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Greetings People from across the elands,

With the quiet media, I thought I would touch on some RL and close to ‘home’ stuff. This week for me has seen the official AusTet 2017 happening. While we all know Australia Day is on January 26th, this year, the Lunar New Year is on the 28th of January. But before we go into detail’s, I will give you a rough background….


As many of you are aware, I am an Australian born citizen who has lived overseas for several years. I have spent a fair amount of time in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and more recently Vietnam. However even though I have lived away from my home country for many years, my heart still belongs to Australia. So I enjoy taking part in events like Australia Day, ANZAC Day and so forth.


While I have been lucky enough to live in Vietnam for the past 4 odd years, I have started to assimilate myself into the Vietnamese culture, which includes respecting and taking part in their traditions and holidays. So in this Lunar New Year (Vietnamese call it Tet, Chinese call it Chinese New Year…), as like the previous ones, I will be celebrating it with my Vietnamese friends. All in all, it makes for one long boozed soaked week.



Australia Day is the national day of Australia. It is celebrated on the 26th of January every year. On this date, back in 1788, Captain James Cook and his merry men, sailed in to Sydney Cove and raised the Flag of Great Britain, signifying the British rule over the Eastern seaboard of Australia (known as New Holland then) Ed. In more recent years, there has been a push to change that or proclaim this date as ‘Invasion Day’ due to the land already being owned by the Aboriginals.

This day now is celebrated in different ways, from the good old Aussie BBQ, to backyard/beach cricket, fireworks, Citizenship ceremonies, different festivals and awards being handed out.



Tết is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word comes from Tết Nguyên Đán which translates to ‘Feast of the First Morning of the First Day’. These celebrations last from 3 day’s up 2 weeks, depending on the families involved and their beliefs. In regards to these beliefs, many Vietnamese in the lead up to Tết buy Kumquat tree’s, Vietnamese cherry blossoms, Cleaning of your home and ancestors graves, praying at the family alter/graves, 'lucky money' and many more happenings.

Also since this is a time of family, luck and thanking, there are a lot of different smaller celebrations happening. From end of year parties (Tất niên), family meals before the New Year, 'lucky'/blessings of businesses and houses on New Year's Day, as well as celebrations during this period of time.

Like Australia Day... or pretty much all things Australian, in Vietnam, a lot of these celebrations, involve alcohol (most commonly local Rice Wine and Whiskey). So, you could imagine one will get quite pickled over this period.



To give you some sort of understanding in living with two cultures during a week, where two national and well celebrated events occur, I will give you a run down on a week that was/is...

Monday 23 Jan: In preparation for the upcoming Tet celebrations, one has to start buying all the right 'lucky/blessing' items, this includes a Rooster (it is the year of the Rooster), Kumquat tree, Vietnamese Cherry Blossom, flowers for the prayer room and so on....

Tuesday 24th Jan: During the day, start to do the big clean of the house. Vietnamese belief is all home renovation must be done before the new year (the thinking is, if anything old remains, it will still have been effected by bad luck of the past year) as well as cleaning the house. This is not a normal Sunday clean, but a full on, scrub every inch so you can operate on a person anywhere in the house (like the renovations, they believe any dirt or rubbish left in the house, will bring bad luck for the new year).



However, the night is finished off, by attending the Australia Day BBQ at the embassy here in Hanoi. While, I don't tend to go to the Embassy or have anything to do with it, this is a perfect chance to get my tax dollars' worth of booze and food out of the government, while trying to remember that I am talking to the ambassador and he wouldn't like me swearing. Yes, it is also the first night of big drinking.

Wednesday 25th Jan: While nursing a slight beer induced hang over from the embassy function, I have to continue to clean the house so the spirits will not be offended or bring me further bad luck. The down side is during this time, many of my Vietnamese friends will depart to their home towns, to spend this time with their families. This normally means a full day of travelling. But many businesses shut over Tet, so it gives these people a chance to travel to their home towns (It is expected that Vietnamese children will at least go back to visit their family once a year, no matter where in the world they live. If you live local, you tend to go back every weekend).



Due to this departure of many local friends, we have to have a get together to celebrate both Australia Day and Tet. So off to the local watering hole for their Wings Wednesday (13k Dong per wing). Here I catch up with 4 local friends and 2 fellow Aussie's for a decent feed and of course beer and whiskey. Afterwards to continue the night, we go to beer corner where we continue to drink Men' Vodka until 4am in the morning....



Thursday 26th Jan: AUSTRALIA DAY!!!! but one does not sleep on Australia Day.... instead, still suffering from the first lot of drinking, I am awakened to the loud noises outside my window (I live across from a Kumquat plantation) of horns and people shouting, trying to buy the last of the kumquats... so with 4hrs sleep under my belt, I drag my sorry arse off to get ready for another day.



So with more cleaning done, it is back to my local watering hole for an Australia Day celebration. This of course includes a few glasses of Bundy and Coke (I was having Bundy Red due to the hang over) and a game of backyard cricket. While in most normal circumstances, this would go from lunch until I passed out under a tree, it is Tet and well.... I need to get ready for my Tất niên party...



So, back home I went, for the end of year business party.... which equals more food and more drinking. But a standard end of year party (small scale) involves, king prawns, crab, beef, kimchi, morning glory and a range of other foods. A couple of hot pots going all at once, blessing and thanks for the year that was, as well as just a good general warmth and friendship amongst friends, colleagues and customers.

Friday 27th Jan: Tết... well not quite, but the start of it all. Today is New Year's Eve, the roads are getting quieter as everyone flees the city to be with their loved ones in their home towns, the noise pollution lessens, the air starts getting better since there is hardly any traffic on the roads. But it is also a time for family.

Being an expat here, I don't have family per se, however I am lucky enough to have adopted family here. Locals who treat me like one of their own siblings. So, with this, today is about being with them and their blood relatives. While it is difficult to communicate, due to my basic understanding of Tiếng Việt and the elders no knowledge of English, you still get the warmth and acceptance of loving family.



And yes, the booze is still flowing, as the old Vietnamese men try to out drink you (being white/Tây here, all the locals think you're a booze head, so they always try and out drink you with shots of whiskey. It is also extremely rude to say 'no')



Saturday 28th Jan: New Year's Day... Year of the Rooster. This day is something that I find kinda weird about. Not weird in a bad way, but weird in the way the local population accepts and welcomes foreigners, even though those foreigners have bombed them, kept them down, treated them poorly quite a lot in their history.

As you might of gathered already, this period of time and actually most of the celebrations in Vietnam, hold a particular meaning in regards to belief's, religion, spirits and the like. On this day, being the first day of the new year, people always consult the fortune tellers to let them know how to ensure the new year will be lucky for them. This includes finding the right person to be your first customer, the right person to be the first one to enter your house (it is done by numbers eg. date of birth etc). Last year I was lucky enough to be chosen by my Mechanic to be the first person, not only to enter his business, but also his house. This year, I will be expected to go to a friend's business as the first customer. As their fortune teller, has said my numbers will bring them good luck for the coming year (or he just saw my credit card statement and realises how much booze I drink at the pub).



Well, this article has become longer then what I expected. However, I hope it has given you something to read in an all be it quiet media thread. If you have any questions about things I have said, be it about customs and traditions, reasons why about some aspect of the celebrations, or if I really am that much of a booze head, please feel free to ask them in the comments section.

Otherwise I wish you all the best during this AusTet 2017 and I now have to get ready to go to another shindig.

Rusty D
An expat Aussie abroad.