Tết: The Meaning Behind Vietnamese Lunar New Year
Symbols, Rituals, and the Home — A Cultural Guide
Tết is the most important celebration of the Vietnamese year. This 30-minute course explains the history and meaning behind its customs — from the ancestral altar to the five-fruit tray — for families, friends, educators, and anyone curious.
Tết: Vietnamese Lunar New Year
Symbols · Rituals · Home · 30 min
+ tax at checkout
- 30 minutes of video content
- Downloadable Tết guide with glossary and pronunciation notes (PDF)
- Lifetime access
- Mobile, tablet, and desktop compatible
Instant access after payment
What you'll learn
- The lunar calendar and the origins of Tết
- The farewell to the Kitchen Gods (Ông Công Ông Táo)
- Preparing the home: cleaning, blossoms, and decorations
- The ancestral altar and the five-fruit tray (mâm ngũ quả)
- The stories behind bánh chưng and bánh tét
- First-footing (xông đất), New Year greetings, and lucky money (lì xì)
- How families keep Tết traditions alive outside Vietnam
Course content
5 chapters · 13 lessons · 30 minutes total
- The Lunar Calendar and the New YearPreviewFree preview2:30
- Tết and Other Lunar New Year Traditions2:30
Requirements
- No prior knowledge required
- No Vietnamese language needed
- 30 minutes of your time
About this course
For Vietnamese families, Tết is more than a holiday. It is the moment the household closes one year and opens the next — honouring ancestors, settling debts, cleaning the home, and gathering around foods with centuries of meaning.
This course explains what each custom is, where it came from, and why it is done: the Kitchen Gods' journey to heaven, the arrangement of the ancestral altar, the five-fruit tray, the square and round rice cakes, the first visitor of the year, and the red envelopes given to children.
It is a 30-minute cultural guide in plain English, made for families raising children away from Vietnam, friends and partners joining a Vietnamese celebration for the first time, teachers preparing a classroom lesson, and anyone who wants to understand the celebration rather than just watch it.
Instructor
Anh Tuan Nguyen
Founder & CEO, EliteMeta · Architect
Anh Tuan Nguyen (John Nguyen) is the founder and CEO of EliteMeta, an immersive education platform based in Mississauga, Ontario. An architect by training with over 20 years of practice across Vietnam and Canada, he has spent his career at the intersection of built environments, cultural heritage, and design — the same territory Feng Shui and Zi Wei Astrology have mapped for centuries. This course reflects his long-standing interest in how classical Eastern systems continue to shape the way we understand space, time, and daily life.
Frequently asked questions
$29 CAD + tax at checkout