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Tuesday 16 February 2010

Tet Celebrations, Saigon's Year of the Tiger

When I'm in Ho Chi Minh City during Tet I always make a point of going up to Nguyen Hue to take pictures on the first day of Lunar New Year. This year was the busiest yet as the traffic bears testament to.

Traffic on the day of Tet

The rest of town was incredibly quiet. Here are some pictures of what everyone wanted to take pictures of:

Tigers of course.
Entrance to Nguyen Hue Floral Display

Large and impressive tigers at the entrance to the floral display.


Debonair Tet Tiger, Saigon

Well hell-lo! A debonair tiger with a touch of the Lesley Phillips about it.

Traditional Tet Tiger Saigon

A more traditional Vietnamese tiger.

Tet Tiger with a touch of Disney

And a Disneyesque tiger to complete the set.

At Tet everyone's a photographer.
Tetographers, Year of the Tiger, Vietnam

There are flowers, tigers of course, calligraphers and family members to be captured.

Giant flowers made of flowers, Tet HCMC

Floral Display at Nguyen Hue, HCMC

Vietnamese Calligrapher, Tet 2010

Winner of the Cute Children at Tet competition

And when all that pales there's always practicing walking in your new shoes.

New Shoes for Tet, HCMC

Or talking your tiger for a walk through the streets of Saigon.

Tet Year of the Tiger Balloon, Vietnam

Chúc mừng năm mới.


2 comments:

lsutiger9904 said...

Very nice set of pictures!!! The Lion Dance is supposedly believed to scare away the bad/evil spirits, hence, bringing good luck and good fortune for the new year. In return, the homeowners/business owners (more common) will "li xì" the Lion.

Amasc said...

Thanks Ba, I really enjoyed taking these pictures. The Lion Dance was the first opportunity I'd had to see the full proceedings, generally I've caught segments of it ouside businesses. I was really lucky to have the full thing happening across the street.

Chúc mừng năm mới