Tradition of cleaning and decorating the house for Tet

With the belief of "bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new" to usher in a year full of good fortune, every Tet holiday, Vietnamese people are busy cleaning and decorating their homes. This has become a beautiful cultural tradition for generations of Vietnamese people.

Many children get to experience cleaning the house with their parents...

With the busy end-of-year schedule, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong and his wife (from Thanh Hoa City) only manage to finish cleaning and decorating their house for Tet (Lunar New Year) just before the holiday. This year, to decorate their house early, Mr. Phuong's family planned to start cleaning from the 15th day of the 12th lunar month. Mr. Phuong shared: "When I was little, my siblings and I often helped our parents clean windows and sweep the house. Although I didn't do much, I still remember the feeling of the whole family gathering together to do housework. Therefore, every Tet holiday, despite being busy with work, my wife, children, and I still clean and decorate the house together. I take care of things like cleaning the ceilings, windows, and floors. My wife and two daughters decorate the house. My two daughters are always excited to go shopping for decorations and decorate the house for Tet."

Busy with work leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), Ms. Le Thi Huong (Thanh Hoa City) always takes advantage of her free time at the end of the day to clean her house thoroughly. As Tet approaches, Ms. Huong begins decorating her home with potted flowers, ornamental plants, peach blossoms, and other Tet-themed decorations. Ms. Huong shared: “Near Tet, I always clean and maintain my house, removing old items, replacing bedsheets and pillowcases, brightening up tables, chairs, and household items to create a fresh, clean space to welcome Tet and the spring blessings into the house. In addition, in recent years, creating a Tet corner in the house with red fabric, decorating with banh chung (traditional rice cakes) and couplets has become popular, so I also created a Tet corner for my house.”

...and decorate the interior of the house for Tet (Vietnamese New Year).

According to Vietnamese tradition, cleaning and decorating the house during Tet (Lunar New Year) is very important. It's about getting rid of the bad and old things of the old year to welcome the new, lucky, and beautiful things of the new year. Vietnamese people always believe that a clean and tidy house during Tet will bring good fortune for a prosperous, abundant, and successful year. Furthermore, cleaning and decorating the house is also an opportunity for family members to work together, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere of togetherness.

Cleaning and decorating the house is a common practice for many families after the ceremony of sending the Kitchen God and the Stove God to heaven. Everyone cleans and tidies up their homes, both inside and out; many houses even get a "new look," with furniture and household items cleaned and rearranged. The house cleaning is usually completed on the 29th or 30th of Tet (Lunar New Year) to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

In recent years, in addition to cleaning and decorating their homes with flowers and ornamental plants, many families have also chosen to decorate with traditional items such as lanterns, paper fans, bamboo fans, bamboo trays, conical hats, models of banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes), bamboo screens, couplets, etc., to hang on walls, doors, or to create a corner of the house reminiscent of Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), thereby contributing to educating family members about the cultural beauty of Tet.

Besides cleaning and decorating their homes before the Lunar New Year, Vietnamese people also pay great attention to cleaning and arranging the ancestral altar to welcome their ancestors back to their "home"—a clean, fragrant, and tidy place to celebrate the New Year together with their descendants. This act demonstrates the reverence of descendants for their ancestors—a cultural and religious tradition of the Vietnamese people preserved through generations.

With the Lunar New Year fast approaching, everyone wants their home to be decorated and cozy. Each person has their own ideas for refreshing their home, but everyone wants to create a fresh, vibrant space to welcome the New Year and good fortune in the year of the Snake 2025.

Quynh Chi

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/truyen-thong-don-dep-trang-tri-nha-cua-don-tet-238029.htm