New year customs and new years wishes in vietnamese and american cultures=phong tục năm mới và lời chúc năm mới trong văn hóa việt mỹ

THÁI THỊ NGÂN NEW YEAR CUSTOMS AND NEW YEAR’S WISHES IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN CULTURES NĂM MỚI VÀ LỜI CHÚC NĂM MỚI TRONG VĂN HÓA VIỆT – MỸ GRADUATION THESIS Field: American Study

THÁI THỊ NGÂN

NEW YEAR CUSTOMS AND NEW YEAR’S WISHES

IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN CULTURES

(NĂM MỚI VÀ LỜI CHÚC NĂM MỚI TRONG

VĂN HÓA VIỆT – MỸ)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: American Study

Vinh, 2014

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NEW YEAR CUSTOMS AND NEW YEAR’S WISHES

IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN CULTURES

(NĂM MỚI VÀ LỜI CHÚC NĂM MỚI TRONG

VĂN HÓA VIỆT – MỸ)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: American Study

Student: THÁI THỊ NGÂN, 51B2_ENGLISH Supervisor: LÊ THỊ THÚY HÀ, M.A

Vinh, 2014

First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my lecturer, Mrs Le Thi Thuy Ha for her advices and corrections, from which I could perfect my study She has put enormous effort into editing and in providing valuable comments

My gratitude also goes to all the people who have helped me during the survey

I was conducting

I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to my friend, Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh who always give me her advices, support and encouragement

Vinh, May, 28 th , 2014 Thai Thi Ngan

Culture and the importance of culture influence in language learning has stimulated the author in the study on Vietnamese and American New Year customs and wishes In this article, the author discusses related definitions first, then conducts the survey on 100 random people The similarities and differences between New Year customs as well as New Year wishes in two countries are also dealt with

In addition, the author will give some comments on New Year customs and the content of wishes made in 2 languages

APPROVED

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

APPROVED iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 1

1.2 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY 1

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2

1.4 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 2

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 3

2.1 SPEECH ACTS 3

2.1.1 Speech Acts and Their Classification 3

2.1.2 Wishing as a Speech acts 4

2.2 DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE 5

2.3 DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION 5

2.4 DEFINITION OF CULTURE 6

2.4.1 Some generals features of Vietnamese Culture and American Culture 7

2.5 RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE 9

2.6 WISHING AS A NEED OF COMMUNICATION 10

CHAPTER 3 METHOD AND PROCEDURE 11

3.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 11

3.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11

3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 12

3.4 POPULATION AND SAMPLE 12

3.5 INSTRUMENTS 13

3.6 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE 14

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 15

4.1 NEW YEAR IN VIETNAM 15

4.1.1 General Features of Vietnamese New Year customs 15

4.1.2 Vietnamese New Year Wishes 19

4.1.3 Data analysis of Vietnamese Informants 20

4.2 NEW YEAR IN AMERICA 28

4.2.2 American New Year Wishes 34

4.2.3 Data analysis from American Informants 35

4.3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES 41

4.3.1 Similarities in New Year Customs 41

4.3.2 Similarities in New Year Wishes 42

4.3.3 Differences in New Year Customs 42

4.3.4 Differences in New Year Wishes 43

4.4 COMMENTS ON NEW YEAR CUSTOMS IN VIETNAM AND AMERICA 44

4.5 COMMENTS ON THE CONTENT OF NEW YEAR WISHES IN VIETNAM AND AMERICA 44

4.5.1 Comments on the Content of Vietnamese New Year wishes 44

4.5.2 Comments on the Content of American New Year Wishes 44

4.6 INFLUENCES OF NEW YEAR CUSTOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN CULTURES ON LEARNING ENGLISH AND KNOWLEDGE EXPANSION 45

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 46

5.1 CONCLUSIONS 46

5.2 LIMITATIONS 46

5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 47

REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

In American

Table 2: American informants 13

Chart 1: How excited American people are when New Year coming 35

Chart 2: How important New Year to American people 36

Chart 3: How long American people think New Year should last 36

Chart 4: How different between American New Year in the past and now 37

Chart 5: factor(s) influence(s) American’s wishes 37

Chart 6: How American peoples express their wishes 38

In Vietnamese Table 1: Vietnamese informants 12

Chart 1: How excited Vietnamese people are when New Year coming 20

Chart 2: How important New Year to Vietnamese people 21

Chart 3: How long Vietnamese people think New Year should last 22

Chart 4: How different between Vietnamese New Year in the past and now 22

Chart 5: Factor(s) influence(s) Vietnamese’s wishes 23

Chart 6: How Vietnamese people express their wishes 24

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Nowadays, it is undeniable that English is the most popular foreign language in Vietnam English to many people is considered to be a lifeboat for survival In order to serve many purposes like getting a good job, knowing about other cultures, communicating with foreigners, and the demand of learning English is growing continuously

Students, since the first day learning English, have been mainly taught structures, forms and provided materials that may useful for them to perfect their pronunciation, be able to deliver real, meaningful contents However, when students want to use their language skills in real international situations then having good cultural awareness would be a great advantage In order to obtain the aim of using the language effectively, mastering of both the language itself and the culture is crucial It

is believed that understanding culture help learner become more confident and successful in communicating In short, Culture is such an important element in each country, especially in this integrated world where people from different cultures, beliefs and religions come to work together

