Writer and poet Nguyen Quang Thieu Tet is for returning home and releasing the worries of the old year.

In a conversation with the Journalist and Public Opinion Newspaper about his views on Tet, writer and poet Nguyen Quang Thieu shared:

1. Lunar New Year is a very special time of the year, this is the time to end the old year, welcome the new year, welcome new opportunities, new thoughts and new emotions. Each nation has a different way of celebrating Tet. Westerners celebrate Tet in a different way. Easterners like China, Vietnam, ... celebrate Tet according to a completely different calendar.

Writer and Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu Tet is to return to relieve the troubles of the old year. Image 1 — Writer - Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu - Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association. Photo: NVCC.

I have celebrated New Year's Eve in several Latin American countries, the US, Ireland... Different cultures celebrate New Year's Eve in different spaces and times, but they all have one thing in common: they converge the sacredness of a nation. Because they are completing a cycle of a year and they are preparing to enter a new year with new inspiration, faith, plans and aspirations.

Therefore, Tet is an opportunity for people to return to the beauty and origin of their nation. Tet comes almost like a magic spell, dissolving the sorrows, conflicts, and barriers between people. Tet itself connects the feelings between people in a community, society, agency, and organization.

In my opinion, the most emotional time is the days before Tet. And of course, I observe the community, observe the Vietnamese people and especially the Northern region in the days before Tet until New Year's Eve begins, that is the most emotional, sacred and meaningful moment.

For me, the time before Tet is a very memorable time. At that time, I can prepare to return home, even those who work far from the city always wait for the holidays of the year to return to their hometown to celebrate Tet. This is the time when people are most eager to return to the house where they were born and raised, the house that has so many memories - the place where their ancestors, grandparents, and parents were born, grew up, worked, contributed, shared, and loved.

Therefore, the time to return home to celebrate Tet is a magical time. Many Vietnamese people today even think that the time to prepare for Tet is the magical thing, but when Tet comes and especially after New Year's Eve, it is also a joy but not as sacred, emotional and special as the time when people prepare for a full Tet.

2. With the different ideas nowadays about celebrating Tet, that we should celebrate Tet lightly but still full of joy and filial piety, I think this is a way, because nowadays many families have changed, in the years when we were still subsidized, it was extremely difficult. I remember, back then people often prepared a little rice, fish sauce, pepper packets, chicken, bamboo shoots... and they had to prepare a lot, because at that time there was a lot of shortage but they still tried to have a full Tet, to prepare a complete meal to offer to their grandparents and ancestors.

Writer and Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu Tet is a way to return to relieve the troubles of the old year. Image 2 — Banh chung on Tet holiday. Source: TL

Nowadays, material life is more prosperous, a person can take a morning or afternoon off, go to the market or supermarket and buy enough ingredients to celebrate Tet. However, now many families no longer prepare things for Tet as elaborately and complicatedly as before. They reduce a lot, although of course traditional things must still be on the Tet tray such as: Chung cake, peach blossom (apricot in the South), five-fruit tray, etc.

There are also families who usually prepare food for Tet, but now they reduce and simplify a lot. Or some Tet rituals such as New Year's Eve worship, going to the temple or visiting parents are also reduced in methods. Therefore, I think that Tet cannot be changed, but we need to change the way to celebrate Tet happily, reducing the fussiness, busyness and heaviness.

I see that there are some different opinions about the traditional Tet holiday, why it is so long, but I think it is reasonable. First of all, we must understand that we are Eastern people, so we are very careful in social relationships, family relationships, neighbors... Personally, every year I go back to my hometown early to celebrate Tet, and it takes me at least 2 days to go from one end of the village to the other, from the other end of the village to the other to visit the families of my old teachers who are still alive, friends, and then my relatives, paternal and maternal aunts and uncles...

Second, after a year of hard work and worries, they also want to have a more spacious Tet holiday to go sightseeing, visit friends... even to rest in some way right at home, to enjoy Spring in the most peaceful way, to contemplate, share, and welcome the best and most meaningful things of a new year.

During Tet holiday, I usually stay at home, because I am so busy that I don’t have much time to go back to my hometown. I want to stay longer in my hometown to have time to write about something… That’s why I want to spend more Tet holiday, because that time brings me many emotions.

3. Without Tet, I feel so empty. Therefore, many Vietnamese people who have settled abroad for half a century still celebrate Western New Year in the place where they settled. When the traditional Tet of the nation comes, they still prepare something very sacred, they choose to return to their homeland as if to worship their land and ancestors.

From my youth until now (66 years old), I have never celebrated Tet in the city. Every year I wait for the holiday schedule and I like to take a lot of time off to go back to my hometown, sweep the streets, sweep the alleys, clean the altars, prepare the kitchen... Even when my parents were still alive and even when they passed away, when Tet comes, I still bring my wife, children, and grandchildren back to my hometown to celebrate Tet. Because Tet is a sacred, beautiful day to return to my own home - a place filled with memories, warmth, and memories of my roots.

At this age, every year when I go back to my hometown to celebrate Tet, when I step into my yard, I feel like all the deceased in my family have returned. In particular, my village has a custom of cleaning two roads (one at the beginning of the village, one at the end of the village). Cleaning the first road of the village and setting up a welcome gate to welcome people who have come from far away to celebrate Tet, and the last road of the village is to welcome those who have died from the cemetery to celebrate Tet.

Usually on the 29th and 30th of the lunar calendar, every family brings flowers and incense to the graves of their parents, grandparents, and ancestors to burn incense and invite the deceased to return to celebrate Tet. Therefore, for me personally, Tet is always sacred, meaning to relieve the sadness of the old year, but it also recharges the energy for the new year, especially reminding me of my roots - a place full of love, respect, and filial piety.

Dinh Trung (Recorded)

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