On 2 February 2024, Hoi Yen Kindergarten celebrated the New Year’s Day ( Tết) with the children. Tết is the name of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, whose full name is Tet Nguyen Dan and is the country’s most important holiday. It falls in January and February.
For the Vietnamese, it is a festival of family reunion. This means that many people move from the cities where they work to return to their families in their places of origin, where everyone gathers to eat meals together.
Celebrating the Lunar New Year is a way to bring children back to the past, to their origins, to revive the good traditions of their ancestors. The family atmosphere of cooperation in preparing fruit trays, cakes and Tet decorations is warm and festive and allows children to learn about the good and wise traditions of Vietnam.
New Year’s Eve teaches children how to wish their grandparents, parents and siblings a Happy New Year and how to receive ‘lucky money’ in a grateful and meaningful way. The children also learn the great meaning of the holiday, which is love for the Motherland, their country, and the immense love that every Vietnamese has for their family.
For Jeanne-Antide, education is a thing of the heart.
We, the Sisters of Charity of Hoi Yen, do not only want to teach children from books, or to memorise numbers and letters, but we also want to teach them a passion for their family and religious backgrounds and a life wisdom to cope with the environment in which they live.
We wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!
