Tết Nguyên Đán (Lunar New Year) - Let's roll~...... into a New Year!

23rd December, Lunar Calendar:

Leaning forward slightly, Trang tilted the tank so that the carp could swim into the river. As legend went, "Tao quan" – gods who are privy to the family's most private business and intimate secrets – rode on these fish to Heaven every year to make his report to the Jade Emperor. "Please have a safe trip" – She clasped her hand in front of her face, looking up at the sky as if she could witness their departure. With this done, there was only one more thing left to do for the day: sending the invitations. Trang stepped away from the river and headed for the post office. Behind her, endless stream of people flocked to the river to do the same custom of freeing carp fish...

28th December, Lunar Calendar:

Trang felt preoccupied when it came pouring down. If the rain persisted, she wouldn't be able to go shopping for the upcoming event today! For the whole time, Trang merely sat by the window, looking at the blurry image of the street or sometimes her reflection on the glass... Luckily, it stopped in the afternoon. More pleasant was the fact that she could enjoy the pretty scenery along the way to the market!

The Vietnamese loved the scenery after the rain. The crystal blue sky spanned the horizon. The street seemed to have been purified by the shower. People came out from temporary shelters under random balconies as if the world started to motion again after a long pause. Walking the street at that moment was a perfect leisure activity, which was exactly why Trang just wandered slowly as people from all walks of life hurried past her.

As Trang noticed some family went shopping together, she couldn't help but wonder if someone would respond to her invitation. The nation placed a hand on her chest. She had already started to feel a tad nervous thinking about it! Would anyone come? Would they, if ever showing up, be interested in the traditional activities? Trang slowed down even more although she was still just several meters away from the house. Gradually, she didn't watch the stream of people around anymore but was rather lost in her own thought...

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Woohoo~ So I have started the Lunar New Year thread!!! \>w</ Please join if you're interested!!! >////3///<

Lunar New Year (or "Tet Nguyen Dan" in Vietnam) is the celebration marking a New Year of the Lunar Calendar. Lunar Calendar, unlike Gregorian Calendar you all are using, is based on cycles of the lunar phase. It's slower so Jan 1 2011 of Lunar Calendar will be Feb 3rd 2011 of the Gregorian Calendar. Some countries in Asia celebrate this occasion, including Vietnam. It's like the real New Year for us! The belief is that the way you act and the things you do during the crucial first three days will set the tone for the rest of the year so many preparations are made. It's all about getting a fresh new start and kicking off a new beginning in a positive way!

Here are some traditions that we'll do in this thread:

Worship the Kitchen Gods (or "Tao Quan"): Every family has Kitchen Gods, who guide and protect each from the evils. It was Vietnamese tradition to provide these Gods with a carp to travel on the 23th of lunar December. The 'Carp' signifies the last but one stage of the animals when they turn into dragons.

House cleaning and shopping: The entire house and shops are swept and cleaned. The general atmosphere is in the bustle of shopping, decorating the home, cooking traditional food and waiting for relatives to return home.

Ceremony at the start of New Year: With the bang and illumination of fireworks at 12, people rejoice the announcement of New Year. People hold a worship ceremony and offer sacrifices to the heavenly Gods and ancestors. But rest assure, the Gods are all veterans so no one needs to sacrifice himself, just offer some fruits and food. Then, every Vietnamese family makes wishes and whispers fervent prayers for the future. Everyone wears new clothes and wish one another a good year.

Lucky money: All the elders present lucky money to the younger ones. Children receive a red envelope containing money after giving elders traditional greetings - welcoming wishes conveyed to all the near and dear ones.

Feast on New Year Day: The family offers of food on the altar table for the ancestors since they have returned to the living world. After the ceremony, all the members and close friends gather to enjoy the scrumptious meal. This is when promises are made for the upcoming year, and elders impart words of advice or wisdom to younger ones. (I'm sooo looking forward to this one from my family~ :3)

Fragrant scent of flowers embraced the young Liechtenstein as she step-by-step paced into the wild field behind her house. Lily closed her eyes for a moment. How peaceful and tranquil! It had been a while since she visited this serene place. Her fingers caressed fragile petals of the florets. Lily hummed a soft tune as she picked up the flowers, arranged them nicely into a beautiful inflorescence.

Gently placing the bouquet onto the table, Lily glanced again at the artistic invitation letter she had just received from Trang. There was a holiday called Lunar New Year at the Vietnamese’s home. Lily had never attended such event before, therefore she was utterly curious and eager to join. As she heard from Trang at the world meeting, Vietnam had a lot of exceptional traditions. This celebration must be really interesting.