Out of all the special occasions New Year is the most meaningful one which memorizes an old year and welcomes a new period of time with lots of hopes, wishes for a luckier and better year New Year wishes greetings, especially, get the author’s concerns the most Many people might understand the customs, might know what it takes to have a wonderful New Year festival, but probably, not many of them would

be able to use new year greetings and wishes appropriately

Besides, American culture was a course in school syllabus, through this thesis the author wants to re-affirm what she has studied about this particular field

Those reasons above are why the author chose the topic “New Year Customs and New Year’s Wishes in Vietnamese and American culture”

1.2 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY

This graduation paper is designed to discuss both New Year customs and New Year wishes that people celebrating and giving to each other in Vietnam as well as in America and take them into comparisons Main purposes of this study are:

- To review what the author has learnt at school

- To learn how people celebrate New Year in Vietnam and in America

- To emphasize the importance of New Year occasion and New Year wishes in two countries Vietnam and America

- To clarify the similarities and differences of new year and new year greetings

in these two cultures

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

As we know, American and Vietnamese New Year customs are too big to get deep into the analysis in great details Therefore, this graduation paper just focuses on what New Year is and the wishes people give in two countries America is really big and known as a mixed-cultures country, however, the author of this graduation thesis only writes about the traditional New Year custom in United States overall and in ome popular states

1.4 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

This study is divided into 5 main chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction This particular part deals with the rationale, aims and

objectives, the methods using in this research, scope and format of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical background the discussion of

related theories will be mentioned

Chapter 3: Method and Procedure Aims and Objectives, Research

methodology, Research questions, Description of Population and Sample Instruments, Data collection, Data analysis are covered in this part

Chapter 4: Discussion and findings All the data collected will be analyzed in

this chapter, then based on the result the author will give comments on New Year customs in the two countries as well as New Year wishes and clarify the similarities and differences

Chapter 5: Conclusion This part will discuss about the limitations of this study

and suggestion for further researches

References Appendixes

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND

2.1 SPEECH ACTS 2.1.1 Speech Acts and Their Classification

Actually, there are quite many different definitions of speech acts by different people According to Cohen 2002, “Speech acts are functionally unit at utterant level,

eg thanking, requestings, etc…” In addition, others believe that a speech act is a minimal functional unit in human communication Just as a word is the smallest free form found in language and a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries information about meaning, the basic unit of communication is a speech act In

Handbook of Pragmatic Lawrence Horn and Gregory Ward claimed that “When we

speak we can do all sorts of things, from aspirating a consonant, to constructing a relative clause, to insulting a guest, to starting a war These are all, pre-theoretically, speech acts-acts done in the process of speaking The theory of speech acts, however,

is especially concerned with those acts that are not completely covered under one or more of the major divisions of grammar-phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics-or under some general theory of actions.”

A speech act, in short, is an utterance that serves a function in communication

We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal A speech act might contain just one word, as in

"Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or sentences: "I’m sorry I forgot your birthday I just let it slip my mind." Speech acts include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture

According to Austin's theory (1962), what we say has three kinds of meaning:

1 Propositional meaning - the literal meaning of what is said

It is hot in here

2 Illocutionary meaning - the social function of what is said 'It's hot in here' could be:

- An indirect request for someone to open the window

- An indirect refusal to close the window because someone is cold

- A complaint implying that someone should know better than to keep the windows closed (expressed emphatically)

3 Perlocutionary meaning - the effect of what is said 'It's hot in here' could result in someone opening the windows Based on Austin's (1962), and Searle's (1969) theory, Cohen (1996) identifies five categories of speech acts based on the functions assigned to them:

Declarations: are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their

utterance [1996, 53] In other word, declarations are typically broadcast within a social group, and rely for their success on Speaker being sanctioned by the community, institution, committee, or even a single person within the group to perform such acts under stipulated conditions Provided the stipulated conditions are met, hearer's reaction as an individual is irrelevant to the effectiveness of the declaration

Example: Baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone husband and wife

“Out!”, “we find the defendant guilty”

Representatives: are those kinds of speech acts that state what speaker believes

to be the case or not Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions

Example: It was a really cold night

Expressives: are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels

They express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow

Example: OMG, That is incredible I am so happy!

Directives: are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone else

to do something They express what the speaker wants They are commands, orders, requests, and suggestions

Example: Could you pass me the paper?

Commissive: are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit

themselves to someone future action They express what the speaker intends

Example: I will be right back

2.1.2 Wishing as a Speech acts

According to Searle (1969:24) “Language is part of theory of action, and

speech acts are those verbal acts such as promising, greeting and wishing that one performs in speaking.” On this view, minimal unit of human communication are not

linguistic expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as making statements, asking questions, giving directions, apologizing, wishing, greeting and so on These acts are called illocutionary acts (Searle, 1969) In this research, wishes will be particularly examined in the aspect of it in the occasion of New Year

Example: - Wishing you a year that is filled with all the fragrance of roses

illuminated with all the lights of the world and be blessed with all the smiles on the planet Hope this year will be the year when all your dreams come true Happy New Year

- I wish that this New Year the light of faith is bright and steady and may no wind or storm make it flicker or flutter

- Let us leave behind sadness, regrets and painful moments and have a new start full of joy this New Year

2.2 DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE

It is controversy to define whether language must have a written and/or oral component between those who study language but they meet a common point of view that language is a rule-based system of signs In Cambridge University Press, they wrote

“We talk about language as a system of rules or conventions because a single language convention, for example, a single word, a pause, or an alphabet letter, does not tell us much beyond its immediate meaning Thus, we usually combine these conventions together to convey larger meanings”

