Celebrating traditional Tet is a condition to preserve the quintessence of national culture.

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Mr. Ho Manh Ha - Deputy Head of Cultural Heritage Management Department (Department of Culture - Sports) about the traditional New Year customs of the nation.

-Sir, Lunar New Year is very sacred to Asians with many good traditional customs. What do you think about Vietnamese Tet and what makes the difference between Vietnamese Tet and Tet of other peoples in the world?

- Tet is a long-standing ritual of East Asians and it is associated with the economic life of wet rice farming. In some Asian countries, in addition to countries that celebrate Tet on the same lunar day as Vietnam such as China, Singapore, Korea, Japan, some other countries also have their own traditional Tet. Although different in time and way of celebrating the New Year, the rituals and customs of welcoming the New Year all have in common the wish for a lucky, happy, and prosperous new year.

Traditional New Year's Day. Illustration: Internet

For Vietnamese people, the Lunar New Year (Tet Ca or Tet Ta, Tet Co Truyen, Tet Luan Lich) is not simply a concept of the moment of intersection between heaven and earth, all things, but also a communication between humans and gods. Tet is also the only occasion in a year when the whole family, ancestors and household gods gather together. Every time Tet comes, children, siblings, relatives, no matter where they work, all wish to return home to celebrate Tet with their families. The characteristic of Tet for Vietnamese people is a great reunion with a very high sense of community. The sense of community is also especially expressed through beautiful customs such as: giving lucky money to children, the elderly, visiting relatives, neighbors, relatives, going to the temple to worship Buddha...

For me, when I was young, I understood that Tet was something very sacred. Not only me, but all children eagerly waited for Tet to have their parents buy them a shirt, a pair of pants or a pair of sandals; to return to their hometown to celebrate Tet, visit their grandparents, and receive lucky money gifts from adults. Nowadays, material life has developed, but for me personally, Tet may have changed a little to suit contemporary life, but the nature, cultural values, concepts, and customs of the traditional Tet of the Vietnamese people have not changed much.

- In the past, Vietnamese people celebrated Tet and enjoyed Spring with activities such as participating in folk games: wrestling, throwing balls, swinging, rowing boats, etc. Nowadays, these activities are in danger of fading away. What do you think is the cause? How can we restore the old cultural spaces to further connect the village spirit and community cultural exchange?

- In the past, Tet was often associated with festive activities and entertainment. To prepare for the traditional Tet holiday, in addition to decorating the house and the family altar, at community places such as pagodas, temples, communal houses, shrines, and open spaces in the village, people cleaned them and organized entertainment activities for the people during Tet.

Currently, those activities are facing the risk of fading away and disappearing. There are many objective and subjective reasons such as: Economic life develops, modern means of entertainment are widely imported, so people, especially the young generation, are gradually taking the traditional New Year lightly, moving away from folk games to technological pleasures. Besides, we also have to admit the fact that the work of propagating and promoting national cultural values ​​to people to raise awareness and turn towards our national roots is limited.

Organizing Chung cake wrapping for poor households during Tet - illustration photo

In my opinion, in order for people not to turn their backs on and be indifferent to traditional Tet holidays and national and communal entertainment activities during Tet, it is necessary to widely propagate and educate the community so that people are aware that preserving and promoting the values ​​of traditional Tet holidays is also preserving the cultural quintessence of the nation.

In addition, local authorities need to pay more attention to creating playgrounds, prioritizing the restoration of traditional folk games of the nation through a number of competitions and talent shows accompanied by introductions so that people, especially the younger generation, can understand and access folk games more naturally and easily. And an equally important thing is the participation of the whole community in preserving national cultural heritage.

- There was a survey about Tet among young people today. There are many things that young people are interested in during Tet such as organizing New Year's Eve parties, traveling... Should we support that?

- I see that young people today are also interested in the traditional Tet holiday, however, the trend of the younger generation is more inclined towards personal enjoyment. When Tet comes, instead of going home to celebrate Tet with family and visit relatives, they often take advantage of that time off for other activities such as traveling and picnicking, paying less attention to the traditional rituals of the nation during Tet.

In my opinion, we need to sympathize and share with young people in their concept of behavior on traditional Tet holiday today, in the context of society with more and more pressure from work, life needs, etc. Besides, we need to have policies, propaganda, and orientation to help young people to be able to integrate with modern life but not lose the good traditional cultural values ​​that have been preserved for thousands of years about traditional Tet. That is also a way to sustainably preserve traditional values ​​of the nation in the current context.

- Thank you for the chat!

Song Hoang

(Perform)