The Plum Seed

Tết Nguyên Đán (“festival of the first dawn”) celebrates the beginning of the year based on a lunisolar calendar. It is so central to Viet culture that people refer to it simply as Tết.

Cây nêu is made of a long bamboo stem with one leafy branch at its tip. Attached to the branch is a ring big enough to hold a number of charms against evil spirits – pandan leaves, cacti, chimes…

As a designated treat for Tết , hạt dưa hấu – watermelon seeds, roasted and dyed red for luck – teach children the virtue of a labor-intensive low-yield undertaking.