Tet, which originates from the word Tiết, like the weather, the seasons… In the cycle of heaven and earth, when spring comes, it is cool, trees sprout, and all things are full of life. Perhaps that is why for thousands of years, Vietnamese people have “eaten Tet, played Tet”, and welcomed Tet with the spirit of “No matter where you do business, remember Tet, and invite each other to come back”.
Tet is also the greatest migration of the year. The destination is to return to the hometown, to return home, before the New Year's Eve. So the whole machine moves quickly, the traffic gateways are congested for a few days before and after Tet. In the past, Tet was a prayer for "hunger all year round, fullness for 3 days of Tet". Nowadays, no one is hungry, especially with the modern lifestyle, pick up the phone and delicious food is delivered to the door. The problem lies in each person's consciousness, in spirituality, in the reunion of family, friends and burning incense to remember ancestors... That is the sacredness of Tet!
For Vietnamese people living far from their homeland, the sacredness of Tet is multiplied. To date, there are more than 5 million Vietnamese people living abroad. Whether their purpose is to start a business or study abroad, they all share the same nostalgia for their homeland, especially during the traditional Tet holiday. Tet is also an occasion for gathering, an occasion when national identity is most clearly expressed.
I had the opportunity to celebrate Tet in one of the places where many Vietnamese people settled in the US, the town of Dorchester, located on the outskirts of Boston, on the shores of the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. Here, almost every house has an ancestral altar, and incense is not forgotten during the 3 days of Tet. And the New Year's Eve offering tray must have all the Chung cake or Tet cake, gio cha, boiled chicken, fried spring rolls just like in my hometown.
One of the customs of Vietnamese people is to like to gather together with the mentality of "help each other in times of need". For example, in the US, there are Vietnamese communities concentrated in the states of California, Texas, Washington, Florida, in Australia, in Sydney, such as Bankstown, Cabramatta, Marrickville... In these places, shops, restaurants, markets are convenient for the Vietnamese community to help each other in business, and they can speak... Vietnamese comfortably, especially for the elderly who are not fluent in foreign languages.
The richness of Vietnamese in tone and semantics is also a heritage that Vietnamese people carry with them to all regions, as a culturalist once said: "As long as the Vietnamese language exists, the Vietnamese nation exists." Vietnamese people living far from home have tried to teach generations growing up abroad to know their ancestors' language, which is also a way to maintain national identity.
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