Old Tet...

(Baonghean) -Many people have the same feeling that Tet now comes faster than Tet in the past. Actually, fast or slow is our perception, but the time of nature and the universe is not like that. In the past, raising chickens and pigs was also calculated by years, leading the seedlings down, weeding and fertilizing three times, until harvesting..., getting through the days between crops, time passed heavily, it was really long. People's movements and thoughts were also slow...

Nowadays, modern life, everything is "high speed, accelerated, intense". Plus every week there are two days off so time flies like a pinwheel. Usually, when we wait, it seems long; when we wait unintentionally or not at all, it feels fast.

Many people my age, every time Tet comes, often tell their children and grandchildren about their memories of Tet in the past. The children find it strange. They burst out laughing, and I laughed too. Laughing, I felt choked up and tears came to my eyes.

The scholar writes in spring

At that time, we eagerly awaited Tet, counting each day like a countdown clock. Tet was often very cold. Perhaps because of hunger and lack of clothing, it was even colder. Drizzle, cold wind, and muddy country roads were still bustling with the atmosphere of welcoming spring and enjoying Tet. When Tet came, no matter how poor we were, everyone wanted to have new clothes. Wow! We had to put on the new shirt with the fragrant smell of fabric on the first morning of the first day, and we wore it until the full moon day to wash it! Everyone was conscious of collecting and saving every penny and money from November and December to play marbles. On normal days, sometimes our mother did not go to the market for a whole month because there was nothing to sell, no money to buy, and the only food we ate was rice mixed with potatoes, tomato sauce, and pickled vegetables, but on Tet everyone had meat and fish. Poor as my family is, on the 30th at noon we still eat rice mixed with cassava, on the 3rd day of Tet we "return to square one", but at least the children can "let loose" at the New Year's Eve meal - the afternoon of the 30th, the noon of the 1st with sticky rice, cakes, meat, fish! The 30th afternoon meal has a strange impression. In the bustling, sacred atmosphere, the meal is very solemn!...

We were excited about the Tet atmosphere. It seemed that heaven and earth and people were in harmony, very sacred. Everyone was generous, happy, radiant, not brooding or difficult like usual days. From the second or fourth of December, we children had enough information about who in the neighborhood had gone far away and returned home to celebrate Tet. Back then, there were not as many people who went far away as now. When someone came home, they would immediately set off a string of firecrackers, it was like a signal for the children to rush over, we picked up the firecrackers, but if they were empty, we would wait for some candies! The colored cellophane wrapping the candies was carefully kept by us to make handicrafts, to make eyeglasses! We did not distinguish between officials, nobles and humbles, we only knew that they were all from our village, friendly and close...

Talking about the old Tet is talking about the custom of butchering pigs. At that time, there were no pigs as big as today. Raising them all year round only yielded 40 or 50 kilos, but the meat was delicious and healthy, unlike now. At the beginning of December, every seven or eight families would get together to butcher one pig. Whoever had a pig was often given priority by the elders for the bladder and tail. No one made any rules, but it was almost an "unwritten rule", no one should divide or fight for it! The elders calculated with each other very specifically and meticulously. Each part, from the heart to the tiny ear, was divided equally. There was also a "firewood" cost for the homeowner. Any "open" association also had a "knife-head sacrifice" ceremony for the poor. The pig's bile was given to the elderly and prestigious people in the association. The elders explained that it helped to calm the stomach during Tet... The pot of offal was also divided clearly, they stirred it up to scoop it into pots and bowls for each family in a fair manner! My family has many children, all the meat, intestines, and bones are processed and stored carefully. Only the intestines are put into rice tubes, cooked into porridge, and eaten first by my mother. Pork is processed into many dishes, including soaking in fish sauce, soaking in molasses, or putting it in a salt pot to save until the 15th of the first lunar month... On the 29th and 30th of Tet, the whole neighborhood is bustling with the sound of pounding meat. The sound of molasses being pulled out, the fragrant smell of molasses wafts across the fields, hills, and fields, interspersed with the heart-wrenching sound of firecrackers...

The pot of banh chung and banh tet on Tet brings a cozy atmosphere, a nostalgic Tet atmosphere. Wrapping and cooking the cakes is an important task. My parents discussed and calculated very carefully: How many cakes to worship, where to worship, from the church, paternal and maternal sides, where to get sticky rice, what fillings... The youngest child or the weaker child is usually given the small, pretty cake, it is only the size of an adult's fist. My grandmother said the cake tastes best when cold. We often carry it with us, show it off to the whole neighborhood, and only eat it on the fifth or sixth day. Back then, everyone used to save, from candy, cakes... unlike now. Next to the pot of cakes, my parents often reminisced: "Thanks to the Party, thanks to Uncle Ho, our family is like this. Before, my parents had Tet without cakes, without rice. On the second day of Tet, they went to plow and plant rice to earn rice." Sitting next to the New Year's Eve dinner, my father often said: "I feel sorry for my grandfather, he is over 80 years old but has not had a single Tet that is truly Tet!"

During Tet, a ceasefire was ordered, and the whole village was lit up with torches and candles. After the New Year's Eve meal, we ran around the village, firing match guns and exploding firecrackers, stirring up the night. But around midnight, the whole group would go to a house with a radio to listen to Uncle Ho's New Year wishes. At that time, no one could whisper. If we talked, we would be scolded by an adult! Oh, how sacred it was!

Tet today is different from the past. The custom of butchering pork has become a thing of the past. Many families no longer pound pork sausage, wrap banh chung, banh tet, cook sticky rice with gac fruit, banh ong… Society is becoming more prosperous, progressive, and modern. Yet I feel sorry for the young generation today who cannot have Tet like the old days that we witnessed: poor, expectant, calculating, cozy, and strangely sacred.

Mr. Dang