Don't overdo it.

(Baonghean) - This year's Tet holiday is earlier and longer because of the extra Saturday and Sunday right before the holiday. One might think that with such a long break, offices wouldn't be as sluggish and deserted as in previous years, but no, agencies and units are still eerily quiet in the first few days of the new year.

The work atmosphere is sluggish, but the festive spirit of Tet (Lunar New Year) is still very strong. It's strong in the more frequent handshakes than usual, and by the end of the morning, the workday is effectively over. Departments and offices flock to each other's homes or head to restaurants to... celebrate the New Year, which has been going on for a week now. This is a reality that occurs every year after the Lunar New Year. Not long ago, faced with the situation of civil servants loitering in restaurants and cafes during working hours, many localities organized inspection teams and mobilized the press with cameras to stake out restaurants and cafes to gather evidence for action. The campaign was very enthusiastic, but it only lasted a short time before everything went back to how it was before. The issue of wasting working time before and after Tet has been discussed and debated extensively, but then it gradually faded into an inexplicable silence from everyone, making the celebration of the New Year seem excessive.

The excessive celebration of Tet (Lunar New Year) is also evident in many other aspects of life today. The most obvious is festivals. Roughly speaking, our country has over three thousand large-scale festivals each year, and countless smaller village festivals. After the three days of Tet, drums beat and flags are unfurled. Everywhere, banners flutter, and old and new games are displayed, with people from all walks of life enthusiastically participating. The further you go, the more enjoyable and sacred it seems. Each festival opening ceremony must include a full complement of activities.Local leaders and representatives from various departments attended. Work came to a complete standstill.

As one festival ends, another begins, and it will likely not subside until at least the end of the third lunar month. And the third lunar month is April in the Gregorian calendar – almost half a year has passed! That's just considering the time and workload; the financial cost of these activities is probably equivalent to the entire annual budget of several provinces with relatively high incomes across the country. That money, if invested in production and business, would surely yield enormous profits. Perhaps that's why Japan, which also celebrated the Lunar New Year like us, later realized that Western countries celebrating the Gregorian New Year caused work to be disrupted for a few weeks because partners were still on holiday. Then, the Japanese themselves also took a one or two-week Lunar New Year holiday. So, each year, the holiday break on both sides alone disrupted production and business for an entire month.

It's so expensive and wasteful that people have decided to celebrate the Western New Year like Westerners to save time and money. Even wealthy people are so meticulous in their planning. And it's precisely because of this meticulous planning that they're wealthy. As for us, we're so carefree, and from ancient times to the present, we've never been a rich country. Perhaps it's time to seriously consider merging the two New Year celebrations into one to reduce waste of money and time. But before we can implement that, we should first restrain ourselves and not go overboard. This should start within government agencies to create a ripple effect throughout society. It should begin with the heads of agencies and units, spreading to civil servants and officials nationwide. Just like in a family: on the third and fourth days of the Lunar New Year, the father is already leading the cattle and plowing to the fields; how can the children dare to sit at home drinking, gambling, or playing games?

In short, one should not overdo anything, not just when celebrating Tet and enjoying the spring festivities.

Duy Huong