In Oxford Dictionary Language is defined as “The method of human

communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way”

Language as conceived of by Chomsky is “a set (finite or infinite) of sentences,

each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements” (Chomsky

1957:13)

2.3 DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION

“Communication”, which is etymologically related to both “communion” and

“community,” comes from the Latin communicate, which means, “to make common” (Weekley, 1967, p 338) or “to share.” DeVito (1986) expanded on this, writing that communication is “the process or act of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver, through a channel and with the interference of noise” [61]

According to U.S Army, 1983, Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an idea, information, or feeling to a receiver

In short, Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create and share understandings This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating Use of these processes is developmental and transfers to all areas of life: home, school, community, work, and beyond It is through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur

2.4 DEFINITION OF CULTURE

Culture can be defined differently from different perspectives Some people may define culture as it refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving Others think Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation Or Culture is symbolic communication Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its institutions

In “Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions”, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn (1952) compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" because of

how various and diverse culture is

Brown claimed that “culture” can be explained as the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools which characterize a given group of people in a given period of time” While Culture, as stated in Professor Tran Quoc Vuong (1998, p.17), is “the spiritual product of people creativity and it was born with the appearance of human being on the Earth” or “culture as a share background (e.g national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values”, according to Dr Nguyen Quang (2000, p.7)

In this paper, Brooks’ view of culture is chosen as working definition “What is

important in culture is what one is expected is think, believe, say, do, eat, wear, pay,

2.4.1 Some generals features of Vietnamese Culture and American Culture

2.4.1.1 Some General Features of Vietnamese Culture

It can be said that there were three layers of culture overlapping each other during the history of Vietnam: local culture, the culture that mixed with those of China and other countries in the region, and the culture that interacted with Western culture The most prominent feature of the Vietnamese culture is that it was not assimilated by foreign cultures thanks to the strong local cultural foundations On the contrary, it was able to utilize and localize those from abroad to enrich the national culture

Dao Duy Anh stated in “Việt Nam văn hóa sử cương” (2000) that the Culture of Vietnam which is an agricultural civilization based on the cultivation of wet rice is one

of the oldest in Asia Pacific Most Vietnamese historians consider the ancient Dong Son culture to be one of the defining aspects of early Vietnamese civilization Vietnamese culture is recognized in community, family values, handwork and devotion to study Besides, in the book “Tìm Về Bản Sắc Văn Hóa Việt Nam” (2006), Tran Ngoc Them claimed that the difference in the structure of terrain, climate and distribution of ethnic population has created a cultural areas has its own characteristics

in Vietnam from the cradle of culture in Vietnam's Red River Delta with the mainstream of Vietnamese village culture and civilization of rice, to the cultural nuances of ethnic minorities in the Northwest and Northeast

The national and official language in Vietnam is Vietnamese, and it is also the mother tongue of about 86% of the nation’s population, as well as of nearly 3 million overseas Nowadays, English, French, Chinese… are increasingly becoming popular in Vietnam as the second languages Despite of experiencing the vicissitudes of the country the Vietnamese language still remains its charm and beauty As one of

Vietnamese famous writer, Dang Thai Mai wrote “The Vietnamese Language, an

Eloquent Expression of Our National Vitality”

Vietnamese life was also profoundly influenced by the practice of ancestor worship, as well as native animism Most Vietnamese, regardless of religious denomination, practice ancestor worship and have an ancestor altar at their home or business, a testament to the emphasis Vietnamese culture places on filial duty

Ao Dai is the most recognizable traditional dress in Vietnam Nguyen Viet Huong (2006), “Văn hóa ẩm thực và trang phục truyền thống của người Việt” stated

that Ao Dai is the most popular national costume in Vietnam, this beautiful styled

outfit is still actively worn throughout the country during Tet or other important occasion like wedding ceremony

Vietnamese cuisine is different in three regions (north, central and south)

according to Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thảo (2007), “Văn hóa ẩm thực Việt Nam” It is

because each region has their own way of cooking

In northern Vietnam, the foods there are often less spicy than those in other regions because of the limitation of the spices production and availability by colder climate Therefore, instead of chili people more often use Black pepper to produce spicy flavors In general, northern Vietnamese cuisine is the mixture of different taste - sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, or sour which creates the most northern Vietnamese foods feature light and balanced flavors Back then, meats such as pork, beef, and chicken were limitedly used but freshwater fish, prawns, squids, shrimps, crabs, clams, and mussels Crab-centered (e.g., bún riêu) is known as northern Vietnam specialty and going with it could be fish sauce, soy sauce, prawn sauce, and limes Other famous dishes like bún riêu and bánh cuốn were carried to central and southern Vietnam through Vietnamese migration

Spicy food is a notable feature of central Vietnam cuisine as the abundance of

dynasty of Vietnam, Huế's culinary tradition features with highly decorative and colorful food, was reflected the influence of ancient Vietnamese royal cuisine The region’s cuisine is also notable for its sophisticated meals consisting of many complex dishes served in small portions Chili peppers and shrimp sauces are among the frequently used ingredients Some Vietnamese signature dishes produced in central Vietnam are bún bò Huế and bánh khoái

Different from other two region, the northern’s food is vibrant and flavorful, with liberal uses of garlic, shallots, and fresh herbs That is the result of the warm weather and fertile soil of southern Vietnam, which create an ideal condition for growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and livestock A distinction of cuisine from southern that can be seen obviously was the preference of sweetness Sugar, coconut milk are widespread used

