Yesterday was the start of Chinese New Year — It was also the the beginning of Tet in Vietnam. The Tet holiday (known as Set Nguyen Dan in Vietnam) starts on the beginning of a new year based on the Chinese lunar calendar. In most of Vietnam, Lunar New Year celebrations last at least three days.
Many Americans hadn’t even heard of Tet prior to the Vietnamese War. Tet, the celebration of the lunar new year, is the most important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar. During the earlier years of the War in Vietnam the holiday had been the occasion for an informal truce between South and North Vietnam.
But in early 1968 the North Vietnamese military launched a coordinated offensive of surprise attacks — in the early morning of January 30, 1968, Viet Cong forces attacked 13 cities in central South Vietnam — just as many families began their observances of the lunar new year. The next day, Viet Cong forces struck other targets throughout South Vietnam, including cities, towns, government buildings and U.S. and/or ARVN military bases in more than 120 attacks. The attacks included a bold attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The assault on the Embassy, and its initial success, stunned American and international observers, who saw images of the carnage broadcast “live and in color” on TV. Even though the offensive inflicted heavy Viet Con causalities and it failed to create the intended widespread rebellion among the South Vietnamese, the Tet Offensive proved to be a strategic success for North Vietnam.
Today in Hồ Chí Minh City (previously Saigon) there will be a lot of loud celebrations held to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune for the new year… but it’ll be a lot quieter than it was in 1968.
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