An additional problem faced the Communists:completing the final concentrations without provoking an American bombardment. Ideally, the air attacks had to stop. So, at a diplomatic reception in Hanoi in late 1967, and elsewhere at other diplomatic posts, North Vietnamese officials gently hinted that if the American bombing ceased, North Vietnam "would participate in the peace talks. This was a change from the usual "may participate in the talks", a change that would certainly not go unnoticed in Washington.
When communist Romania, serving as a messenger, sent a representative in Hanoi in mid-January 1968, the United States offered to demonstrate its good faith by stopping the bombardments in the vicinity of Hanoi. It was certainly not the total stop desired by the North Vietnamese but, added to that which accompanied the usual ceasefire, it could be enough.
It was also necessary to use an additional stratagem:the North Vietnamese people had to be able to celebrate Tet themselves before the offensive precipitated the resumption of the bombardments. For that, it was enough to decree that the dates of the feasts were modified. Instead of starting the Lunar New Year celebration in North Vietnam on the “official” date of January 30, the Hanoi government decreed that it would start there a day earlier. As the celebrations always started on the eve of Tet, the North Vietnamese could celebrate the New Year for three days before their soldiers attacked the South - after the opening of the real Tet holiday, on January 31 before dawn. .