Vietnamese New Year

The more popular name for the Vietnamese New Year is Tet, where as the formal name is Nguyen-dan. Tet is a very important festival because it provides one of the few breaks in the agricultural year, as it falls between the harvesting of the crops and the sowing of the new crops.

The Vietnamese prepare well in advance for the New Year by cleaning their houses, polishing their copper and silverware and paying off all their debts.

They observe the custom of the kitchen god tao for a week before the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the house before it is later set free.

A special rice pudding is eaten at New Year which must be prepared beforehand. The rice pudding is known as banh Chung or banh Tet. The pudding contains mung beans and pork. New Year foods such as preserved sweets, beef, chicken, fish, oranges, coconuts, grapefruits and other seasonal fruits, especially watermelon. Watermelon is considered lucky because the flesh is red, so the choice of the melon must be taken carefully so as to find one rich in color. The seeds are often dyed red also and served as delicacies.

The last day of the year a plant such as the bamboo tree is planted in the courtyard of their homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil spirits.

During the middle of the day an offering is placed on the altar of the household for the ancestor's of the family. This is done every day throughout the New Year Festival and along with that incense is burnt at the altar.

They believed in the custom of the first person through the door in the New Year will reflect the family's future luck and wealth.

On the first day of the New Year they visit all their closest friends, teachers and their parents. The second day they visit their in-laws and other friends who are not as close. Third day they visit the family of their teacher and their more distant relatives.

On the fourth day the spirits return to heaven and business returns to normal.

They also visit their local temple and they bring back flowers or greenery as a gift from the celestial spirits. This gift will be kept in the house all year.

Jewish New Year

The Jewish New Year Festival is called Rosh Hashanah. The date varies each year, as they have their own calendar which is lunisolar in nature.

The New Year is on the first two days of the seventh month, this was done so that the farmers could visit Jerusalem before the winter rains came. The first ten days of this month are the most holiest.

Tradition speaks of a symbolic book in heaven which was said to have records of those who did good and bad deeds and on Rosh Hashanah all people must account to God for their behavior during the past year. However, all people are given ten days before the New Year and the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur to show they are sorry for any wrong doings they may have done.

They undo all wrong doings by performing good deeds and by thinking about how to live a better life in the future. If they are sincere, God was suppose to forgive them and on Yom Kippur he sets down and foretells each person's fate for the next year in the book. He will write them down for a good year.

They send each other cards with the traditional message "May you be written down for a good year." They exchange the same greetings the day before Rosh Hashanah, when they attend prayers at the synagogue before returning to their homes for a special New Year Eve meal.

The New Years Eve dinner has, festival candles which are lit and the table is decorated with fresh fruit of the season, especially grapes. Other foods that are served are bread known as Challah, honey cake and honey jar as well as fresh fruits. Fish is also served as it symbolizes fruitfulness and plenty.

A special service is held on New Year, which ends in the blowing of the shofar. During the service, 100 separate notes may be blown on the shofar. This is the most important ritual to the people who are too ill to attend the service try to find someone to come to their place and blow the shofar for them.

At the end of the ten days the period ends with a repentance culminating on Yom Kippur with a 24 hour fast which ends at sunset with a final note on the shofar, signifying the closing of the Book of Life.

Korean New Year

The first day of the lunar New Year is called Sol-nal. This is for families to renew ties and prepare for the new year.

New Year's Eve: People place straw scoopers, rakes or sieves on their doors and walls to protect their families from evil spirit sin the new year.

Everyone dresses in new clothes, the following morning, symbolizing a fresh beginning, and gathers at the home of the eldest male family member. Ancestral memorial rites are held, then the younger generation bows to elders in the family. They wish them good health and prosperity in the coming year. The elders often then give newly minted money or gifts afterwards.

New Year's Day food includes: a bowl of rice cake soup ttokkuk. Koreans believe eating this soup will add and extra year of age to your life. Korean age is actually calculated at the New Year. Everyone becomes a year older on New Year's Day!

Favorite games: yut nori, a stick game, and see-sawing on large see-saws setup in the courtyard or in parks.

Iranian New Year

Iranians are mostly Muslims and celebrate the New Year on the first day of their spring.

There festivals known as Noruz or Nowruz and falls on the 21 March according to the Gregorian calendar. The first month is known as Favardin and Noruz falls on this day.

They know when the New Year is upon them as in each town and village a cannon is sounded at the precise moment until it is heard they don't start their celebrations. They prepare for several weeks before hand.

In preparing they have to grow grains of wheat, barley or lentils to use as decorations for their houses. This decoration is a symbol for growth and prosperity and must be kept in the house for thirteen day after which it is thrown into the river.

They clean their houses during the days leading up to the New Year and they either make or buy new clothes for themselves and their family. If they cannot afford to much they try to have at least one piece of new clothing often a pair of shoes.

A special table is set up with seven articles which all must begin with the letter "s" for Haft-sin. They are:
Sonbul - hyacinth
Sabzeh - green shoots grown from grain
Samanoo - a sweet pudding made of green wheat
Serkeh - vinegar
Sumac - a herb
Seeb - an apple
Senjed - bohemian olives.

