(VOVworld) – Various activities are taking place nationwide to welcome the traditional lunar New Year. At Yen Bai’s biggest market, Muong Lo, local ethnic people are busy shopping for Tet. 70-year-old Lo Thi Em is a Thai ethnic woman: "I try not to forget anything needed for Tet celebrations. I’ll buy fruits, flowers, confectionaries, and incenses as offerings to our ancestors to win their support for health and luck in the New Year."

Mong families in Mu Cang Chai or Tram Tau are ready to welcome Tet. Meanwhile, Thai families are decorating their houses and preparing their ancestors’ altars with offerings as part of preparations for Tet. Lo Van Xuan lives in Chao hamlet, Nghia Loi commune: "On New Year’s Eve, after a ceremony to present offerings to our ancestors and the deceased, we gather around a fire and wishes all the best to each other. After that we’ll play gongs to signal the first moments of the New Year."

An art performance took place on Wednesday at Ho Chi Minh Square in Vinh City, Nghe An province to welcome the New Year. Pham Tien Dung is Deputy Director of Nghe An provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism: "This New Year’s Eve, in addition to celebrations to welcome the New Year, we’ll organizie activities to highlight Vi Giam folk-singing which has been recognized as an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO. Other highlights of the program include folk games, lion-dancing and singing contests, and sticky-rice cake wrapping contest."

A flower street opened on Tuesday in Binh Duong province while in Dak Nong province, a cultural festival took place with the participation of 146 hamlets of ethnic people featuring typical cultural values of each ethnic minority.