However, over those differences, there is one big common thing throughout the country is family meals which is considered to be one of the unique cultural features

2.4.1.2 Some General Features of American culture

American culture encompasses the customs and traditions of the United States, including language, religion, food and the arts The United States is sometimes described as a "melting pot" in which different cultures have contributed their own

distinct "flavors" to American culture Just as cultures from around the world have influenced American culture, today American culture influences the world

There is no official language of the United States, although 31 of 50 states have made English their official language or given it exceptional status More than 90 percent of the US population speaks and understands at least some English, and most official business is conducted in English While almost every language in the world is spoken in the United States, Spanish, Chinese, French and German are among the most frequently spoken non-English languages Each region of the United States, in particular the South, has its own spin on the language with unique pronunciations and phrases

Nearly every known religion is practiced in the United States, which was founded on the basis of religious freedom More than 75 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians About half are Protestant, about one-quarter are Catholic, and a small percentage are Mormon After Christianity, Judaism is the second most-identified religious affiliation, at about 1.4 percent of the population About 20 percent

of the population has no religious affiliation

Clothing styles vary by region and climate, but the American style of dressing

is predominantly casual Denim, sneakers and cowboy hats and boots are some items

of clothing that are closely associated with Americans Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors and Victoria Secret are some well-known American brands American fashion is widely influenced by celebrities

American cuisine has been influenced by Europeans and Native Americans in its early history Today, there are a number of foods that are commonly identified as American, such as hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, macaroni and cheese and meat loaf "As American as apple pie" has come to mean something that is authentically American

There are also styles of cooking and types of foods that are specific to a region Southern-style cooking is often called American comfort food and includes dishes such as fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread Tex-Mex, popular in Texas and the Southwest, is a blend of Spanish and Mexican cooking styles and includes items such as chili and burritos and relies heavily on shredded cheese and beans

2.5 RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

The relationship between language, culture and communication is quite interrelated Culture is usually carried by the language, and language is used to

communicate People who live in the same culture, speak the same language can find it easy to communicate with one another because it gives them an interconnected set of shared ideas, assumptions, beliefs, values, and even unwritten rules On the contrary, when people from different cultural backgrounds communicate with one another in different language, there is immense potential for difficulties to arise because of different cultural values, attitudes, or beliefs Intercultural Communication will fail without a good understanding of the different cultures, and understanding is not always easy Therefore, it is obvious that culture cannot be separated from or ignored when learning a language in communication

2.6 WISHING AS A NEED OF COMMUNICATION

A wish is a hope or desire for something Wishes serve to convey speaker’s positive intentions to the interlocutor, express empathy with him/her and create the atmosphere of social harmony They perform mainly interpersonal, expressive and even poetic functions within the communication process In this paper, the author mainly focuses on wishes greetings on New Year occasion The act of giving family, friends, relatives, colleagues, acquaintances in short anyone you know sweet and lovely words has become tradition every time New Year knocked the door

New Year wishes and greetings are considered to be extremely important It is believed to be polite when you give them a nice New Year’s greeting and that also means you just bring luckiness to them for the upcoming year

CHAPTER 3 METHOD AND PROCEDURE

This chapter is written to illustrate the methodology and the research procedure and the sections which follow, include:

- Aims and Objectives

3.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

With the hope of contributing a small part in helping language learner as well as people speaking English as second language better understanding of culture, this thesis

is aimed at:

- To help people enrich their knowledge and understand more about culture in Vietnam and America

- To assist Vietnamese people living in America and vise verse can enjoy and

be able to give greetings appropriately on this special occasion

- To be of use to College Students who study Culture as a subject at school Objectives:

- To provide enough information of New Year in two countries

- To consult from official websites and books of related authors as well as interview people to get various and true information

- To conduct the study clearly so that college students of all courses could be able to read and understand

In order to achieve the purpose of the study, Interviews are utilized; informal discussion is effectively combined with it too

3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study is intended to answer three following questions:

- What are they ways people celebrate New Year in Vietnam and in America?

- What are New Year greetings that people usually give to others on Vietnamese and American New Year occasion?

- What are the similarities and differences in New Year customs and New Year’s wishes in Vietnam and America?

3.4 POPULATION AND SAMPLE

The study was designed as a cross-sectional investigation, in which 100 people

in variety of ages, genders, marital status, professions, qualifications and half of them are Vietnamese and half American were randomly sampled Information of the population will be summarized in the following table:

Table 1: Vietnamese informants

This table above shows information about 50 Vietnamese samples in this study There are three groups of age that the author has categorized Most of the population is between the age of 20 to 30 years old which accounts for 40%, 38% is those who are older than 30 The rest belongs to group of younger than 19 Each group, the author has collected information about their gender, marital status, and living area It can be seen clearly that majority of informants from age group of 19 and younger is female (63,6%), single (100%) and living in countryside (81,8%) While in the group between

20 to 30 years old, it seems to be equal among male (50%) and female (50%); married (45%) and single (55%) Nevertheless, most of them is from city, only 6 out of 20 people are from countryside On the other hand, those categories within the age group

of 30 and older differ significantly All of them are already married and about two third is from countryside whereas, 57,9% is those who are male

