Half a world away from Hanoi, but the Vietnamese New Year's Eve feast in Canada is still full of pickled onions, chicken with lemon leaves, and even old coriander leaves for a year-end cleansing bath.
Tet is a time for gathering and warm reunion of loved ones. But for those who are far away from home and cannot return home because of studying or working, they are always looking for and preparing for themselves and their families the warmest and most complete Tet possible.
Remember the "smell" of Tet
The first Tet I spent away from home was in 2000, when I was just 24 years old. Namur, the capital of the French-speaking region of Belgium, is a very small city with less than 500,000 inhabitants.
Twenty-five years ago, tourism was not yet developed here, Namur was still mainly a university and industrial city. There were very few foreigners, there were no Asian markets, no Vietnamese restaurants, and only a few Chinese restaurants. During my first year abroad, the only people in the dormitory were me and an Asian friend from Shanghai; although we were not studying the same major, we were quite close. In our free time, we often took the train to Brussels to buy Asian food.
The time of the Asian New Year is also the exam season, the season for submitting essays for graduate courses. It is normal to eat bread and boiled eggs to get through the day. However, on the afternoon of the 30th of Tet, I still cannot help but feel sad and lonely, missing the Tet meal with my family, missing the lingering scent of incense mixed with the smell of fried spring rolls, the smell of bamboo shoot soup, the smell of stir-fried pineapple... To "satisfy" the longing, on the first Tet away from home, my Chinese friend and I went into town to call my family, then had a Chinese-style Tet meal at a restaurant.
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| Recreating images of Vietnamese Lunar New Year in Canada. Photo: VNA |
At that time, mobile phones were not popular, so to make Internet calls, you had to go to IDD booths. On the afternoon of the 30th of Tet, the booths were all packed, and for only 500 Belgian francs (about 300,000 VND), you could “chat” for about half an hour, so the two of us lined up and “hugged” the booth. Talking to my mother on the phone, hearing me craving fried banh chung, sweet soup, pickled onions, etc., my mother felt sorry for me and told me to make meat jelly to give it a little Tet flavor and to keep it for a long time. When we left the booth, the two of us just hugged each other and cried. At this time at home, everyone was celebrating New Year’s Eve, watching fireworks, etc., while the shops and streets of Namur were quiet and deserted.
And we celebrated New Year's Eve in a foreign land with a Chinese New Year meal at a restaurant. Entering the restaurant, seeing that we were Asian, the owner opened a stack of red envelopes, giving them to us for good luck. I didn't think about it, just pulled them out, while my friend hesitated to choose. It turned out that, according to Chinese custom, each red envelope has a meaning attached to it. After eating, my friend invited me to go to the train station to buy some fireworks to smell to relieve my craving, and to shoot fireworks on the edge of the ancient city wall. Not only the two of us, but many other Asians also gathered there. Being far away from home, we wished each other good luck and shouted loudly to relieve the gloom of being alone in a foreign land.
No more sadness
Tet At Ty 2025 is a very special Tet for me in Canada. This is the third Tet I celebrate New Year's Eve in this multi-ethnic country, but this is my first Tet away from home with all my relatives by my side.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important festivals in Canada, where the Asian community accounts for over 20% of the population. People of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent in Canada also celebrate the New Year with many similarities to the Vietnamese and other Asian ethnic groups according to the lunar calendar.
Every year, the Canadian Prime Minister reads a television message and sends Lunar New Year greetings to each Asian community in many languages: Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean...
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| Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Pham Vinh Quang and Dr. Tran Thu Quynh - Commercial Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in Canada (second from right) and many Vietnamese people attended the Homeland Spring event. (Photo: Trung Dung - VNA reporter in Canada) |
Since the beginning of December, people have been excitedly shopping for plants, cleaning and decorating their houses. The flower market here is not as rich as in Vietnam but still has enough apricot, peach, kumquat, orchids...
In supermarkets, from the beginning of January, bowls, decorative lights, parallel sentences, lucky money envelopes and other red Tet decorations are displayed in the most central sections. Many traditional Asian families also worship the Kitchen Gods and after December 23, agencies, offices, neighbors and relatives start to spend time giving Tet gifts.
Canadian friends and overseas Vietnamese often have the custom of sending each other boxes of tangerines and grapefruits because they believe that these fruits bring happiness, prosperity and luck in the new year. In particular, the green-skinned pink grapefruit from Vietnam always has a very important meaning during the Lunar New Year, with the meaning of a new year of family reunion, peace and happiness.
In response to neighbors and partners who often send us gifts during Christmas, and also to promote Vietnamese culture, cuisine and products, every year, my children and I prepare Vietnamese specialties very early to give to teachers, neighbors and friends.
Every year during Tet, my mother and I sit together to wrap a few hundred frozen spring rolls to send as gifts. To my close Canadian friends, I also send banh chung and coconut jam to introduce Vietnamese Tet specialties.
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| Vietnamese peanut candy at a supermarket in Canada on promotion to welcome Tet |
For those who work in overseas market development like me, the traditional Tet holiday is also a “reasonable” opportunity to promote and introduce Vietnamese culinary products to partners of ministries, import associations and diplomatic missions of countries based in Canada. In the Tet gift bags of the Vietnam Trade Office in Canada, fish sauce, rice paper, shiitake mushrooms, peanut candy, cashew nuts, dried fruit jam and coffee are always the top choices.
Halfway around the world from Hanoi, every year in a faraway place, we are lucky enough to celebrate New Year's Eve twice: first with greetings from relatives, colleagues and friends in the country, then with colleagues and friends at work. This year's Lunar New Year falls on a Canadian working day, so families often hold year-end parties and get-togethers on the weekend to wish each other a prosperous new year.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. The meals my family invites to friends and neighbors in Canada still have all the traditional Vietnamese New Year dishes but are prepared with Canadian ingredients such as lobster pho, salmon spring rolls, grapefruit salad with Canadian beef jerky, grilled scallops with maple syrup...
Canada is a multi-ethnic country with a large Asian population, so there is no shortage of things to celebrate Vietnamese Tet. Although living far away, my family still has enough pickled onions, chicken with lemon leaves, and even old coriander leaves to bathe at the end of the year. The happiest thing in Canada during Tet for overseas Vietnamese is probably the community Tet activities. This is an occasion for people from all provinces to gather together. Everyone is happy to enjoy Vietnamese Tet dishes together, spring rolls, sticky rice with gac and lotus seeds, banh chung, boiled chicken, etc.
This year in particular, with lychees entering Canadian supermarkets for the first time, people can also enjoy lychee and coconut jelly dessert, further reminding them of the flavors of their homeland. Overseas Vietnamese groups and students are encouraged to participate in art performances and Ao Dai performances. Wearing national costumes and performing on the catwalk to Vietnamese music are certainly unforgettable Tet memories for children abroad.
Celebrating Tet far from home is no longer a lonely sadness because of the feeling of being away from home, lonely, and deprived for me and many overseas Vietnamese. Twenty-five years later, telecommunications technology and Internet communication tools have become convenient at reasonable prices. Direct flights have also been opened more and more between Vietnam and the world. International integration and Vietnam's position on the export map are also increasingly clear. The spread of Vietnamese products has increasingly helped shorten the distance, increase the love and connection with the Fatherland of all generations of overseas Vietnamese with pride.
Dr. Tran Thu Quynh - Commercial Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in Canada
Source: https://congthuong.vn/tet-tu-mot-noi-cach-viet-nam-nua-vong-trai-dat-371590.html
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