HANOI, Feb. 11 -- Things change with the times, but the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner, the last meal of the lunar year, remains the most important tradition among the Vietnamese people.

In an interview with Xinhua, Phan Thi Vang, a woman in her mid- sixties, said that families in Vietnam look forward to partake of the meal and worship their ancestors.

"The meal signals the beginning of celebration of the Lunar New Year (or Tet in Vietnamese language). It also gives family members the chance to gather to pray for their ancestors, talk about the past year's activities, including the difficulties encountered and plans for the incoming year," Vang said.

Nguyen Thi Dieu Anh, a middle-aged Hanoi resident, said that although some traditional practices have gradually disappeared because of the improvement of the people's economic status, the dishes served during the dinner on the eve of Tet have basically remained unchanged.

"Indispensable fares in a Tet dinner are fat meat, pickled onions, red couplet, and green Chung cake. Of course, the occasion would not be complete without the New Year pole or tree and a lot of firecrackers to drive away the bad spirits," Anh said.

Anh said that the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner is much anticipated by both adults and children because it would be time for them to partake of delicious dishes that they do not usually have during normal days.

Vang said that in North Vietnam, in the past, there were usually four bowls and four plates on the table during the Lunar New Year dinner. The four bowls would contain stewed pork leg with dry bamboo shoots, pork skin soup, vermicelli noodles and meat balls while the other four plates would have boiled chicken, pork, lean pork paste and roasted cinnamon pork paste.

In addition, other must-have items prepared in traditional way especially for the Tet holiday include green Chung cake (a square glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and fat pork), spring rolls, and pickled welsh onions.

Wang said that after all the food preparations are offered to the ancestors, they will be served to the family members. "In Vietnamese language, we have an old saying that goes: You may be hungry at the anniversary of your father's death but you must be full during three-day Tet holiday."

The belief being passed on from generation to generation among Vietnamese people is that Tet is a symbol of prosperity and success. Thus the food on the table will be displayed abundantly during the Tet holidays, most especially during the lunar New Year 's Eve dinner," said Vang.

In the past, preparations for the Tet festivals usually lasted for about a year since people have to raise a pig for its pork. At the last day of the lunar year, the pig would be slaughtered and the pork shared by the members of an extended family.

But Vang said that with the improvement in the people's income, Vietnamese housewives nowadays just buy food for the Tet celebration in shops and rarely prepare them at home as the process takes time and efforts.

Pham Thi Nhu Quynh, 29 year-old woman-resident of Hanoi, said that she now buys food from markets and malls to save time since she is busy with her work.

But despite the advances in society, the essence of a Tet feast remains almost the same, with presence of the Chung cake, boiled chicken, fried spring rolls, pickled welsh onions, among others, according to Quynh, she would try to keep the traditional cuisine for the Tet celebration and pass it over to her children.

Tet Nguyen Dan or Tet in short, which literally means the first morning of the first day in a lunar year, is the most important holiday in the Vietnamese culture.

The Tet holiday normally falls in late January and early February on the western calendar and officially lasts for the first three days of the New Year.

But in recent years the Tet holiday lasts longer, sometimes for up to a whole week or more as the two-day weekend before or right after Tet is included. This year's upcoming Tet -- the Year of the Sheep -- will last for a total of nine days, from Feb. 15 to 23.