Table 2: American informants

Table two illustrates information about American samples Only 10 people in the age group of 19 and younger were completed the survey and the same amount of people are those who older than 30 years old while the rest is among 20 to 30 years old It is absolutely understandable that 100% of the first group is still single Moreover, the author has found 80% of them is female and 70% living in countryside Within the second group, the majority is female (71,4%), single (60,7%) and living in city (92,9%) In contrast, 81,2% in third group got married However, again, most of the sample is male (72,2%) and from city (63,6%)

3.5 INSTRUMENTS

As stated in the previous sections, our purpose is to examine the way people celebrate New Year, the similarities and differences of New Year customs in Vietnam and America, how Vietnamese and American present the wishes in such a huge occasion

In this study, data collection instruments will include set of questionnaires and interview

The questionnaire was designed to elicit how people think and feel about New Year, how they wish to different recipients

The questionnaires were divided into 2 parts The former was designed in order

to serve the aim of findings about informers’ information; the later included both closed-questionaires with check boxes and open-questionaires This questionnaire was made in two versions - Vietnamese one and English one

3.6 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

More than 100 informers from two countries were received the list of questionaire After that, 50 questionaires from Vietnamese and the same number with American ones were returned

The purpose of the questionnaire was to elicit how people think about nowadays New Year holiday, and how people giving wishes to others The data collected was considered as a source to obtain some significant insights in New Year customs and the act of wishing

3.7 DATA ANALYSIS

In order to find out how people think about New Year and what factors influence their New Year wishes and how do they wish in their countries the author designed a set of closed-questionnaires realted to the topic then did a survey on 100 people from Vietnam and America Based on their answers, the author will present as charts and see the position of New Year in their heart, etc The majority will decided the result, and if the statistics is too minor then it is considered not to be representative

For the purpose of findings what people will say to vary recipients on New Year, the author had 100 different populations from both Vietnam and America give different wishes to different recipients, then the author collected aand analyze them In the process of analysing, the author noticed how appropriate of the wishes which will

be listed into two tables – Vietnamese New Year wishes one and American New Year wishes one and taken to the comparision

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter is about the findings of New Year customs and New Year wishes

in Vietnamese and American culture To begin with, the author gives some general features about New Year custom together with New Year wishes in two countries so as

to help the readers have a clearer overview about what she is going to discuss After that, the data analysis from informants is also brought up in which all the collected information from survey will be presented by charts and tables Finally, the author will give discussion on those results and comments on the New Year customs as well as the content of New Year wishes

4.1 NEW YEAR IN VIETNAM 4.1.1 General Features of Vietnamese New Year customs

Vietnamese Lunar New Year, commonly known by Vietnamese as Tết Nguyên Đán or Tet, is the most important and popular holiday and also festival in Vietnam Similar to Lunar New Year in South Korea or China, Tet is celebrated for the arrival of the spring according to the Lunar Calendar - from the first day of the first Lunar month (around late January to early February) to at least the third day Usually Vietnamese will be allowed to have five - seven days off from work

to celebrate Tet holiday

Because Tet is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, that is why they share the same customs for days before Tet:

As a traditional thing, Vietnamese people spend a week or so before New Year Eve for shopping, decorating the house, and coming back to their homeland for family reunions forgetting about troubles of the past and together hoping for a fruitful upcoming year Everyone get excited for this biggest occasion of the year, especially children because this is the chance they get to wear new clothes and show off with friends The followings are what people within three regions consider to be the need-to-do things before Tet:

The “Ong Cong - Ong Tao” (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) ceremony on the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year: As the legend goes, the Land Genie and the Kitchen Gods will ride carps to Heaven on the day to deliver an annual report on the household’s activities to the God of Heaven The Kitchen Gods, the guardian spirit of the kitchen, are believed to comprise two male gods and one female, who bless the household and keep up the kitchen fire, making every member of the family happy and

well off As the gods make their journey on the back of fish, it is traditional to release live carps into lakes or rivers, which is considered a kindhearted deed to pray for good luck On that day, people also burn paper clothing, including hats, robes and boots, intended for use by the genies on the trip beyond

Decorating the house: When The New Year is about to come, people start cleaning their houses, altars and ancestral graves Houses are decorated with cherry blossom, hoa mai - Ochna integerrima and other floral decorations such as kumquat tree, marigold, lavender or paperwhite flower along with traditional Dong Ho paintings and calligraphy pictures

Paying off all debts: People try to pay off all their debts before Tet’s Eve since they believe that if they do not owe anyone money through the holiday then success and wealth will come to them in the following year Some debtors, who cannot afford

to pay off their debts before Tet, buy some small presents for the creditors instead of paying the debts and ask them for more time to pay the money

Raising the flag: Years after having freedom, in Vietnam, the government encourages all families to raise flags on Tet holiday as well as others The office, company, school and public place raise: “Happy New Year” banner and five color flags

Preparing the food: Food is also an important part of Tet Some dishes such as banh Chung, banh day (tightly packed sticky rice with meat and bean fillings wrapped

in leaves) or dua hanh are strongly associated with images of Tet and it requires extensive preparations

New Year Eve (Giao Thua): However, in a literal translation, it means "Passage from the Old to the New Year" It is a common belief among Vietnamese people that there are 12 Sacred Animals from the Zodiac taking turn monitoring and controlling the affairs of the earth Thus, Giao Thua (New Year's Eve) is the moment of seeing the old chief (for example: Dragon 2013) ending his ruling term and passing his power to the new chief (Snake 2014) Giao Thua is also the time for Ong Tao (Kitchen God) to return to earth after making the report to the Jade Emperor Every single family should offer an open-air ceremony to welcome him back to their kitchen In some big cities, they display fireworks about fifteen until thirty minutes to welcome New Year In the past, at night people always burn fireworks They burn fireworks in the New Year to drive away ghost and the bad thing in last year

