Tet then and now
(Baonghean) -For Vietnamese people, Tet Nguyen Dan is the biggest traditional Tet for thousands of years. Through many different periods, customs and concepts about Tet have changed, but for every Vietnamese, Tet still carries a strong spiritual meaning, warm family reunion.
In the past, Tet was the day of the most joyful and jubilant festivals, the most anticipated and the longest lasting. People considered Tet as "eating Tet". The best, the most delicious, the most beautiful things were reserved for Tet. No matter how poor, "on the 30th of Tet, meat was hung in the house" and of course, a tray of offerings for New Year's Eve, ancestral worship, and welcoming grandparents to celebrate Tet with their children and grandchildren.
Nowadays, Tet has changed a lot: People no longer talk about "eating Tet" but instead use the phrase "taking Tet holiday". Life has become so full that the thought of going to Tet to eat delicious food and wear nice clothes is no longer in mind. In daily life, there are nutritious meals, with enough meat, fish, vegetables to eat all year round. The modern pace of life draws people into work, so now people look forward to Tet just to rest, visit or travel, enjoy beautiful scenery here and there... However, the traditional beauty of the emotional life and thoughts of Vietnamese people in the past and today every time Tet comes remains unchanged.
The atmosphere of Tet begins on the 23rd of December, which is the Tet holiday for Ong Cong and Ong Tao. On this day, families spend time going to the market to buy hats, paper clothes and carp for Ong Cong and Ong Tao to pass through Vu Mon to meet the Jade Emperor. And also starting from the 23rd of December, every family is busy shopping for Tet, cleaning the house and preparing everything to welcome Tet. This Tet, worries have been greatly reduced. Perhaps the biggest worry is just earning money to spend on Tet. There are no more scenes of saving to raise pigs and chickens, nor painstakingly wrapping cakes and pounding ham. If you don't want to jostle at the market or wait in long lines at the supermarket to enjoy the "Tet atmosphere", you just need to pick up the phone and have a decent Tet at home. Even new brides don't have to worry about their mother-in-law trying to make chicken or sticky rice for the New Year's Eve offering because everything can be pre-ordered. Mother and daughter no longer have time to look for jams, just a walk around the supermarket is enough, from traditional jams to American chestnuts, Danish butter cookies. In the integration era, Tet is also global when French wine, British whisky with German sausages, Russian salad, Thai shrimp chips served with Australian beef. Fatty meat is completely absent in the era of obesity and fatty blood being modern diseases. Banh chung, gio, cha, and pickled onions have become things that lack the flavor of Tet if not bought, but when served, few people touch the chopsticks. Therefore, on the ancestral altar of every family, there are full of banh chung, banh tet, fruit trays, incense, and flowers. After the New Year's Eve offering, the homeowner prays to the gods in charge of the house to ask for permission for the ancestors to come home to celebrate Tet. After the offering is finished, Tet is considered to have truly come to the family. The customs of picking lucky branches, visiting the first house of the year, going to the Tet market, celebrating longevity, New Year wishes, giving lucky money at the beginning of the year... are beautiful customs that are still maintained today.
In the past, Tet was a time for reunion, only the “unlucky” people had to go abroad on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s morning. Today, Tet, trains and buses are still bustling the days before and after Tet, still a horror for students studying far from home and those who work far away all year and only return home on the eve of Tet. But this Tet is also bustling with long trips of well-off people who want to explore new lands, of people who are too tired all year, avoiding Tet to relax their souls and the rhythm of life. The concept of “being away from home” no longer carries sadness but has more interesting nuances of experience. Tet, both past and present, is happy or sad, in each person’s perspective, in the way old and young feel, no one is the same.
Over time, the concept of Tet in the past and present has changed, but for every Vietnamese person, Tet is a wish for everything to be a new beginning, to shake off the bad and ugly things of the past year. Therefore, at the beginning of the new year, everyone is happy, full of hope for a happy and prosperous future.
Peace
