Every year on the first morning of Tet, after offering tea and cakes to the ancestral altar, the family gathers to wish each other a happy new year. I go to the market to buy lucky money to pray for a happy and peaceful new year for my family.
Colorful balloons in the new sunshine - Photo: TU LINH
When I was a child, I often heard my grandmother say that according to the customs of our ancestors, on the morning of the first day of Tet, buying delicious areca nuts, beautiful betel leaves, bags of rice, cans of white salt... means bringing good luck home. These items, according to the concept, will bring the homeowner a new year of good health and prosperity. Going to the Tet market to buy good luck at the beginning of the year is a beautiful cultural feature of Vietnamese people.
According to the concept, worship is for men, but women are the deciding factor for the prosperity, well-being, and strong bond between family members. Therefore, my grandmother reminded my mother to maintain the practice of buying lucky money at the beginning of the year, both to preserve the custom and to create optimism for a peaceful new year.
Like my mother, I often buy areca nuts and betel leaves for good luck at the beginning of the year. The familiar old woman selling groceries sits at the corner of the market all year round and is the place I often visit. The tray of areca nuts and betel leaves is neatly arranged by her. Because it is good luck, she has to carefully choose young areca nuts and betel leaves with intact stems and fresh to satisfy customers.
The old lady chewed betel nut with her mouth full, and handed the betel nut to the customer, not forgetting to say happy new year. The customer bought the item with the idea of bringing luck home, so he did not bargain or haggle, but was very open and happy to receive the luck with both hands.
Although he sells all year round, he still tries to go to the market on Tet holiday because according to him, both the sellers and the buyers are happy. With just 100 young areca nuts and 100 betel leaves, he brings joy and hope for a beautiful new year to countless visitors.
On the morning of the first day of Tet, my family has a habit of walking around the city before returning to our hometown to pay respect to our ancestors. When my children were young, every time this happened, they wondered why many people did not take a break during Tet but continued to sell goods as usual.
There is a woman from Nam Dinh province who comes to Quang Tri to sell toys for children all year round, but during Tet she does not return home but instead sells goods to serve spring tourists. On the morning of the first day of Tet, she is at the corner of the street next to the provincial Cultural and Cinema Center to sell toys and balloons to children.
The colorful balloons in the spring sunshine, the attractive toys for children make the street corners more bustling. There is a student who is home for Tet holiday also comes out on the street in the early morning of the year with a stall of piggy banks of all sizes, designs and eye-catching colors. The chubby piggy banks with smiling faces are often bought by parents as gifts for children on the first day of the year. And many other people who earn a living at the beginning of the new year make the Tet picture more cheerful and bustling.
Thanks to the first market of the year, I fully understand the uniqueness of the traditional Tet and the beauty of the nation's culture. Although there is not much buying and selling, this is a habit that has been maintained through many generations, making the spring warmer and more peaceful.
Wisdom
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