Each region in Vietnam, however, has its own way to celebrate Tet These characteristics in three regions the North - Central - South made Vietnamese culture in general and New Year in particular rich and colorful:

On the table in New Year Northern, it is indispensable Banh Chung, frozen meat and the pickle In the process of making cakes, depending on the characteristics

of each region can add or remove components of bread, but usually include: meat, beans, shallots and pepper Inside meat pie is only fat, green beans things well, sliced shallots Banh Chung can eat together with pickled onion and pickled cabbage It also

is chicken cooked golden disc nursery, silk smooth frozen rolls with sweet natural flavor of meat

In the North, people go to temple or shrine, after the ceremony, the Vietnamese have taken to break a branch to bring home good luck, be blessed That is to pick buds Edge filter is a small twigs or branches multiple threads, stems si are year-round lush trees and tumbling fortune This customs implied claim little buds of God, Buddha gave the New Year Stems often bring home and put in the altar Northern people like "draw card hexagram", applicants offered a petty gift and choose the card for a stick of bamboo write kanji Hexagram inscribed on card usually short sentences drawn from the ancient Chinese classic Follow it, they gave the card can talk to

"predetermined" their life in that year If not proficient Van Han, they can hire Ong Do interpretation Nowadays, people often give up bamboo card instead of flyer printed script which was prepared with answers.Hoa Dao are the warm pink of the peach blossoms that match well with the dry, cold weather from the North Tet is not Tet if there is no sight Hoa Dao in the North in every family

According to legend, Hoa Dao has grown so long over the mountains to the north On peach trees suddenly appeared two gods talent is tasked to protect and shelter to the villagers in the region Therefore, the devil was afraid of two gods and fear is always the cherry Therefore, the North people put Hoa Dao in house to prevent devil going away home

Aside from Hoa Dao, people also decorate with tangerine trees The more fruits there are on the tangerine tree, the more expensive its cost, because it is thought that more fruits bring more money to the family that buys the tree

In the north, not only the first day of year but also the first month of the year those are especially important In Ha Noi, on 5th January, Quang Trung festival is held

in Dong Da hill, Co Loa festival in Dong Anh, Vieng market (on 8th January) in Nam Dinh, Yen Tu spring festival in Quang Ninh

With rich culture, the North is a place which has the most taboos:

No sweeping: In three days of Tet, for fear of sweeping away red scanning of all shipping Therefore, everyone is cleaning house, garden before Eve

No garbage: garbage Continuous Abstinence from tale sign of mental Collectibles It is said that, there is a dealer who passed the Marine Lake Thanh Thao god named for her almost as Yue He became rich, full of money In that year, on the day of New Year, as small mistakes Yue, beat the boss should be turned into a pile of garbage The Merchant does not know, take away garbage dump From there, he had poor as ever

No giving fire on New Year: A Year it is not for others to ask the fire, because the concept is fire red is lucky Giving others a day of red in the New Year is the year that the house will get more bad luck like losing, in the shaky…

The first visitor the house: The "a bird of ill omen", not fit with the landlord not

to come home to the first day of the year Who is in mourning should not come to the land of others to avoid bad luck

No breaking dishes: Dish symbolizes family, so this day should be no broken dishes, arguing, cursing each other, and the unhappy thing happens to the family

Southern New Year is simple, not as many rules to keep the North taboos New atmosphere in South bustle began in early December until New Year's Eve with the fair opening night Every family prepare before a month, sometimes three months

At the Mekong Delta, an indispensable item on the dinner table on New Year is Banh Tet The main dish of rural South is Banh Tet Families often pack more and more people share the bread When New Year is coming people often give to relatives

a pair Banh Tet with the intention to wish happy Banh Tet eats with meat and storage vessels, together with pickled bean sprouts, is very attractive

Southern pork stew shoots: Foods to worship the ancestors, including Banh Chung and Banh Tet Indispensability in trays of traditional dishes: pork stew shoots, stir-fry, roast (cooked) When eating just mixed two of dried shrimp and pickled scallion heads people can sweet taste of shrimp and pleasant aroma favorite food in Tet

Flower buds and blossoms are the symbols for new beginning This kind of flower is widely sold and purchased during Tet Hoa Mai is the yellow apricot flowers often seen in Southern Viet Nam Hoa Mai is more adaptable to the hot weather of southern regions, thus, it is known as the primary flower in every family

Hoa Mai attached to the land of the village rice fields of Vietnam, close to humans from ancestral land opening up the village to live Apricot trees withstand wind and rain storm to blossom in the Lunar New Year, which is an image representing the Vietnamese people overcome hardships to preserve native species and meaningful life

Unlike the North, the South taboos are small In some rural South areas, people

do not let rice - mill empty in the early years This represents the failure, loss of the season next Therefore, people often pour a little rice on the chopper, implied wish New Year filled with rice

Arriving anyone’s house, no matter what time is, the host invited to drink wine, eat cake Customer may not refuse a meal, though it must also sip a little Anyone goes far but has to go home before Eve Who is not on the up as the year after he has to run after because he must work to eat

After sweeping, brush must be cut off If New Year lost brush, it means to lose that year the family will be stolen all property

