Deer

“Tet, Tet, Tet, Tet is here, Tet is in everyone’s heart”; “Spring, spring, spring has come, the sound of New Year’s Eve fireworks welcomes spring...”. Yes, Spring has come! The loudspeaker at the end of the alley began to play that familiar melody. The children eagerly counted down the time. Rolls of dong leaves were hurriedly flowing along the carts to all directions. And when the tiny drops of rain were as light as a breeze, the old, bare branches began to sprout buds.

I have a habit and hobby of going to the peach market on Tet. Next to the branches of "stone peach", "Vietnamese peach" or "Nhat Tan peach" are amateur "traders". In the afternoon, after walking along the invitations, I stopped next to a girl with the greenest branch in the market, "Buy peaches, uncle, buy some, this branch has a lot of buds". I asked jokingly: "What are buds, my child?" - "Bonus is planting this branch, uncle", the girl said while pointing to the young, sharp buds that had just sprouted on each branch tip. "What are buds for, my child?", I continued to ask. The girl selling peaches smiled innocently and explained: "Bonus is a new shoot. To live is to have buds. If you have buds at the beginning of the year, you will have buds all year long, and if you have buds all year long, you will be... happy". "Why are you digging peaches, my child?" - "Peaches from Nghi Loc garden, uncle". "Really Nghi Loc, you have buds, why are you still doubting?", I joked. The little girl was not to be outdone: “Then you can buy the Loc portion for Nghi to take home.” After a few minutes of cute banter, I decided to choose the “Nghi Loc garden peach” branch for this spring with the “slogan” of the little peach seller: “To live is to have fortune.”

Buds are new buds, that's right, they are the beginning of a promising future. Buds are the obvious, poetic and easily recognizable indicator of Spring. They are like the most romantic clock that nature uses to announce the arrival of Spring. "Oh my dear, spring has come to the branches and leaves". Countless works of music, literature, painting and photography are moved by this magical and magnificent natural phenomenon. A young bud on a branch is like an affirmed achievement, a confirmed promise and a hope born.

In addition, "loc" also has another interesting meaning. To put it simply, "loc" is an unexpected "extra income" that brings joy to the recipient. At first, it seems that the word "loc" was mainly used in the case of rewards when someone made a great contribution (For example, the king could give "loc dien" (field) to a general, for example). But then the word "loc" is sometimes understood and used by people in a mundane, pragmatic, and even negative way. For example, all the extra income of people in power is called "loc". In the past, officials receiving bribes from the people was also called "loc", today "commissions" or "kickbacks" are also called "loc". Almost all unofficial incomes that come from the invisible value of power are called "loc". In addition to tangible blessings such as money, watches, villas or simple blessings such as "shirts" or "liver tonics", blessings are also used in some very abstract and religious cases such as "holy blessings" "heavenly blessings"...

In the Three Deities (Happiness, Prosperity, Longevity), fortune stands in the central position, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Without “fortune”, “fortune” and “longevity” would be more precarious. Fortune enters social life as an obvious religious need. At the beginning of the year, people pick a branch of spring fortune to keep in the house for luck. When meeting on Tet, everyone will wish for fortune, sometimes it is transformed and humorously made like “Money comes in like the Da River/ Money goes out little by little like filter coffee”. Nowadays, in most large stores, there is an altar placed right on the floor, surrounded by many offerings surrounding the statue of the “God of Wealth”, that is to pray for fortune. “Fortune” is a need, a desire and a legitimate motivation for people to freely dream, freely create and freely dedicate. With a lot of “fortune”, life will be prosperous, everyone, every family and if viewed more broadly, the homeland and country will prosper and move forward. With luck, not only material life but also spiritual life will be improved. Praying for luck is a beautiful belief that needs to be preserved.

However, as life develops, all human needs, habits and concepts also change. Nowadays, the word "fortune" is considered important, sometimes dominating and controlling even the inherently good relationships of people. When people consider fortune as everything, fortune as a savior to the point of going crazy with it, it is also the time when people become depraved and paranoid because of it. The act of praying for fortune at the beginning of Spring is profaned, transformed and distorted. For fortune, people stuff coins not only into the hands of the Arhats but also into the mouths of the sacred creatures in the most pure and sacred places. People crumple coins and throw them into the procession as alms, as a brutal bribe to the gods. Last year, netizens were dismayed to witness the scene of fortune snatching at a famous seal-opening ceremony. Dismayed not only because of the violent jostling, but also because among the panting and sweaty crowd were people wearing "Delegate Cards". Another “classic” robbery is the custom of robbing bamboo flowers at the Gióng Festival. According to the original, after the palanquin carrying the bamboo flower offering to the dragon yard at the Upper Temple, the villagers finished the ceremony and continued to carry it to the Trinh Temple. At the Trinh Temple, when the ceremony was over, the celebrant shouted “all the ceremony”, at which time the people of the villages and hamlets fought for the bamboo flower offering. Yet every year, the problem of robbing the bamboo flower offering still occurs in a wild way. They rush, they push, they shout in horror, especially they even use sticks and clubs to fight. The palanquin has not yet arrived at its destination, meaning the offering they stole has not yet been “certified”! No one has done statistics to find out how rich those who rushed to steal the offering will become after a year, but I believe that among them there will certainly not be famous billionaires like Pham Nhat Vuong or Nguyen Phuong Thao. I also believe that in the hands of Billgate or Mark Zuckerberg, there probably won’t be any “Bamboo Flower Offering” branch of the Gióng Festival.

It is pitiful for those who spend all day burning incense to "feed" a "number". It is funny for those who eat and then sit and interpret dreams to buy Vietlott. Ignorance and childishness like that, unfortunately, it is dragging many people into it. "Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Or pray as if you were to die tomorrow" (Benjamin Franklin - American politician and scientist). We do not live in America, but the basic values ​​of material and labor are no different on this planet. Wherever people are, they need "fortune" to live, but wherever they are, they have to sweat and use their intelligence to create it. Our ancestors have a saying "what comes from heaven, you return to earth", things that come from "heaven" will eventually return to earth, only the value of labor is forever eternal with time.

For me, buying a branch of “Nghi Loc peach blossom” in early Spring makes me feel excited, happy, and extremely eager. But whether it brings “luck” is still very doubtful!

Nguyen Khac An