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10. Describe a Vietnamese traditional festival:

Vietnam has many traditional and religious holidays but none can be compared to New Year festival, Tet Nguyen-Dan or, in short, Tet.

- Where and when does it take place?

Tet starts on the first day of the first lunar month and is the first season of the new year (according to the lunar calendar).

Tet has become so familiar, so sacred to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavours of the Vietnamese festivities.

- Do you have special food or dress for this festival? tell me about it.

The Banh Chung has been a "must" during the Tet holidays. The Banh Chung is very nutritious, has an original tasty flavour and may be kept for a long time. All of its ingredients and materials, from the green wrapping leaves to sticky rice and pork, green peas and pepper inside, are all medicines (according to Oriental Medicine) that act to keep harmony between the positive and the negative, thus helping the blood circulate well and preventing diseases. Certainly, no other cakes could be of such cultural significance and produce such medical effects as the green Banh Chung of Vietnam.

- What do people do to prepare for such occasion? How do people celebrate?

- The first signs of the impending holiday show up a month before Tet. Workmen start building stalls near the markets to sell holiday items such as New Year''s greeting cards, candied fruits and decorations. Prices for everything begin to rise.

- Houses and buildings get a new paint. People buy new clothes, exchange greeting cards, wish each other Happy New Year Chuc Mung Nam Moi).

- It''s auspicious if the branches bloom on the first morning of Tet: apricot blossoms are reputed to keep demons out of the homes at this time. The ideal is to have the flowers...