Tet Tet Tet Tet! Vietnam Tet is coming !

Hi there ! Vietnam Tet is coming ! Tet Tet Tet Tet Den roi

Tet Nguyên Dán pronunciation more commonly known by its shortened name Tet, is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year which is based on the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. The name Tet Nguyên Dán is Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning, derived from the Hán nôm characters . In modern Chinese, the characters for Nguyên Ðán have evolved to refer to New Year in the Gregorian calendar, that is, January 1.
Tet is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year though exceptions arise due to the one-hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing. Tet shares many of the same customs of its Chinese counterpart. It is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tet by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. On Tet, Vietnamese visit their families and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year. Tet traditionally marks the coming of Spring, so Spring (Xuân) is sometimes used interchangeably with Tet in Vietnamese.

tet hcmc 2009

hi we arrive in hcmc on Jan 25, we want to see some of the city celebrations. can you recommend any website which can tell what is happening in the city or do you know of any events that are planned for 2009. Is it too soon for this yet?

I found these events for 2008, do they happen every year? We have no idea what to expect and i can't find any details for 2009.

Flower Street Opening Ceremony
Nguyen Hue Flower Street will officially open to the public on February 5 at 7 p.m. To mark the occasion, an opening ceremony featuring a music program will begin at 8:30 p.m on Le Loi Street. At the ceremony, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee will present certificates of merit to the festival’s major sponsors.
Nguyen Hue Flower Street will be open to the public for five days and six nights during the Lunar New Year beginning on February 5 at 7 p.m. and ending on February 10 at 10 p.m.
The flowers will extend from Nguyen Hue Boulevard to the Municipal Theatre and the intersection of Le Loi Boulevard and Pasteur Street. Organizers have also planned shows on Nguyen Hue Boulevard featuring 100 artists, circus performers and clowns. Coffee and drink kiosks will also be set up on the sidewalks to serve visitors.
Organizers will use over 100,000 flower pots, 55 types of flowers, 60 potted blossoms, music and symbolic animals to decorate the street. They have also invited artists from distant provinces to showcase their pictures and porcelain pottery products on the street. Visitors will be able to buy Flower Street souvenirs including key chains, handbags and T-shirts.
Banh Tet Festival
A special ceremony to reveal two 3.5 ton banh tet cakes (Vietnamese savory cake made from sticky rice, mung bean paste and pork) to the public will take place on February 10 from 7:30-9 p.m. at the traffic roundabout on Le Loi Street near Ben Thanh Market.
According to organizers, the site on Le Loi Street is large enough to hold thousands of people. The event will feature modern and traditional musical performances and will be broadcasted on the Ho Chi Minh City television channel. After the ceremony, Saigontourist staffers donned in ao ba ba (traditional clothing of the Southern people) will serve banh tet to attendees.
New Year’s Eve Concert
A special music program featuring a laser light performance and a countdown to the New Year will be broadcasted live on the Ho Chi Minh City television channel on February 6.
Fireworks
At the stroke of midnight on February 6, fireworks will be set-off at several locations throughout the city including the Ho Chi Minh Museum in District 4, Binh Hung Hoa B Ward in Binh Tan District, Binh Phu Park in District 6, the football field in Can Gio District and the Ben Duoc Revolutionary Martyrs Commemoration Temple in Cu Chi District and Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9.
Light Display
Lights decorating the city’s four major thoroughfares - Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, Dong Khoi and Le Duan in District 1 - will be on display from January 26 to February 14.