Mom managed to get some sugar, grind rice, and search deep inside the box for sesame, peanuts, and beans. The kitchen was brightly lit at night, the fire was red hot, the smell of caramelized sugar, flour, and ginger mixed together, fragrant. Mom quickly stirred the ingredients so they stuck together without burning the pot.
A sieve lined with fresh, clean banana leaves was spread out. Mother hurriedly poured the pot of sweet soup onto it, then used a ladle to spread it evenly. The golden color appeared, the children's eyes lit up, this Tet was a happy time, there was sweet soup to eat, they ran out to eat, came back to eat, happily. The pot of sweet soup was full of love, cheap but brought joy and happiness to the whole family.
Illustration: Nguyen Quy.
In my memory, there has never been a year that my family did not wrap Chung cakes. In the beginning, even though the whole family did not have a big pot to boil enough Chung cakes, my parents would borrow pots from the neighborhood so that we could watch the Chung cakes during Tet.
The smoke from the straw stove was so strong that my eyes burned, and roasted sweet potatoes and corn were stuffed into the burning wood. My eyes burned from the smoke, my mouth was black from eating the dried, burnt sweet potatoes, my eyes were bright, my soul was excited. Until now, I still think that small stove is beautiful, and it brings me the safest and happiest feeling.
The red paper packages of Tet jam, some of which are wrapped in cellophane, are placed on the altar and analyzed by the children in the house. They carefully shake, vibrate, and look through them to assess the weight. There are peanut candies, shredded coconut, squash, kumquats marinated in sugar, ginger, etc. They look forward to eating them from the 29th of Tet until the 1st.
No jam boxes were opened at home because they were precious and parents brought them to their grandparents and uncles for Tet. The children felt disappointed and sad, but they understood the reason and never dared to ask their parents.
Happiness, joy is simply a desire fulfilled and nothing more to compare with.
The children had almost no gifts, cakes, sugar or milk all year round. Snacks were only guava, grapefruit, apple seeds, and crushed areca nuts to eat the creamy inside. The children dug up, washed and ate the black water chestnuts, despite the bitter taste.
Parents' eyes are sunken all year long with worry about patching up their children's torn clothes, patching up the knees of their pants so that the skin won't tear and be exposed to the cold wind. Perhaps the first thing parents think about after waking up one night is "what to do so that the whole family has something to eat today, how many meals to eat". During Tet, worrying about giving their children new clothes, a pot of banh chung, a tray of sweet soup, a little fatty meat, being able to eat not just three meals a day but whenever makes parents happy, proud and moved to tears.
In the old days, Tet was modest in material things but the emotions and spirit were immeasurable. Now we have so many material things but why does Tet seem to lack the emotions of the old years… I don’t understand why?
Quach Thanh Luc
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