The traditional Lunar New Year or Tet has been an interesting experience for foreigners who are in Vietnam during the country’s biggest festival.

Saymay Inthavong, a Lao student in Vietnam who has welcomed Tet four times here, is interested in Vietnamese traditional dishes and the custom of giving and receiving lucky money.

He also remembers the time when he and his friends went to a pagoda to pray for a happy and healthy new year.

Morishima Hiroki, 24, from Japan was eager to celebrate his first Tet in Vietnam as he wanted to enjoy the festive atmosphere that engulfed all local families and streets.

Meanwhile, Hiroki’s fellow countryman, Makishi, has enjoyed five Tet festivals in Vietnam. “I like watching Vietnamese people wrap Chung cake ( square glutinous rice cake) and seeing children’s eager faces when their parents take boiled cakes out of pots,” he said.

Shafinskaya Natalia, a Russian, likes the atmosphere as Vietnamese hurry to prepare for a warm Tet by buying food, cakes, sweets, peach and kumquat trees.

Tet is the biggest and oldest festival in Vietnam , bringing its people together to celebrate the sacred and meaningful annual event.

This is an occasion when members of a family, no matter where they are and what they do to earn a living, get together and pray in front of the ancestral altar. Their return to home in celebration of Tet is regarded as a journey back to their birthplace.-VNA