Other objects are a bowl of colored eggs, candles, a mirror and a bowl of rose water.

They also must have a copy of their holy book the Koran, on the New Year table.

After the cannon have sounded people visit their relatives to wish them a happy New Year. The elders give the younger ones a silver or gold coin this is known as aidi. Everyone then gathers around the New Year table for a special feast, which includes traditional dishes such as Baklava, Nune Shekari which is a sugar biscuits and Badam Choragi which is are almond biscuits.

In Persia now Iran people used to exchange eggs as gifts on New Year's Day, to suggest the idea of new life beginning.

A few weeks before the Iran New Year, people put grains of wheat or barley in a little dish to grow. By the time New Year arrives the grains have produced shoots. This is done to remind people of spring and a new year of life.

Some people in Iran light fires at New Year and jump over them. This is done in hope that they receive good luck.

Cambodian New Year

The people of Cambodia use the Indian Calendar to calculate the start of the New Year festival. The festival starts on the 12, 13 or 14 April according to the Gregorian calendar and lasts for three days. Cambodian New Year’s Eve is the day before whichever date it is and it lasts three days. It is called Chaul Chnam Thmey which means entering the New Year.

People clean and decorate their houses, as well as set up an altar to welcome the New Year Spirit Tevada Chhnam Thmey who is said to come down to earth at this time. A statue of the Buddha is put on the altar, also flowers, candles, incense, a bowl of scented water, food and drink, and banana leaves shaped into different figures.

People douse each other with water as a blessing. Water can be colored red, pink, or yellow to symbolize a colorful future. New Clothing is worn. Children give money to their parents, aunts, uncles as a sign of respect. They may also give food or fruit in addition.

Day one of the festival people visit their local monastery and offer food to the monks. A special sand mound is built in the grounds of the monasteries on this day. The mound is decorated with five religious flags, one on top of the mound and four around the sides. Special games such as the Tug-Of-War, Angkunh and Boh Choong are played at the monasteries on each day of the festival.

Day two people gather with their families to wish each other a happy New Year and exchange gifts. They might also visit the monastery again to ask the monks to say a special prayer for their ancestors.

Day three the Buddha statues of their homes and the monasteries are washed. It is said this ensures good rains during the coming year. Children wash the feet of their parents as sign of respect on this day as well.

Burmese New Year

In Burma there is a three day New Year festival called Maha Thingyan, which is celebrated with prayers, fasting and fun. During the festivities, buildings and temples are washed, and people throw water over each other. This is partly to welcome the heavy rains of the coming monsoon season.

The Burmese New Year festival is held to celebrate the New Year, by performing meritorious deeds and spraying one another with Thingyan water.

The Burmese New Year, which is based on the Fixed Zodiac system, falls on or around April 16. Thingyan means change. Cula thingyan (or small change) occurs every month. Maha thingyan (or big change) occurs once a year. The Burmese consider it to occur in Meiktha on or around April 13 and lasting three or four days.

Thingyan is the traditional Burmese New Year's festival. It lasts for three days and during that time everyone must get wet in order to welcome in the New Year. The Burmese believe that water acts as a soul purifier. Getting wet means that one can start the New Year with a cleansed soul.

Armenian New Year

The ancient Armenians had been celebrating the coming of the New Year on the 21st of March. That date is not only the first day of the spring, but also the birthday of the mythical God Vahangn, in whom believed the pagan Armenians about 10 thousand years ago. On this day the Armenians prepared huge feasts to welcome and celebrate the zenith of the nature.

During the 18th Century, January 1st was accepted as a beginning of the New Year. In spite of this change, Armenians in many regions of the country, like Suni, Artzah and Udik, continued to celebrate New Year on Navasard. Gradually at the end of the 20th century all Armenians adopted the 1st of January as the official first day of the New Year.

In Armenia it was a custom that on New Year's Eve, children gathered in-groups and went around their village, singing songs and greeting the New Year by singing to their neighbors. They usually received lots of fruit as present. Decorating a New Year's tree was not one of the customs in the past.

Within the family, it was a custom for the family members to exchange presents, but, a wife never received a present from her husband, as this was considered a disgrace. Children in the family, the youngest ones following the elderly, would go to their father, who had the presents hidden in his coat, and after kissing their father's hand everyone would receive their present.

Parts of the traditional New Year's meal like various dried fruits, raisins, different kinds of nuts, gahin and others would have been previously prepared, but the pastries, cakes and harisan would have been prepared on the 30th of December.

The most important among the pastries was the Darin, which was presenting the New Year. Darin is a big flat bread, which has a coin hidden in it. The person who found the piece with the coin in it was considered the 'lucky' member of the family for the New Year. But the most remarkable meal is the dolma, which is prepared with rice and grape leaves.

Armenian women cook Darin for their family. The bread is kneaded with luck and good wishes pressed into the dough before it is cooked.

And there was no New Year celebrated without Kata, which is made of wheat flour, butter, milk and sugar. As well as the Anush Abur which is a sweet soup which is made of wheat, kernels and dried fruits.