I would like to talk about the Lunar New Year festival, which is the occasion expected the most by Vietnamese people every year. The festival usually lasts for around 3-4 days, and it takes place when a new year comes according to the lunar calendar.

The Lunar New Year festival takes place because it is one of the most well-known traditions of Vietnam. Our people have been celebrating this occasion for thousands of years, and although there has been some recent argument about whether we should stop celebrating this festival, I do not think this activity will come to an end soon, at least not in the short term.

There are some common things that people do during this festival. Perhaps the most important thing is that people who work and study in big cities would go back to their hometown to celebrate the new year with their families and relatives. The new year festival is one of very few occasions that families can gather together, so it is easy to understand why everyone in Vietnam expects this festival so much. Another thing that we usually do is that we give children some “lucky money” with the hope that it will bring fortune to those kids. We also have some other activities such as making “chung” cake, visiting temples and pagodas… and so on.

The new year festival is so important to me and also to all Vietnamese citizens. The reason is because we get more days off from work and study, and therefore we have more time to spend with our families and our loved ones. It is also a great time to think about what we have done in the previous year, and to make plans for the upcoming year.