Little Spring

(Baonghean) - When my family lived in a small house, every time we displayed peach blossoms on Tet holiday, the whole house was crowded. Dad, mom, and children had to hold their breath and suck in their stomachs when going in and out, what a pain! Later, when we built a new, spacious house, the living room was still cramped every Tet holiday. Also because the size of peach blossoms gradually increases every year...

For Northerners, peach blossoms are indispensable when Tet comes and Spring comes. That is why, in the subconscious of Vietnamese people living abroad, they always long for a light pink color. In the winter in a strange land, when you see the rosy cheeks of any black-haired, yellow-skinned girl passing by, you are startled and think you are seeing the color of peach blossoms of the past. There is Nhat Tan peach blossom - dark pink color, Vietnamese peach blossom - light pink color, and also Lao peach blossom - large trunk, ancient "moldy" pattern, just looking at it, you can tell it comes from the deep mountains and forests. Each family has their own hobby of "playing" with peach blossoms, but in general, almost everyone prefers size. That is, the bigger, the more branches, the more... space-consuming, the better! Of course, from one aspect, the bigger the peach blossoms, the more open and generous the canopy, the better than a small peach blossom. However, not everything beautiful is good, especially when that beauty cannot find a suitable position for it.

Last year I didn't come home for Tet, I could only call and video chat with family and friends. Then I called a friend, for some reason I only saw... a tuft of hair, the rest was just a peach blossom branch. When I wondered, he said: "The huge peach blossom branch takes up the whole living room, sitting like this is a bit tiring, but I'll sacrifice a little so you can enjoy the peach blossoms on Tet, so you won't miss it!". When I asked, I found out that his father searched everywhere to find a satisfactory branch, which according to him was "beautiful in shape, in accordance with feng shui", and "showed the family's status". I don't know if his family was able to prosper last year thanks to that "beautiful" peach blossom branch, I only know that this year his mother insisted on not letting him buy peach blossoms, only displaying a small, pretty apricot tree, because "looking at that "dinosaur" peach blossom branch, no guest would want to come in and sit and play, but it's feng shui and shui".

Actually, I sympathize with the common mentality that Tet only comes once a year, wanting to display the most beautiful and prosperous things to bring good luck for a new year of good things. But too much of anything is not good, especially when that "too much" goes beyond one's needs and conditions, even causing trouble and inconvenience. Not only the display of peach blossoms for Tet, eating, drinking, playing, and shopping for Tet gifts are also often wasteful. Not only is wasting money, but also time, health, and sometimes social relationships and family happiness are also lost!

I vaguely remember one year when I went to Hanoi just before Tet, from inside the house to the street vendors, everywhere I saw grafted peach branches. The pink color dotted the sky and earth, making people feel warm and satisfied, breathing in the gentle spring air, delicately penetrating every corner of the streets. To see that what makes Tet beautiful is not the quantity or size, but the soul, the ancient atmosphere but very real, very close, very rustic. As if wrapping the quintessence of heaven and earth and the vitality of creation into a dong leaf, a glutinous rice grain, a bean. Wrapping a small spring in a peach blossom.

Hai Trieu