The rare photos of Hanoi's Tet in 1920.

According to Vietnamese legend, once upon a time, in the East of the Soc Son Mountain (nowadays part of Hanoi), existed a gigantic peach tree. The tree was so huge that its shadow extended through out a large area of land. Up on the tree, lived two powerful deities, Tra and Uat Luy. They protected the people of the land in the surrounding areas from the devils.

The devils were so afraid of these two deities that even the sight of the peach tree haunted them. However, at the end of every lunar year, these two deities had to fly back to heaven for an annual meeting with the Jade Emperor. During this time, the devils took advantage of this opportunity to harass the innocent inhabitants.

To fight the battle against these devils, people came up with the ideas of displaying a branch of the peach tree in the house to scare them away. Since then, it has become a custom of the North Vietnamese to have a branch of a peach tree during Tet season to protect themselves from the Satan soldiers. Those who do not have peach tree can pain the figures of the two deities, Tra and Uat Luy, on red paper, and display them in front of the house.