Bringing Tet to the South

(Baonghean.vn) - For those working in the mountainous areas, each time they return home for Tet is truly a great joy. The gifts they bring home for their families are not expensive or luxurious things, but are just simple dishes of the mountainous region that they make themselves. Tet for them therefore becomes warm and full of love.

In the last days of the year, in the highlands such as Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong, everyone is excited to return home for Tet. Everyone tries to find "Tet gifts" to bring back to the lowlands. For those working in the mountains, the journey home to welcome Spring becomes unusually bustling.

"Tet gifts" are simply bunches of vegetables grown by oneself or bought from local people, a few bundles of dong leaves, a few kilos of ginger, a few kilos of taro, dried bamboo shoots... These are all gifts with spiritual meaning after many days of hard work preparing for the trip home for Tet.

Vegetable beds grown by teachers of Nam Can Secondary School (Ky Son) to bring home for Tet.

We met Mr. Nguyen Cong Danh - Principal of Nam Tip Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities in Muong Xen Town (Ky Son) when he was on his way home for Tet. The back of his motorbike was loaded with vegetables, kohlrabi, cabbage, taro, sticky rice... At first glance, we thought he was a merchant who went to "buy goods". Mr. Danh said that he has been working in the mountainous district of Ky Son for more than 20 years, but he has never had to leave his family at home without "clean" food from the mountains and forests during Tet.

Other teachers followed his example and prepared similar foods to bring back to their hometowns for Tet. “There were many years when I even prepared black pigs and black chickens to bring back. I could eat those things with peace of mind, they were delicious, and they were much cheaper than in my hometown,” added Mr. Danh.

Vegetables are packed to be sent downstream.

Not only civil servants who have worked there for many years but also those who have just set foot in this remote area bring back the specialties of the mountains and forests on their way home for Tet. Ms. Dang Thi Quynh - a school service staff in Nam Can commune (Ky Son) also hurriedly gathered vegetables, tubers and fruits to return to the lowlands.

Quynh confided: “Although I have only been working for a few months and my salary is not much, I still want to prepare Tet items for my family. I went all the way to distant villages to buy these things. The things I brought back were just bundles of dong leaves, taro, mustard greens, pineapple, squash, etc. It was not much, but it was my heart, a little bit of sharing when I returned to my family and parents.

The bus back to town

On the roads of the highland villages, when the Lunar New Year holiday is scheduled, people from the lowlands eagerly search for Tet goods. Trucks loaded with vegetables, chickens, and pigs are truly a joy for them.

Dao Tho