, peace, luck.
From the flavors, colors to the sounds of Tet in Cho Lon, it has created a very unique cultural feature of Saigon. Whether you are Vietnamese, Chinese or a tourist from another land, the customs of this place will always attract you by its own character.