Unlike northern eating Tet with Banh Chung, meat fat and the pickle, New Year in the Central well filled with the scent of flavored Banh Tet, pickled meat, meat and sour pork ears New Year in the Central, the one filled with expensive foods, still indispensable dishes this folk

The Central people like a lot is Sesame jam Particularly in Hue, Tet traditional dishes, no matter family is poor or rich, they all have Banh Tet and sticky up flavor by soaking rice juice is sweet , pickled corn beef sauce served with sliced pieces of evidence pickled sour, sweet, fresh petal colors in water clear as amber In addition, Central area is famous for pork dish served with rice and little salt

4.1.2 Vietnamese New Year Wishes

Tet holidays are the moments of happiness and family enjoy, therefore Vietnamese often dedicate the most beautiful words to their family and friends on this

occasion.The traditional greetings are "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" (Happy New Year) and

"Cung Chúc Tân Xuân" (gracious wishes of the new spring) Moreover, here are some

other beautiful and meaningful words that the author collected from questionnaires and experience:

- Sống lâu trăm tuổi (Long life of 100 years): used by children for elders

Traditionally, everyone is one year older on Tết, so children would wish their

grandparents health and longevity in exchange for mừng tuổi or lì xì

- An khang thịnh vượng ( Security, good health, and prosperity)

- Vạn sự như ý ( May myriad things go according to your will)

- Sức khỏe dồi dào (Plenty of health)

- Cung hỉ phát tài,( Congratulations and be prosperous)

- Năm mới tấn tài tấn lộc: I wish you a wealthy new year

- Năm mới thăng quan tiến chức: I wish that you will get promoted in the

- Chúc hay ăn chóng lớn: Eat more, grow rapidly (for children)

- Chúc mau chóng tìm được người yêu: New lover will come in the new year

(for single people)

4.1.3 Data analysis of Vietnamese Informants

4.1.3.1 The Excitement of Vietnamese People Toward New Year

This chart shows how excited Vietnamese people get when New Year (Tet) coming It can be seen clearly that most people are really eager to welcome Tet, they account for 46% That also means New Year, no matter when it is - in the past or in the modern time, is the most important holiday in every single Vietnamese people’s heart When being asked, some people agree that New Year has been changing, so do people, it could be the reasons why 28% get quite excited and about the same number

of people (26%) are not really excited

4.1.3.2 The Importance of New Year to Vietnamese

74%

18%

8%

0%

Chart 2: How important New Year to Vietnamese people

Traditionally, Tet is celebrated every year that marks the end of an old year and new beginning of another 12 months with hopes of bright, happiness, lucks That is one of so many reasons why many people think Tet is the biggest holiday in Vietnam

As we can see in Chart 2: How important New Year to Vietnamese people 74% of

people were asked agree that Tet is extremely important and other 18% believes it is quite important While only 8%, on the other hand, thinks New Year is not really important to them

4.1.3.3 The Length of New Year

3 days

10%

others

0%

Chart 3: How long Vietnamese people think New Year should last

Many people hold different opinions of how long New Year should last, that is why the author chose to put this question in survey Although many options were given out majority is of the opinion that New Year lasts from 7 days (46%) to 2 weeks (36%) 10% was the amout of people think Tet last 3 days and 4 people(8%) are those who think New Year lasts 1 month From those statics, it can be understood that people has to work, to survive in this busy, competitive world, therefore, a week could definitely be ideal timing for them to still enjoy Tet and keep the traditions

4.1.3.4 The Differences Between New Year in the Past and Now

Chart four shows how different between Vietnamese New Year in the past and now However, 28% of the population in this study feels that New Year has remained the same On the other hand, about the same number (26%) thinks it is totally different While no one has other option, 46% is of the view that New Year has only change a little bit and has slightly differences comparing to before

4.3.1.5 The Influencing Factors to Vietnamese’s Wishes

power status

age gender Family members

others

Chart 5: Factor(s) influence(s) Vietnamese’s wishes

Chart 5 illustrates the factors influences Vietnamese New Year wishes As the result of the interview before, the author has chosen main four factors to put into the survey, they are Family members, gender, age, power status and others Among 50 peole were asked, most of the people considers age factor has the biggest influence(38%), 7 people (14%) think power status has the most influence on them when producing wishes, that is about the same with gender when 12% of people is sharing the same thought In contrast, Family members and age are the most of the people has the point of view that they are the most influential factors The rest in 4% are those who think none of the mentioned factors has influences on them

For example: To the elder: Chúc ông/bà sống lâu trăm tuổi

4.1.3.6 The Expressing Ways of the Wishes

Chart 6: How Vietnamese people express their wishes

Chart 6 demonstrates the ways Vietnamese people express their wishes Despite giving out six different options, the samples tend to prefer only three ways: Expressing

in words, giving presents with wishing words and money with wishing words It is unsurprising when the most people occupying 56% chooses the way of using money with wishing words as it is a customs on Tet in Vietnam In the survey that the author

conducted earlier, people mainly from all the age groups tend to use the wishes “Chúc

