To have a lucky person as the first guest of the year is an important Tet custom in Vietnam. Photo: Thai Nguyen Born in a close-knit Chinese-Vietnamese family with nearly 20 members as I was, I have been taught a lot about Lunar New…

It is unclear when and how lanterns became a must-have decoration for Vietnamese families during important holidays, especially the mid-autumn festival and Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival. Some scholars criticized the practice, saying it was not a Vietnamese tradition to hang lanterns…