(VOV) – Various activities are underway nationwide to mark Lunar new year or Tet.

People flock to Quan Su pagoda in Hanoi to pray for good luck

In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, thousands of people were packed on the streets for fireworks watching and pagoda visiting. Meanwhile, the Han river bridge in the central city of Da Nang was crowded with people watching fireworks and going to spring flowers market. The ancient town of Hoi An offered visitors art performances and various traditional cultural activities including a lantern festival in Hoai river square.

In the new year, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the mountainous province of Ha Giang aims to develop its tourism sector with the target of welcoming more than 420,000 visitors this year. The province has received around 5,000 visitors on the first days of this year. Hoang Van Kien is the Director of Ha Giang province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism: "In order to attract visitors to enjoy Tet with ethnic minority people here, there will be many activities after the third day of Lunar New Year such as paddy planting contest and buffalo fighting. New year rituals  of ethnic minority people will also be held on Dong Van stone plateau".

Overseas Vietnamese are celebrating the lunar new year. The Vietnamese community in France gathered at Vietnam’s Cultural Center  to feel celebration atmosphere in the homeland and listened to new year wishes from the State President through TV. Pham Gia Chung has lived in France for more than 60 years: "I have lived here since 1951. I used to think of the homeland on the lunar new year when the country was in the war time. Tet was the time for family reunion but people in the homeland were still fighting. There have had many changes after 62 years. The country now is in peace, I hope that Vietnamese people will continue to be united for a prosperous country".

The Vietnamese community in Japan still preserve many traditional customs on the lunar new year. On the final days of the old year, more than 70 Vietnamese people went to Nisshin Kutsu pagoda in  Tokyo to pray for good health and peace in the new year. Nun Tam Tri at Nisshin Kutsu pagoda said: "We pray the Buddha for all Vietnamese people a happy and lucky new year. That’s our best wishes from Japan to Vietnamese Buddhist followers and people".

The Vietnamese community in Laos prepared new year feasts to worship their ancestors. Hoang Dieu is one of Vietnamese residents in Laos. After new year worshiping ritual, his family eagerly look forward to New Year’s Eve: "On New Year’s Eve, my family watched the President’s New Year greeting and celebrations in Vietnam. After that, we burnt incenses and proposed toast to each other. On the first day of lunar  new year, we invite a person with good morality to visit our house first".