Holiday dinner still a revered tradition

Things change with the times, but the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner, the last meal of the lunar year, remains the most important tradition among Vietnamese.

"The meal signals the beginning of celebrations for Lunar New Year. It also gives family members the chance to gather to pray for their ancestors, talk about the past year's activities, including the difficulties encountered and plans for the coming year," said Phan Thi Vang, a woman in her mid-60s.

Nguyen Thi Dieu Anh, a middle-aged Hanoi resident, said that although some traditional practices have gradually disappeared because of the improvement of people's economic situations, the dishes served during on the eve of Lunar New Year - Tet in Vietnamese - have remained basically unchanged.

"Indispensable fare in a Tet dinner is fat meat, pickled onions, red couplet and green chung cake," a square glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and fat pork, Anh said.

"Of course, the occasion would not be complete without the New Year tree and a lot of firecrackers to drive away the bad spirits," Anh said.

Vang said that the food includes stewed pork leg with dry bamboo shoots, vermicelli noodles, meatballs, boiled chicken and pork. Other must-have items are green chung cake, spring rolls and pickled onions.

Wang said that after all the food is offered to the ancestors, it will be served to the family.

"In Vietnamese, we have an old saying that goes: 'You may be hungry at the anniversary of your father's death, but you must be full during the three-day Tet holiday.'"

Tet is seen as a symbol of prosperity and success, and so the food is abundant, Vang said.

Preparations used to last for about a year, since some people would raise a pig for its pork. On the last day of the lunar year, the pig was slaughtered and the pork shared by the extended family.

But Vang said that with the improvement in people's incomes, Vietnamese housewives nowadays just buy food.

Pham Thi Nhu Quynh, a 29-year-old from Hanoi, said that she buys food from markets and malls since she is busy with work.