Poet Quynh Iris and Ms. Helen are two of many Vietnamese people living in Belgium who are preparing for the Spring of At Ty 2025 far from home.
Recently, Ms. Quynh Iris Nguyen - de Prelle and many Vietnamese people living in Belgium and Luxembourg attended the community Tet program celebrating the Year of the Snake 2025 organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Vietnamese Delegation to the European Union.
The Community Tet Program celebrating the Year of the Snake 2025 was organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Vietnamese Delegation to the European Union on January 19, 2025.
Photo: Embassy of Vietnam in the Kingdom of Belgium
Having lived in Belgium for a long time, for independent artist Quynh Iris Nguyen - de Prelle (founder of IVB - Vietnam and Pacific Intercultural Center in Brussels), Tet is still a wonderful time. Sharing with Thanh Nien , she said that for many years, she has organized an online exhibition of Vietnamese Tet with many images of Tet through arranging trays of fruit and Tet decorations. Her whole family cooked banh chung with Vietnamese brothers and sisters in Belgium. "My brothers and sisters in the General Association of Vietnamese in Belgium organized and wrapped the cakes, made the cakes, all the preparations and then the three of us were active members of the cooking and watching the pot of cakes".
Ms. Quynh Iris and family
She also has a group "Philosophy of Tet" to preserve the image of Vietnamese Tet when away from home, away from Vietnam for many years. "In my memory, Vietnamese Tet is a philosophy and ideology of Vietnamese people about solidarity, family reunion, the most beautiful connection of each family, community and society. Coming to Tet is joy, is the wish for happiness. It is the flower market, the cuisine of Tet cannot lack banh chung. My parents in Vietnam are now retired but still make banh chung every time Tet comes so that children and grandchildren from afar can see that Tet atmosphere during the more than 40 years of my existence with my family", she excitedly said.
In Belgium, she also prepares sticky rice and indispensable banh chung, gio cha and Tet fruits. The children in the house prepare for Tet with their parents and eagerly tell stories, draw pictures for their grandparents or simply enjoy coconut jam on Tet like when they were young in Vietnam. "Waiting for New Year's Eve, both Western and Vietnamese New Year, is a moment with family here or connecting with parents and family in Vietnam, a moment that is always sacred to me. Tet is home, homeland no matter where it is."
Like Ms. Quynh Iris, Ms. Ngo Do Thu Huong (English name is Helen) - co-founder of the project Channel Viet Happiness Station, is living and working in Belgium. When talking about Lunar New Year, she affirms to herself and many people that it is an indispensable spiritual food at the end of the year and the beginning of a new year, the most important holiday for Vietnamese people.
This is the occasion when everyone has many holidays to "return" home, to their roots. Anyone, no matter where they are, wants to return to their family and ancestors, to go shopping for Tet, to renovate and decorate their house, and to gather around a pot of banh chung on New Year's Eve. According to Helen, Tet is also an opportunity to sow good thoughts, to remember the merits of ancestors, grandparents, parents, deceased people in the family, clan, country...
"In the past, when preparing for the New Year, my parents often took me to visit graves, burn incense, arrange fruit trays, buy peach and kumquat branches, and prepare a tray of offerings for the New Year's Eve offering... When I went to Europe, the national New Year's Day did not fall on a day off here, so my family and I still went to work and school like a normal day. Even so, I was still very excited and looked forward to it like a child, and I also spent time calling home to ask about my parents and relatives. During the days before and after Tet, I often called home more, missing my hometown, feeling busy, happy, and excited about shopping for Tet, forgetting my tiredness. When calling home, my parents often told and filmed scenes from home: what they had for Tet this year, what they had cooked for Banh Chung, and showed off the altar. When New Year's Eve came, my house was like a television bridge connecting Vietnam with Europe, my parents and children exchanged greetings," Helen shared with Thanh Nien .
Sister Helen also often organizes Chung cake wrapping and Tet celebrations for families far from home, which is very fun and meaningful. The sisters form a group with a very affectionate name "Tet Addicts Association". When organizing Tet, each person has a job, some cook - some are in charge of decorating, cleaning, wearing Ao Dai, taking pictures... organizing activities for the children to sing songs about Tet, about spring, wishing everyone and receiving lucky money. The sisters start preparing for Tet weeks in advance, very excitedly... and after Tet, the aftertaste still lingers for many days.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tet-voi-nguoi-viet-o-chau-au-185250128151051594.htm
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