VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ______________________ THÁI THỊ NGÂN NEW YEAR CUSTOMS AND NEW YEAR’S WISHES IN VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN CULTURES NĂM MỚI VÀ LỜI CHÚC NĂ
INTRODUCTION
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”
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.
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
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
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
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
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 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.
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
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.
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 spices produced by central Vietnam’s mountainous terrain Once the capital of the last 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
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.
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.
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
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
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this research, the theoretical background mainly bases on books written by a variety of scholars on cultural issues as well as information from official websites
The author employs action research to analyze the data collected Comments, remarks, comparisons and conclusions are based on factual research: questionnaires, interviews, discussion, and experience
In order to achieve the purpose of the study, Interviews are utilized; informal discussion is effectively combined with it too.
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?
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:
Gender Marital Status Living Area male female Married Single Countryside City
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
Gender Marital Status Living Area male female Married Single Countryside City
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%)
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.
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
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.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
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:
The New Year in the North
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
NEW YEAR IN AMERICA
4.2.1 General Features of American New Year customs
As we know, America is a “melting pot” where it has a lot of cultures coming from different countries but traditions are important to Americans They celebrate Christmas and Independence Day the same way every year They play certain music selections at weddings, and other selections at funerals On a daily basis, they find comfort in the repetition of holding a special family dinner on Sundays or even sleeping on the same side of the bed every night Their New Year customs are no exception New Year celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1 st Here are a few of the regular traditions Americans follow to bring in the New Year:
At midnight around the country, we can hear celebratory car horns, firecrackers, sirens, party horns, bells to express the announcement of New Year party time People blow paper blowers and whistles which is very exciting way of wishing happy New Year! Other reason comes from the traditions where they think the New Year symbolizes the beginning of new life, and therefore evil spirits tried to invade and usurp people’s bodies for their own purposes In some traditions, the spirits of the old, in other words dead, friends and relatives were invited to a feast on New Year's Eve to say goodbye However, the living needed to drive the dead back to the otherworld Noise was a way to scare away evil spirits and send them back into hiding
Another symbol of new life is Baby New Year This tradition actually began in Greece when they celebrated the annual rebirth of Dionysus, their god of fertility They would parade a baby around the streets for the celebration Egypt had a similar custom Although American Christians thought these celebrations involving other gods was wrong, they gave in when people began using babies as a symbol of the birth of Christ, celebrated just one week before at Christmas
A parade is American preference, and New Year's Day has one of the most famous parades of the year, the Rose Bowl Parade In fact, parades were originally a way to chase away evil spirits as well As with Halloween, it was believed that evil spirits are frightened of masks Others believed that masks are representative of the souls of dead people The idea was to honor the dead by wearing the masks, therefore leading the spirits to be satisfied and leave the living alone Parades are also very loud, again to frighten away the evil spirits while they are trying to invade human beings during the time of renewal
Drinking is a part of the New Year's Eve tradition that has roots in religion It seems that drinking to excess and complete drunkenness represents chaos This chaos is likened to the chaos of the universe before God created everything and brought order to everything
At midnight, they drink to toast the New Year When making a toast, people clink their glasses together in further celebration and revelry over the passing of the old year and the ringing in of the New Year There are two things represented by the clinking of the glasses First, they literally are ringing in the New Year The ringing sound the glasses make when they clink together was, again, supposed to frighten away evil spirits However, clinking glasses originally started back in a time when guests regularly suspected their hosts of trying to poison them at dinner parties, often with good reason To be sure their drink was untainted, it was expected each guest would pour a small amount of their drink from their own glass into that of the host Both would then drink, the guest believing the host would not drink something he had poisoned The symbol of trust was to clink the glass instead and drink without making the host take a taste
