Tet holidays are the time that all family’s members get together.
Driving to the countryside on these days, we could feel the boisterousness in every household. Despite of a complete life, people here still maintained the tradition of wrapping sticky rice cakes to worship the ancestors and educate their descendants on Vietnamese tradition and culture. According to us, this year people celebrated the Lunar New Year sparingly, instead of overabundant buying of foodstuffs.
Generally every Vietnamese household gets together and extends Tet greetings to their grandparents on the first days of New Year. Descendants are given red envelops by their grandparents, relatives to congratulate them on advancing in years. Mature offspring also express thankfulness to their parents for giving birth and bringing up through red envelops. Besides, every household has a particular welcoming of Tet. This was the first time, when Mr. Tran Van Lon living at Hoa Loi commune of Ben Cat district prepared a “spring plant” for picking buds. 23 red envelops were suspended from a bright yellow apricot blossom and then were picked by his descendants. No matter how much the money from red envelops was, those were buds wishing offspring a lucky new year from parents.
Additionally people arranged picnics for their families. Because of long holidays, people preferred long distance trips such as Nha Trang, Da Lat or foreign travels. Meanwhile, large families chose tours of Vung Tau, Ho Coc …, which were popular for many people, when we presented at Vung Tau on the sixth day of Lunar New Year. They had an economical tendency to exploit remaining foods like rice cakes, girdle cakes, watermelon etc. After hours of bathing, they gathered to eat delicious fish hot pots.
Goodbye springtime, yesterday – the ninth day on Lunar New Year – everyone started their first working day of a new year. Because of long days off, we are still affected by Tet, therefore, we have to discipline ourselves to ensure a good effectiveness of work or study.
Reported by H.Thai – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
