Modern hit on Tet traditions rued
But over 90 percent of respondents said gathering and
cooking collectively was a tradition that they were starting to miss,
according to the first ever survey on people's opinions about Lunar New
Year or Tet, the longest and most important annual festival in Vietnam.
While the survey found an overwhelming love for the nation's
traditions, interestingly it also found that many respondents saw the
increasing commercialisation of the holiday eroding some of the
traditions that it held most sacred.
Almost half mentioned that the tradition of visiting teachers was starting to fall by the wayside.
"There are many traditions practised during Tet holidays in Vietnam,
but today's modern lifestyle sees some of these activities beginning to
fade from the Tet agenda," research director Tran Lien Phuong said.
"However, it is reassuring to see that so many people recognise this,
and cite it as something that really deserves to be preserved.
"It proves that these traditions are an integral part of the colorful and festive atmosphere of Tet.
"Predictably enough, one of the most popular suggested changes was more days off. Everyone loves public holidays."
Around 27 percent indicated that they would be taking the time to travel.
Four out of five of these said they would be vacationing at home, with
Nha Trang (46 percent) and Da Lat (44 percent) being the two top
destinations among the surveyed.
The remaining 20 percent of
respondents indicated they would be heading abroad, including 7 percent
who said they would be travelling both internationally and domestically.
The top international destinations were Singapore (59 percent), Thailand (38 percent), and Hong Kong (31 percent).
"This will be a fascinating matrix to watch over the coming years," Phuong said.
"Intuitively, I would suspect that it is a number that will continue
to grow, and suspect that preferred destinations will continue to get
further and further from home.
"However, it raises a
counter-question about the preservation of the familial Tet values that
respondents also indicated that they would like to preserve if an
increasing number of people here choose to eschew the traditional trip
to their hometowns and head away to visit new lands."
Tet is
widely recognised as the nation's busiest shopping time, and Epinion's
findings mirrored this, with electrical and electronic products sitting
atop the most-wanted lists of consumers.
When it came to the
purchase of food, the recent publicity surrounding food safety seemed to
have spooked consumers, with almost half of the surveyed indicating
that it was their top concern as they sought to fill the familial belly.
Other findings from the survey showed that up to 90 percent of
respondents said that rice cakes, stewed pork, Vietnamese sausages, and
other traditional dishes are must-have items for Tet feasts.
The online survey of over 1,000 individuals spanned all socio-economic classes across the country.-VNA