Buying salt, a good custom at the beginning of the year

(Baonghean) - There is a folk saying "buy salt at the beginning of the year, buy lime at the end of the year" to talk about the customs and habits of Vietnamese people in the new year. Especially for fishermen in coastal areas, everyone believes that buying white salt at the beginning of the year will bring joy, health and peace for the whole year.

In the foot of the waves of Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu), the custom of "buying salt at the beginning of the year and lime at the end of the year" has become an indispensable traditional beauty of the people here. With the main occupation being going to sea, salt is stored all year round to supply ships that go out to sea for long days, salt is used to make fish sauce and shrimp paste, so it is never lacking in every family. However, after New Year's Eve, after respectfully offering incense sticks to the ancestral altar, the first thing the people here do is buy a bowl of white salt to pray for luck, fortune, favorable weather, calm seas and calm skies.

Buying salt at the beginning of the new year brings good luck all year round.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuat (Son Hai Commune - Quynh Luu) said: According to the ancients, salt drives away evil spirits and brings happiness to the family. The beauty of buying salt at the beginning of the year also means praying for the richness and consensus in the family, the closeness in the solidarity between people, and luck for the sea trips with full holds of silver fish. This beauty has become a deeply rooted belief in every child of the sea, helping people have more strength and confidence to carry out their plans, struggles, and efforts throughout the year.

That is also the common belief of the people of Son Hai coastal area in particular, Quynh Luu in general. Mr. Pham Trong Ha (85 years old), one of the experienced fishermen in the river area, still remembers clearly: After the New Year's Eve ceremony, my father brought a bowl of white salt to the fishing port, sprinkled it around the family boat, praying for a bountiful fishing season, calm seas and calm skies. According to the belief of the people of my hometown, on the first day of the new year, only men are allowed to get on the boat to show their strength to go out to sea, while women with weak legs and arms are not allowed to get on the boat. And that custom has followed my family for many generations. Now, when I am old and weak, my son performs that sacred task on my behalf.

Salt is sold right at the relics to serve people going to pagodas at the beginning of the year.

To have salt to supply to people at the beginning of the new year, salt-making families do not forget to save a certain amount of the whitest and most beautiful salt to sell for the New Year's offerings. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nha - a salt seller said: There are families who buy dozens of bowls of salt, not from one seller, but whenever they hear the call "Who wants salt, who wants salt", they buy more for luck and hope to bring joy to the salt seller at the beginning of the new year.

Salt grains not only help seafarers remember the memories of a difficult time at sea, when seafarers only ate rice with white salt and kept shrimp and fish to sell to earn money to support their lives, but white salt also symbolizes purity, always reminding brothers and friends to live together sincerely and affectionately. My close friend from Dien Bich (Dien Chau) has been away from home for a long time, every time he comes back for Tet he does not forget to buy a bowl of white salt at the beginning of the year to bring to Saigon. For him, this is not just to bring luck to himself and his family, but to remember a beautiful custom of the people in the coastal area: that is, every morning his whole family buys salt to pray for luck and it is this beauty that has created a family tradition and built a warm home of solidarity, sharing and love.

People of Kim Lien hamlet - Dien Kim - Dien Chau on the salt field.

Not only coastal people have the custom of "buying salt at the beginning of the year", but people in many places also do this in the new year. Ms. Nguyen Hong Ha in Trung Do ward (Vinh city) did not forget to buy a bowl of white salt at the beginning of the new year to pray for heaven and earth to bless her family with a prosperous and happy year. It is also from that concept that in pagodas and temples, salt is sold next to fruits, votive paper, incense lamps... buyers and sellers smile happily to wish each other a peaceful new year. Ms. Duong Thi Huong (block 3, Ha Huy Tap ward) said: Every year when she goes to the pagoda at the beginning of the year, she buys white salt and she does not forget to talk about the value and meaning of white salt so that her children and grandchildren will always live beautifully and well. "Buy salt at the beginning of the year, buy lime at the end of the year" also has the meaning of "buying salt at the beginning of the year". In addition to wishing for a favorable new year, parents also remind their children and grandchildren to be frugal and not to waste money in spending to save money to "buy lime at the end of the year" to build a new house.

The custom of "buying salt at the beginning of the year" has become an indispensable traditional beauty of coastal people in particular and Vietnamese people in general. Because of that beauty, we always preserve the very unique traditional cultural values ​​of "descendants of the Dragon and Fairy".

Thu Huong