“It’s 20 coins, just take one to eat,” I clicked my tongue and took a Tet cake. When I was in Vietnam, I wasn’t interested in banh chung or sticky rice, and sometimes during Tet I didn’t touch a single piece of cake. Yet there are also cold winter days here, I suddenly feel the scent of sticky rice mixed with the faint scent of fragrant dong leaves.
My friends in Vietnam still ask, in America there probably isn’t Tet. Lunar New Year is not a traditional holiday, so life still goes on as normal, people still go to school and work. But perhaps like Vietnamese people, people see the strong vitality of the traditional Tet holiday. In a country that does not celebrate Lunar New Year, in Vietnamese markets, the joy of Tet still spreads with greetings and wishes.
Scholar Pham Quynh once said: “The Tale of Kieu is still alive, our language is still alive, our language is still alive, our country is still alive.” For me, Vietnamese is still there, Vietnamese people are still there, Vietnamese people are still there, Vietnamese Tet is still there. Deeply rooted in the minds of Vietnamese people, the traditional Tet holiday will never fade away. Tet is not just about a full tray of feasts or lavish material things, Tet is a sense of family, when people truly cherish the moments of togetherness and reunion.
The family is still there, Tet is still there.
I don’t have family here, I still have friends who celebrate Tet together. A week before Tet, Ly – a Vietnamese girl from the same university – sent a menu to prepare for Tet with the Vietnamese student association here, including Tet cakes, frozen meat, shredded chicken salad, and spring rolls. fried, braised meat with duck seeds… full of dishes that converge the three regions of North – Central – South. Halfway around the world from Vietnam, looking at familiar dishes like my mother often cooks, I feel warm in the middle of a white snowy day.
If you ask me what is the most “Vietnamese”, perhaps the answer is the traditional Tet holiday. Having to live far from Vietnam, I realized that traditional Tet is the “glue” that connects Vietnamese people, wherever they are in the world. There are children born in America who no longer speak Vietnamese, and there are many Vietnamese people living in remote places without Asian communities but still eagerly waiting for Tet. Vietnamese people, no matter where they are, without the same language or even different skin colors, at the end of the year still feel the same feeling about Tet.
An American friend texted “Happy Chinese New Year”, I gently “corrected” and said, one was to wish “Happy Lunar New Year”, two was “Happy Vietnamese New Year”. Lunar New Year is not only important to Chinese people but to many other countries in Asia, including Vietnamese people. Changing just one word changes the entire cultural narrative. Although Tet is simpler now, Vietnamese people still cherish and protect Tet as a very Vietnamese pride. I added to my friend that Tet for Vietnamese people is not just a long holiday – it is a cultural pride, a national pride with traditions continued over centuries.
According to estimates, there are about 5.3 million Vietnamese people worldwide. This year, I am one of 5.3 million Vietnamese people heading home for the traditional Lunar New Year. Wishing Vietnamese people, wherever they are, a peaceful, peaceful and happy Tet. A difficult year has passed, hopefully those who live far away from home will soon have the opportunity to return to reunite with their families during Tet to celebrate and look forward to good things in the future.
Author: Bui Minh Duc studied for a Master’s degree in Communications at Clark University, USA; He is a translator with 7 published books.
