Tet came into my my mind since I was 4 years old. A little girl was being around her grandmother when she prepared Tet’s things for the whole family of 10 people. I remember that I just wanted to help her to clean up and decorate our house, and cook Banh Chung (square shaped green sticky rice stuffed with fat porc, black pepper, green bean inside).
For us, Tet is the greatest festival in the year of the country and our family as well when all members of the family (grandparents, father, mother, brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts and nephews and nieces,...) gather to celebrate the New Year (New Spring) under the same roof. People staying away try to back home to catch up during the Tet.
Relatives and friends come to visit each others and give their greetings and good wishes.
Children like me always receive the “lucky money” (Tien Mung Tuoi or Li Xi) from adults in hoping that they will be well, happy and lucky all over the year (I like mostly this thing!!!)
I went out hand in hand with my grandmother in spring drizzle coldness, but felt warm and really excited as she had promissed to teach me to wrap banh Chung. It was grey and wet. People hurried off to cycle home with such hanging things as a big piece of porc meat, a plastic bag containing some packs of cigarettes, tee, candy, jam,... and flowers. We went to flower market to buy a branch of peach blossoms. She said that the peach blossoms branch in olden days was used as a charm as it could ward off evil spirits that prowled by night time. And we believe that we can rejoice our Tet under protection of these spring blossoms.
We have tradition to reserve foods for Tet holidays so we prepared fish and porc meat well cooked in fish sauce, pickled onions and vegetables.
In the evening, we was sitting beside Banh Chung cooking barrel and keeping the fire while talking about Tet stories. It was my happiniest time in the life.
To be continued...
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