Resolutions began in ancient times Farmers in Babylon would resolve to start life new, usually by returning tools they borrowed Later, people who wanted to start the year on good terms without anything hanging over their heads would repay their debts Now, their resolutions lean more toward promises to themselves to do something specific during the upcoming year
Singing "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight on New Year's Eve has become a tradition in America The song comes from Scotland where at home they join arms in a circle and sing Then they wait for the first person to enter the house after midnight Tradition holds, in Scotland and many other countries, that the first person to enter the house on New Year's Day symbolizes what rather luck the family will have the rest of the year The best person, according to the British, is a dark-haired young man bearing gifts This may also be why Americans try to make sure they plan good and lucky activities on New Year's Day, as tradition says what american do on this day foretells what they will do for the rest of our year
The most interesting tradition is planning to spend their New Year's Day with people they love, kissing It is said that the first person they kiss at midnight will be the person they are mated with for the entire year This tradition goes back to Germany and England where they put great emphasis on the looks, sex, and success of the first person they meet in the New Year
The ball drop at Time Square in New York City is a tradition dating back more than 100 years Time Square holds one of the biggest parties in the country with millions in attendance or watching on television from all over the world The ball takes one minute to drop, with the final ten seconds counted down by people everywhere The dropping of the ball marks the exact time of the passing of the old year into the beginning of New Year's Day While many believe this is a unique occurrence, time- balls are used around the world to keep accurate and exact time Greenwich used to drop a ball every afternoon so ships could set their instruments Now the entire world sets its clocks by Greenwich Time Currently, at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., a time-ball is dropped from a flagpole every day at noon There are at least 150 time-balls still used today Nevertheless, the most famous, of course, is the one used every New Year's Eve in Time Square
Traditional American feast on New Year
In the United States, it is believed that black-eyed beans are very lucky It is American custom on New Year to prepare special dinner with different cuisines to gather for family feasts
A special soul food with rice that is popularly called Hoppin’ John is consumed with black-eyed beans It is considered to be very auspicious that during the party people also, have cakes and champagne
New Year Celebrations in New York
Almost every corner and street of the New York City seems to be holding a unique celebration nerve on New Year's Eve Number of events and parties are organized all over the city, with both the natives as well foreign tourists participating in it with immense joy and fervor Some of the biggest nightclubs, clubs, bars, lounges, pubs, etc are hosting some highly exhilarating and high brisk parties on New Year's Eve
The throng of people coming in them is immense and gigantic, and it really requires one to have an irresistible passion to get into any of them Plan early, and get a pass is what all we have to recommend if you wish to get into any of the many big parties going all over the place Some of these parties have dress codes, cover prices, entry charges, and special service charges for the Eve
However, if one fails to get in any of their favorites, the equally vibrant street parties can offer, if not more than at least an equally splendid New Year experience One can also be a part of the various live concerts, with performances from various genres such as hip-hop, rock, Latin, electronic, or house performing some of the best epic hits of the year
Best New Year in New York
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
4.3.1 Similarities in New Year Customs
Obviously, Both Vietnam and America have their own characteristics in culture generally and New Year custom particularly However, there are still some common features
In the two countries, the first houseguest is considered to be the one who bring lucks and good fortune throughout the year to hosts That is why it is important to require first houseguests well educated, respected Successful, and may be famous
The preparation for this event in Vietnam and in America is somewhat similar Stores and supermarkets are so crowded with many people going to purchase necessaries for the holiday in advance The most best-seller items in this shopping season are food, drinks and clothes Besides, Vietnamese and American people also try to pay off all debts and to resolve conflicts before New Year in order to get happy in the New Year
In America, Christmas trees covering with decorations and colored lights are kept until the New Year festival ends This kind of evergreen trees are put in their home or outside Similarly, a branch of peach flower or a kumquat decorated with greeting cards and good luck symbols cannot be absent in each Vietnamese family The two countries also resembles in their viewpoint on the New Year They share the same opinion that this important time of transition offers optimism and hope
Moreover, New Year with both countries is the time when they want to revive of a good time, renewal of life Driving away unlucky things in old year and they will be looking forward to the good things in New Year
4.3.2 Similarities in New Year Wishes
It could be the same in any culture, for the New Year, the very first and most popular greeting must be “happy new year” Apparently, to different recipients the using words and the way to express should be different
In Vietnam: As the author mentioned earlier the greeting: “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
Or 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)
In America: “Here is wishing a very happy and prosperous New Year to a person who brings sunshine to the family always” (for parents)
“As the New Year approaches us with hopes anew, here is wishing you and your family a wonderful year ahead Happy New Year” (for friends)
Apparently, in any culture, health, prosperity, safety and luck are concerned the most That is why on New Year those topics are very popular that people choose to wish others
