Celebrating Tet

This past week we and several of our friends got to celebrate Tet. Tet is the Vietnamese New year! Tet is usually celebrated for a week and this year it is the year of the Ox. Tet is a time for family reunions, and for paying respect to ancestors and their elders. Gifts of food are made to friends, neighbors and relatives in the days before Tet. Another tradition preformed during Tet is for adults to give fancy red envelopes to children full of Li Xi or "lucky money," always in even denominations since odd numbers are considered bad luck. This year was our first year to celebrate Tet and we had planned on having a big party and having Vietnamese foods for friends to try but because it was my first week back at work that was too much. We were able to go to a performance at the University of Memphis for a Tet celebration.