The days leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year)

These days, the streets of cities and rural areas are busier and more bustling than usual, with only a few weeks left until Tet (Lunar New Year).

In preparation for Tet (Lunar New Year), supermarkets have stocked up on a wide variety of goods at different prices to meet consumer needs. Grocery stores have imported many kinds of cakes, candies, beer, soft drinks, dried bamboo shoots, and various dried nuts: chestnuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds; crispy spring rolls for Tet have also arrived. Clothing stores selling ready-made clothes have also displayed many new styles in various colors and sizes. Fresh seafood and dried foods continue to be sold at Phan Thiet market and other local markets. At the lantern stalls around Phan Thiet market, large and small lanterns and colorful decorative lights have been illuminated for days, attracting customers. And there are countless other items as well.

Simultaneously, urban beautification and sidewalk construction in Phan Thiet have been and are being continued by relevant authorities, resulting in uniformly paved sidewalks of consistent height and a significantly improved appearance. Many construction projects are gradually being completed. The replacement of street signs in Phan Thiet has helped locals and tourists easily identify streets, facilitating travel, sightseeing, and research.

Everything is bustling, from the beginning of the year until the days leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), from family finances to work, from homes to offices; then there will be days of rest during Tet when everyone can gather with family around the Tet feast, share tea with loved ones, visit friends, and exchange good wishes for a harmonious new year. There are expressions of affection revealed during these warm Tet days: the affection of children remembering the gratitude owed to their ancestors, the affection of children thinking of their parents, and the affection of relatives.

Having celebrated many Tet holidays, people still hold a belief: The new year will bring them and their families good things, different and better than the previous year—health, work, money, and other good fortune. Difficulties will pass, opportunities will come, and everything will go smoothly. The author suddenly recalled the opinion of cultural figure Huu Ngoc when he wrote about the soul of traditional Tet: “…Perhaps, nowhere else does the spring festival evoke such a profound and mystical empathy for an entire nation as the Vietnamese Tet: Empathy between man and the universe, between the living and the dead, between modernity and historical past, between family – village – country, between those far away and those at home. It can be said: The soul of Tet is an aspect that expresses the Vietnamese spirit. Tet reflects the identity of the Vietnamese people, the crystallization of traditions passed down through generations.”

Remembering ancestors and grandparents, visiting ancestral graves and relatives' graves before Tet, cleaning the altar, arranging flowers, fruits, and cakes to welcome ancestors and grandparents from the thirtieth day of the lunar month, lighting incense and praying to heaven and earth and ancestors at midnight, maintaining harmony in the family and neighborhood during Tet, participating in community festivals during the traditional Tet holiday... Are these actions perhaps proof of the idea: "The soul of Vietnamese Tet is the national community spirit, expressed in ancestor worship at the beginning of the year, family values, and empathy during springtime"?

Throughout the course of our nation's history, the Vietnamese New Year has been sacred for generations. The Vietnamese New Year continues to be so in the present and will continue for a long time to come. Preserving the spirit of the Vietnamese New Year, preserving the Vietnamese culture passed down through generations, means maintaining reverence for our ancestors and forefathers, showing deep respect, appreciation, and gratitude to our parents and grandparents, and preserving the beautiful aspects of our nation.

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