It is now the new year in Vietnam, Tết Nguyên Đán, Feast of the First Morning.  It is a huge holiday celebrated for several days and much time is spent with family making it somewhat of a lonely time for foreigners in Vietnam.  However, everybody, Happy New Year!

In Vietnamese they would say Chúc Mừng Năm Mới which glosses as “wish happy year new” or Chúc Mừng Tân Niên which means the same thing.  They may also “chúc” you to have Sức Khỏe which means good health.  Mừng tuổi is another way to wish a happy new year.  In this case tuổi means year of age and since everybody turns one year older on this lunar new year rather than their birthday they are wishing you a happy birthday.

It is now the year of the rat.