Lily reached out her hands to tie up her blue ribbon. Everything seemed fine now. She started to make her way to Trang’s house. Since she was not sure about what was right to give the Vietnamese back for her invitation, Lily opted for bringing along some beautiful flowers. Hopefully it would be okay.

The route to Vietnam was so astonishing. Lily could not help staring at the exotic food, the bizarre plants, the odd animals she passed by. She made a mental note to ask Trang later about these peculiar things.

A gust of wind suddenly blowing by made Lily clutched onto her flowers. It was then that she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure ahead. Wasn't that ...? There could be no mistake about it. A slender figure with her distinct green Aodai!

"Trang!" She hurriedly ran after her. "Trang! Is that you? Wait for me!!"

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Let's start the Lunar New Year celebration >w<
-tosses confetti everywhere-
I want to make sticky rice cake~ :">

Nekolis chased one of his kittens about the room, slipper in its mouth. "Come back here! I need that!" he called after. He was already worried about being late. It was not often he got invited to such an event. To be honest he had never been invited to something like this and he wanted to look nice. He had washed and pressed his best shirt and pants for this and now he was getting them wrinkled chasing about the room.

He dove and caught the little black kitten,its golden eyes scared and shocked. "I'm sorry, I'll play with you when I get back I promise." he scolded gently, putting the retrieved shoe on.

Just before he left the house, he smoothed his hair and checked his pockets, a rosy blush tinging his cheeks. He was anxious, he was nervous, he was ready.

Fumbling in his pocket he found the lovely invitation. As he shut the door his eyes went wide. "OH!" he came back in quickly, grabbing his bouquet of carefully tended flowers and small cat shaped trinket. It wasn't much but he hoped she'd like it.

Sure he had everything he needed he made his way to the Trang's house.

Trang halted immediately before one of her foot touched the ground. Carefully placing it back next to the other one, she squinted at the small almost-stepped-on figure. A peach blossom was lying in front of her, its delicate petals shivering in wind. Oh dear, how absent-minded of me! Trang squeezed her eyes shut and shook head several times then opened them again. This is definitely not the time to be daydreaming!

The Vietnamese took a deep breath. Her eyes followed a random cluster of shoppers roaming the streets. Everyone was in a rush to buy things and stock up on traditional delicacies. The vibrant atmosphere of Lunar New Year never failed to lighten up her spirit. After all, it was an occasion for starting afresh in a positive way!

Crouching down on the pavement, she gently picked up the frail flower. It must have fallen off one of the peach trees sold along the street... Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew by, tangling her hair up. Trang paused, waiting for the wind to settle down. When she looked up after the mild blast, a magnificent scene left the nation in awe. Hundreds of flowers departed from their branches, bowing to the breath of the brisk breeze. They were scattered around in all directions like rain coming down every now and then. The air became fragrant with the scent of flowers in full blossom.

Suddenly, Trang heard someone calling her name. The nation looked around to check if it was from someone she knew. Then, she caught sight of a familiar figure. Stroking her tangled hair softly, she stood up.

"Lily?"

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O.O When did it get so long? O.o

xD Be patient Lily~ You'll be making it irl soon anyway lol

There she was! Lily breathed heavily as she finally caught up with the Vietnamese. However, little did she notice that the street was very slippery due to the earlier rain. As a consequence of running too fast, she lost her balance and almost fell flat on the floor ... if a young man passing by had not happened to react fast enough to hold her back. A wild blush spread across her face as she gratefully thanked the man. Gott how could she be that unmindful? How embarrassing!!!!!

She turned back to Trang, who was staring at her in shock. Oh no, what will Trang think of me now? How clumsy I am!?
"Um, that guy is so nice. He saved me back then..." Lily fidgeted as she gave the bouquet in her hands out to cover her bashfulness. "These are some flowers from my place. I do not know what I should give you for this Lunar New Year celebration. I hope it's okay."

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EwE

Kiku felt almost...odd...being invited to Trang's Lunar New Year celebration. He'd already done all of his own New Year things - he'd stopped using the Lunar calendar over a hundred years ago. He knew he wouldn't be the only one who had their new year already - some Westerners had been invited as well - but grouping himself with those made him feel...less...Asian...or something, which led to the odd feeling.

He used to use the Lunar Year, he used to...

It was so warm here, too. Hot, even. Even though it was winter. Some of his southern islands were decently warm, even now, but not like this.

It threw him even more off balance. Not by much, but it was in addition to this oddness he felt.

He supposed he would just go along with things. This would be Trang's celebration after all, not his. Just remember what not to do and you'll be fine.

He took in a breath and walked along, carrying some of his things and a few presents.