ông bà sức khỏe dồi dào, sống vui khỏe cùng con cháu” to the old with money kept in

red envelope Coming up is the way of expressing only in words, people prefer that perhaps it is a simple but not least important Of course, giving presents with wishing words is considered to be a really formal way which has 8% of people usually choose

to express their wishes

4.1.3.7 Wishes to Different Recipients

In the set of questionnaires, the author has put an open question about how do people give wishes to varying recipients such as close friends, colleagues, acquaintance, brothers/sisters and bosses After receiving the data, she used qualitative method by which appropriate answers were chosen to put into this research The author finds it is similar in delivering wishes to acquaintances, there is not much about

acquaintances than mutual, and wishes to them are then more ceremonious “Chúc

mừng năm mới”, “Chúc năm mới an khang thịnh vượng” On the other hand, to the

old, the word “kính” in wishes will be used more often because that is a way to show respect Obviously, the old would not look forward to have wishes for prosperity, or

luck for business but health Therefore, “Cháu kính chúc ông bà sống lâu trăm tuổi”,

“Chúc ông bà sức khỏe dồi dào”, “Kính chúc ông bà sức khỏe dồi dào, bách niên giai lão” are most popular wishes from any age groups Nevertheless, among the groups of

samples, they have produced different wishes to different recipients as following:

The first group (>19), to close friends, the wishes tend to be a little casual,

innocent just like the age that they are in Most of them are still students, so the wishes

will be mainly related to school works, dreams and so on For example: “Chúc mày

sang năm mới học giỏi và gặp nhiều may mắn” “Năm mới đã đến, tao chúc mày sẽ đạt được ước mơ mà mày mong muốn”

The second group (20 – 30), to close friends: The author received so many

different wishes to this recipient Instead of the innocence in wishes of the first group,

we find here the mature However, they are quite similar in term of fun and informality

“Chúc cậu năm mới thật nhiều điều ý nghĩa”, “Chúc cậu sang năm mới nhanh tìm được người yêu” “Chúc vợ chồng và cu Tí năm mới vui vẻ, tràn ngập niềm vui”

The third group (30<), in Vietnamese, using unalike titles can actually make

the sense of feelings about the wishes different While in this group of people, the author can see that although “ông/bà” were used as a title for wishes to close friends who are same age as them It does not mean their friends are old as their grandparents

but their closeness and cuteness as in: Chúc ông bà làm ăn gặp nhiều may mắn, toàn

gia bình an Moreover, going along with wishing their close friends, they will also

give wishes to family members “Chúc bé Kem hay ăn chóng lớn”

The first group (>19), as the fact that, a lot of people decides to go out and

work at such a really young age for purpose of earning money and experiences and more importantly, those possessions are mostly physical These are some in so many reasons why wishes to those recipients concern much to finance and works In addition, the words using are not elaborated but very casual, humorous For instance:

“Chúc anh/chi/co/bac sang năm mới công việc thuận buồm xuôi gió” “Chúc cậu tiền

vào như nước song Đà tiền ra nhỏ giọt như cà phê phin.” However, most of them are

still students; many Vietnamese parents rather keep their kid in school than throw him/her out there with difficulties when he/she, to them, stills a baby That is a reason

why we have these wishes: “Chúc bạn sang năm mới học giỏi”, Chúc bạn thi tốt”

The second group (20 – 30), it is said that the age of 20 to 40 is when peoples’

carrier flourish significantly That could be the reason why the author find the most

popular wishes are on health, promotion on carrier…: Chúc các bạn sang năm mới:

“Tiền vô như nước”, “Sức khỏe dồi dào”; “Chúc anh/chị/bạn thăng quan tiến chức”

The third group (30<), the author did a survey on colleagues who is younger,

five years older and ten years older As we can see, the difference is big between

wishes to these same kinds of recipients but different ages The bar chart about The

Influencing Factors to Vietnamese’s Wishes (4.3.1.5) shows that age is the hugest

factor influencing on making wishes In addition, through this survey, the author found that, to younger colleagues the titles like “cô/cậu/em” are preferred to use as they are younger like brothers and sisters Moreover, finance is concerned a lot in this period of

age Therefore, we have these wishes: “Chúc cô/cậu sang năm làm ăn phát đạt”,

“Chúc em năm mới tiền đầy túi, tình đầy tim”, “Chúc em và gia đình mạnh khỏe, ăn nên làm ra.” To older colleagues, they will possibly use the titles of anh/chi as

respectfulness Besides, the style of wishing has not much change comparing to those

sent to younger colleagues as in “Chúc anh/chị sang năm mới làm ăn phát đạt” Even

so, to above 10 years older colleagues, the content of the wish change a bit as it no

longer about finance, promotion but health and safety “Chúc anh chị manh khỏe, toàn

gia bình an” “Nhân dịp năm mới chúc anh chị trẻ mãi không già”,

The first group (>19), as it was discussed above with the influencing factors,

family member is considered to be the second biggest element that influences on wishes The author received many cute wishes; they are very sweet and reflect the

close relationships: “Chúc anh/chị/em mạnh khỏe, hạnh phúc”, “Chúc cu Bi hay ăn

chóng lớn, được nhiều lì xì” “Chúc anh hai sang năm mới gặt hái được nhiều thành công” “Chị yêu ơi, sang năm mới chị cố gắng học giỏi để thi đậu đại học nhé.”

The second group (20 – 30), somehow, this particular recipient has received

similar wishes in the sense of closeness regardless of different age group: “Chúc em

gái sang năm mới học giỏi”, “Chúc chị dâu mẹ tròn con vuông”, “chúc gia đình bác sang năm mới làm ăn gặp nhiều may mắn”

The third group (30<), unlike two other age groups with their funny and

humorous wishes to brother and sister, it is more likely to give more sensible wishes:

“Chúc anh/chị/em năm mới hạnh phúc, nhiều may mắn”, “Chúc anh/chị/em thành công trong công việc và gia đình”