Celebrating the 2021 Lunar New Year

February 11, 2021 Friday, Feb. 12 is the 2021 Lunar New Year (the Year of the Ox) and Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA, is ready to mark the start of a new year filled with good health and great success alongside its associates who celebrate.

“Everyone has probably heard of Chinese New Year,” said Son Nguyen, Supply Chain Distribution and Transportation Specialist and Chair of the Asian Pacific Business Resource Group (BRG), based in Salisbury, N.C. “The Chinese New Year is the celebration of the Lunar New Year in China; and most countries in Southeast Asia also observe the Lunar New Year – including Vietnam, where I was born and grew up. It’s the celebration of a new season and of winter turning over to spring.”

In Vietnam, this holiday is called Tết, and celebrations can last up to a full week. During this time, families tidy up and decorate their homes with flowering apricot or cherry blossoms, lucky colors red and yellow, lanterns, ornaments and with bowls of traditional fruits such as watermelon, coconut, mango, soursop or sugar apple, papaya, pomelo and fig. Vietnamese families also make bánh tét, a traditional food made with pork, mung bean, and sticky rice that is wrapped in banana leaves.

“Businesses in the cities will close and most workers return to their hometown to decorate their house and celebrate with their family,” Nguyen said.

Tết is an exciting time to get dressed up by wearing a traditional Vietnamese áo dài – a high-necked long dress worn by all genders and ages.

Tết is especially fun for children, who receive new clothes and other gifts – though new clothing cannot be worn until the first day of the Lunar New Year. There is also the tradition of Lì Xì Tết, where children wish their adult relatives good health and prosperity in the coming year and in return receive red-colored envelopes containing lucky, crisp, new bills.

“People in America and in Vietnam will flock to the banks to get those brand-new bills – weeks and even months beforehand,” Son said with a laugh.

Special visitors are invited to help set the tone for the year as a home’s first official guest.

“You invite a family member or someone who has good temper, success or a good morale to be the first to visit the home because they will bring good luck and success through the rest of the year,” Son explained.

However, this year, Lunar New Year celebrations will look a little different due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

“Tết is normally a time for families to gather together; and this year, at least for my family, we won’t be able to do that,” Son shared. “But those who celebrate Tết, Chinese New Year or other Lunar New Year holidays are still decorating their homes, arranging fruit bowls, wearing traditional clothing and making traditional treats.

“I wish everyone a ‘Chúc Mừng Năm Mới’ – or Happy New Year, as we say in Vietnamese,” Son said. “There are many different cultures in Southeast Asia that have their own traditions and ways of celebrating the Lunar New Year, and I encourage everyone to learn more about them.”