How did Vietnamese people celebrate Tet Nguyen Tieu in the past?

Tet Nguyen Tieu is the 15th day of the first lunar month, also known as Tet Thuong Nguyen, which means the first full moon night of the new year. For every Vietnamese person, Tet Nguyen Tieu is a very important holiday that cannot be missed in the first days of the year. That is why there is a proverb: "Offerings all year round are not as good as the full moon of January".

There is also a legend that the Lantern Festival originated from farming in the folk. Before and after the 15th day of the first lunar month every year, the plowing and harrowing work of the winter-spring crop will begin, farmers everywhere will urgently prepare for farming work, and on the evening of the 15th day of the first lunar month, they will go to the fields to burn trees, grass, and dry leaves to kill insects.

There is also an opinion that the Full Moon of January originated from Buddhist activities, on this day monks gathered in large numbers to listen to Buddha preaching. Buddhists use this day to remember Buddha...

For Vietnamese people, after a year of hard work, people reward themselves with a short time to rest and enjoy spring. Tet Nguyen Tieu marks the end of the month of "playing around" to start working for a new year.

Dragon dance to celebrate Lantern Festival. Photo: Trang Duong - VNA

For the Vietnamese, Tet Nguyen Tieu is also a catalyst, a moment that creates endless poetic inspiration. On this occasion, the kings have the custom of using Tet Nguyen Tieu as an occasion to summon the Trạng Nguyên and those who have achieved high results in the country to the capital to meet and hold a banquet in the Thuong Uyen garden. Here, the Trạngs together admire the flowers and the moon, compose poems, respond to parallel sentences, play the flute and the lute, and praise nature and the dynasty. Therefore, later people called it Tet Trang Nguyen; a holiday dedicated to honoring learning.

During the Ly - Tran dynasties, our country's royal court held the Trang Nguyen Festival; especially under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, the Trang Nguyen Festival was solemnly held in the capital Thang Long, throughout the palace and the streets, there were jubilant singing and dancing, and brilliant flags and flowers were decorated.

In the past, at the family temples, the family heads and clan heads often summoned highly educated, knowledgeable, talented and virtuous young men to read a report on their achievements in a year of activities to their ancestors.

Through this, they can see the prosperity of the family and educate the younger generations in the best way. After that, the elders organize moon-viewing, poetry reading competitions or play cards. After this day, they often put away or burn these games to urge their children and grandchildren to start a new year of hard work and passing exams.

Hoi An Lantern Festival is held annually on the occasion of the Lantern Festival. Photo: Internet

For the common people, on the occasion of the Lantern Festival, many places often hold village festivals, with many types of folk activities, organizing flower lantern lighting ceremonies, boat racing, wrestling, dancing, singing, and offering flower lanterns...

Since ancient times, there have been many writers and poets who loved the moon such as Man Giac Zen Master, Tran Nhan Tong, Nguyen Trai, Le Thanh Tong, Nguyen Du, Cao Ba Quat... who wrote many good poems about Nguyen Tieu.

In modern times, in the spring of Mau Ty, 1948, in the mountains and forests of the Viet Bac resistance base, poet Ho Chi Minh, although very busy with military and national affairs, but before the spring moon was full of poetic inspiration, leading the flow like surging waves, he wrote the poem Nguyen Tieu in Chinese characters: Tonight the full moon is shining/ Spring river spring water connects spring sky/ Deep in the quiet waves, talking about military affairs/ Half night returning home, the moon fills the boat.

This is one of the best poems of Vietnamese poetry about the spring moon. From the deep emotions through the poem Nguyen Tieu by poet Ho Chi Minh, it has aroused poetic emotions rich in humanistic philosophy of a country with a thousand years of civilization "many heroes, many artists". And since 2003, the full moon of January is also Vietnam Poetry Day.

Nowadays, Tet Nguyen Tieu has become a traditional cultural activity of the Vietnamese people, imbued with humanity in both urban and rural areas. Everywhere people hang lanterns, decorate with flowers, recite poems, discuss poems, or visit temples and pagodas, worship Buddha to pray for family peace, good weather, and national prosperity and people's well-being.

According to Thethaovanhoa.vn