A trip to the Temple for Vietnamese New Year (Tết)

Today is the first day of Tết. New Years eve was the most beautiful display of fireworks I have seen for quite some time in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government are really going all out to make this year amazing. Not only is it an important year in numerology as the digits add up to the number 8, but it is also the year of the dragon, a magnificent and lucky creature. All of the signs are there to indicate 2024 is off to a good start.

Today being the first day of the year, it is time to go to the pagodas. Vietnamese don’t just go to one temple or pagoda. Luck is cumulative, so the more the better. Vietnam has many different religions, but a common denominator seems to be a pantheistic folk religion, where you gather as much luck for the year by visiting many holy places and lighting as much incense as possible. I am not immune to the quest to increase my luck, so I do my best to appease any gods which may be lurking about.

There is a Bàn thờ (family altar), which is a small box near the home entrance. This is typically dedicated to house the gods of luck and earth. This Bàn thờ receives daily incense offerings and sometimes small gifts like fruit or drinks. This is where a family will typically start their day of luck accumulation.

After the morning rituals and family visits, it is time to go to the temples. In my case, I enjoy visiting the ancient Chinese pagodas in Chinatown. These are similar to temples you might encounter in Chinatowns around East Asia as well as neighborhood temples in Taiwan or Hong Kong. These visits aren’t just for luck, but may also be to seek a god's guidance for the coming year or receive the next years fortune. I walk into a crowded entrance into a strong cloud of incense. I immediately cue up for the various lines to buy incense, special oil or candles. In my case, I opt for this beautiful spiral incense which burn for several days.

I see a woman with the two crescent shaped blocks throwing them on the floor petitioning the Buddha for guidance. There are only three chances so she better make them count. If you don’t get the correct answer the first time, you have two more times to ask. Both blocks up mean the Buddha is smiling at the simplicity of your thinking. Both blocks down is a hard no. The correct pattern to get a yes is one block up and one block down.

I walk around to the different altars around the temple and notice how freshly painted and clean they are. Everyone is wearing their best outfits for photos or their simple Buddhist outfits if they have acquired their Buddhist name. The attendants are pounding the drums and ringing the bell as the loud noise summons the gods and spirits attention to receive their offerings. I see the koi in the pond all seem to be replaced with smaller versions of the fish I saw last month. There are a few new turtles in the pond. The altars are packed with burning fragrant brownish sticks which are quickly harvested and put into incense furnaces for quick burning. These faithful attendants give new people a chance to offer their incense. The incense furnaces are going full power burning the massive amount of incense offered by the large crowds on this special day.

Special New Year trees surround the compound. There are several gorgeous large trees with yellow flowers, symbolic of the wealth coming in the next year. There are also citrus trees packed with trái tắc (kind of like a very small sour orange) symbolic of the abundant harvest of the coming year.

Finally, it is time to leave the first temple and cue up to pay respect to the horse god who is the god of this temple. A line of about 10-20 people get ready to walk under the horse and repeatedly ring the bell and touch the horse to absorb some luck for the coming year. Finally, a little money needs to be deposited into one of the many donation safes around the temple which are used for maintenance as well as feeding the poor. If you actually want to help a poor person in Vietnam, don’t give it to street beggars, but drop some money in a charity box. These monks will buy rice and vegetables at wholesale prices and make sure it is distributed to the right person.

Now it is time to find my motorbike in a massive sea of motorbikes and make my way to the next pagoda. Along the way, I stop off at Circle K for some cold water and notice there are the traditional golden boats, hell money and various other offerings for burning at the home altar. These small paper offerings of paper clothing and currency reproductions are converted into real goods and money when burnt and sent to the other side. They are received by the ancestral spirits who then are able to eat and drink the food and drink offerings and enjoy a little luxury from the money and gifts you sent. It is very important to keep these spirits happy as they will guide you over the coming year.

I return home feeling a little better about the coming year and smelling strongly of incense and smoke. The experience has not left me as I continue to think about the symbolic rituals which are typically experienced every couple weeks, month or year by most people in Vietnam and start to think about my own cultures religion of Christianity. My mind drifts off to the ancient temple times of offerings and sacrifices which gave a strong sensory connection between the ritual and the religion. I feel a stronger connection to the words of my own culture's holy book than I ever could have by sitting on an uncomfortable seat through some boring sermon.