Health: Sức khỏe dồi dào (Plenty of health)
Prosperity: May God spread prosperity, joy in your life on this New Year, and fulfill all your dreams
4.3.3 Differences in New Year Customs
Each nation has its own traditions, customs and values partly reflected in the celebration of the New Year festival The ways of holding the festival in Viet Nam and in America are of no exception The two countries belonging to two geographical locations and cultures share some certain similarities but mostly they show many obvious distinctions in the New Year celebration
The first big different between those two countries is the preparation for New Year Day In the United States, they use the Gregorian calendar so people celebrate New Year on January 1 Christmas day is an important holiday to American people The preparation for New Year’s Day only begins after Christmas day, so it usually takes less than a week Although there are only a few days to prepare for the New Year’s Day, American people it is still have a lot of time to do it Most of people have prepared for the Christmas holiday, so they do not have to prepare much for New Year Unlike American people, Vietnamese New Year, or “Tet,” usually happens between the middle of January and the beginning of February in the Gregorian calendar because we are using the Chinese calendar “Tet” is an important holiday to Vietnamese people It is a time for farmers to take a break, and it is a time for people to reunite with their families The preparation for Tet usually is planned a month in advance It starts at the beginning of December in the Chinese calendar Vietnamese people are trying to clean the house, or paint new colors in order to welcome New Years, and make everything are new in the New Year Day Besides that, they are buy food, flowers and sweets to keep during the next three days of Tet
Moreover, the New Year in Vietnam it seems to be more complex than in America Vietnamese people have so many taboos in New Year, which confuses foreigners a lot
Most of Vietnamese people are influenced by the practice of ancestor worship, as well as native animism They practice ancestor worship and have an ancestor altar at their house, so on the New Year Eve people often prepare a tray of foods to offer the Jade Emperor and ancestor They do that to invite ancestor to enjoy New Year
However, Most of American people are influenced by Christianity Most Christians belong to the Churches They often go to the Church on New Year Eve and they do not offer ancestor like the Vietnamese
4.3.4 Differences in New Year Wishes
As the data has analyzed above, the biggest difference in Wishes of Vietnamese and America is the factors that influence their wishes In Vietnam, Age and family members are the two most important factors However, in America, those two elements are not what they think has the best impact but other factors like social relationships
Moreover, the ways of choosing to give wishes are different as well If in Vietnam, giving out money with wishing word is the most populsr way, then in
America, no one choose to do that They prefer using plain words or presents with words
Most of Vietnamese formal New Year wishes are fixed expressions containing sino-vietnamese: “an khang thinh vuong”, while in America wishes could be based on recipients’ resolutions.
COMMENTS ON NEW YEAR CUSTOMS IN VIETNAM AND AMERICA
Through this paper, the author learned that every single country in the world considers New Year as an important event in a year and Vietnam and America are no exceptions.Despite being influenced by modern life, the New Year celebration in both Vietnam and America has slightly changed but still remaining the quintessences and the traditions Inspite of coming from two half of the global, Vietnam and America still have some commons in the way of celebrate this big festival, which the author has already discussed in this paper.
COMMENTS ON THE CONTENT OF NEW YEAR WISHES IN VIETNAM
4.5.1 Comments on the Content of Vietnamese New Year wishes
Based on what the author has found and the data analyzed above, We can clearly see that the content of Vietnamese New Year wishes are mostly health, luck, prosperity, safety are the main things that people would like to give each other Depending on the power status, age, and so on wishes need to be chosen appropriately For example, with 80 years old man, we cannot use the wish of prosperity but health Alternatively, with the age of 2 or 3, the wish about money is not really nescessary
4.5.2 Comments on the Content of American New Year Wishes
Basically, it is not much different in the content of American New Year wishes and Vietnamese New Year wishes due to the importance of health, luck, prosperity or safety to people However, when giving out wishes, American will pay much attention to the resolution of the receipients so that they can wish what recipients wants to hear For example: Recipient’s resolution is “This year I want to be famous and earn allot of money” Then the wish could be “May you discover all your hidden potentials this New Year and turn them into delightful ventures bringing you fame and finances to rejoice.”
INFLUENCES OF NEW YEAR CUSTOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND
Studying on the culture of Vietnam and America through New Year customs, English learners could be able to enrich their vocabulary on culture They could also use those words well on writing, grammar, and help themselves better translating with culture field Besides, through the process of finding materials from many sources, gathering and analyzing these information, the author hopes people will understand clearly and widen their background knowledge about culture of Vietnam and America in general and the New Year customs of the two countries in particular It could be helpful for Vietnamese living in America to know and live up to American culture This study also conducted to help English students know more and get interested in the language they study When the author conducts this graduation paper she also wants to give the students general knowledge about American culture which they could be study at school Hopefully, after taking a look at this paper, students will find America study interesting and themselves more confident towards this subject.