He must think positively. He shouldn't bring any negative energy to Trang's New Year. Yosh.

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I thought it might be okay to post? I talked to Trang in the chatbox about order...I hope this is okay.

I also hope the post is okay...

Trang's place was so far away from his tiny island. He tried his best to get there without getting lost. He did not succeed. He tried so hard to get there and now he was late. "Oh dear"

As he arrived he saw all the beauty and splendor of this place, everything was so different, so strange, he couldn't help but smile. He was here, he would experience something new and great today. He would be among friends.

In the distance, he saw Trang greet Lily. So that is where they are meeting. He rushed to meet them when he tripped. "NO" he yelped getting himself back together. He looked for them again, but they were gone, disappeared into the crowd.

'I'll just meet them back at the house.' he thought quietly to himself. Getting himself together he made his way to her house. He knocked on the door but found no one. "I.....the right day?" he wondered aloud.

Oh my, it really is her! Lily's presence at her house gave Trang a pleasant surprise. Her eyes widened at the sight of the tender young girl running towards where she stood. A sincere bright smile lit up her face as the thought of spending Lunar New Year with a lovely friend filled the Vietnamese with delight.

Trang walked slowly toward her friend. She was about to wave hello to the younger nation when Lily abruptly slipped over on the wet pavement. Trang gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. The nation was astounded so much she froze on the spot!

Luckily, a man passing by had caught Lily back. Trang bit her lower lip slightly while running towards her friend. From the look of it, the Liechtensteinerin seemed unhurt. Cảm ơn trời! Placing a hand on her chest, she let out a small sigh of relief. No one would ever want others to get hurt while staying in his or her house, and so does the Vietnamese. She smiled encouragingly at Lily and slowed down her speed, hands holding onto the strap of her shopping bag.

Despite having notice the bouquet a little while ago, she was still overwhelmed by gratefulness and surprise when Lily gave it to her. Trang blinked at her for a while, and then gently received the dainty flowers with both hands.

"T-Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Lily." - Smiling brightly to the younger, Trang said in a clear tone - "These flowers are truly lovely! I'll put them in a vase when I get home."

She bent her head down slightly to smell the flowers. A sweet delicate fragrance from the exotic bouquet captivated her instantly and Trang thought she could smell the crisp air of the Alpine country. After gazing at the flowers for a bit more, she looked up with a mild blush and spoke to her friend rather timidly.

"Um... Lily, actually I am going to the market to buy some things. Do you want to join me or you would rather come to my house first?"

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>///o///<
"Cảm ơn trời" is the same as "Thank God" :'D
Google Translate: Thanks heavens (literal meaning xD)

It wasn't many times that Ivan ended up being invited to any kind of celebration, by any other nation besides Yao. He wondered many time why did everyone kept avoiding him still, or maybe they were too busy to remember to invite him. Maybe that was it, who wouldn't love Ivan? Right? But this time he was invited to a big and cute celebration among the asians. It seemed pretty nice to attend too, he did like parties and celebrations after all, and of course he was expecting some vodka there.

The Russian was excited, he couldn't even remember the last time he was invited to such an event, he was sure it would be a pretty nice place, warm specially, considering how Vietnam was a much more warmer place then Russia, not to mention how he would be joining himself with other nations! He couldn't help but smile the whole time.

He walked inside Yao's house with a bunch of flower on his hands. A gift for his lover, which he loved to pamper so much once in a while. Handing the flowers to him, Ivan then sat on Yao's couch, on the living room, waiting for him to get ready. He just knew the asian would be stunning the moment he would walk off his room.

The Liechtenstein tried to take a deep breath and let out a smile, trying to mask her discomposure. Gosh it was way too embarrassing. Fortunately, Trang seemed not to notice much of that later. Lily let out a small sigh of relief. She certainly did not want her clumsy bashfulness to ruin her friend's holiday, did she?

"I was so worried, I didn't know whether it fitted the situation or not." She intertwined her fingers together nervously. Gott why was she still acting awkwardly? What was wrong with her today?

As Trang gently took the bouquet and enjoyed its fragrance, Lily finally struggled to get hold of herself. And, her genial smile eventually returned.

"Oh... do you mind if I come with you?" She quickly clasped Trang's arm enthusiastically. "I am also really impressed by those exotic things I came across earlier on my way here. So strange yet so beautiful. You have to explain to me what those are Trang."

Pausing hesitantly for a second, Lily looked up to the Vietnamese and spoke softly. "And ... maybe you can tell me more about this Lunar New Year thing? I... honestly I did not know much about it." She fidgeted as she blurted it out. "I am a bit baffled."

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ene ..... -hides forever-
please dont hate me ....