Choosing tea, making tea, and offering tea is a cultural behavior, expressing the sophistication and hospitality of Vietnamese people. This culture actually has a whole system of experiences and unwritten behavioral conventions from thousands of years ago.
Vietnamese people drank tea in the early 20th century (Source: Internet)
Although it has not yet been raised to the level of Tea Ceremony culture like the Japanese or Tea Confucius culture like the Chinese, the Vietnamese tea drinking style still has its own unique values. Cultural researcher - Professor Tran Ngoc Them once said: "Vietnamese people invite each other to drink tea not simply to quench their thirst, but to express a noble cultural style and a close friendship." , a heart longing for harmony, a sentiment shared by the interlocutors. Vietnamese people invite each other to drink tea to start a conversation, to discuss family, social, and love affairs, to feel that in the cup of tea there is the taste of earth, sky, grass, trees, and all things. .” In particular, around drinking tea, we can somewhat better understand the mentality of Vietnamese people.
Vietnam is a country with a long-standing wet rice agricultural civilization. This is first of all determined by the natural environmental characteristics of our country. Wet rice cultivation has dominated the lifestyle and behavior of Vietnamese people. Growing wet rice, first of all, people must depend on water (ie weather and climate). Therefore, is it true that Vietnamese culture or human identity is quite nationalistic? It is patience, flexibility, and flexibility like water. Besides, they not only rely on nature, but also rely on human strength and the community to do business and live together. Village people, as a cultural model, are universal and occupy an extremely important position in Vietnamese cultural history.
Vietnamese people drank tea in the early 20th century (Source: Internet)
When you consider drinking tea as a cultural expression in Vietnamese life, you will see that it fully reflects the traditional identity of the Vietnamese people. Those are the people of the village, the people of the community. The community spirit is forged from within the family and village. Community makes Vietnamese people rich in love and sacrifice, from sacrificing for their small community (family, clan), to sacrificing for the large community (village, country). The art of drinking tea reflects the cultural behavior of Vietnamese people. The tea tree grows from the soil, grows in the sunlight and bathes in the wind and rain, so when you take a sip of tea, you feel the whole nature, earth and sky mixed together in the spreading sweetness. Vietnamese tea is close to nature, it teaches tea drinkers the spirit of community, closeness, and gratitude to those who have spent a day in the tea fields.
Community and sentimental lifestyle make Vietnamese people love fairness. That sense of fairness originates from the Vietnamese lifestyle of "neighborhood", where everyone helps and cares for each other, so everyone has the same rights and responsibilities. Therefore, Vietnamese society does not have a strict class division like in the societies of other countries, both in feudal times and in the present. Taking pouring tea as an example, after rinsing the cups with boiling water to clean and keep the heat, people put the cups close together, forming a circle. The cups are close to each other, showing the closeness of neighborly love when inviting each other to a cup of tea. The circular shape of the bowls placed next to each other represents the desire for fulfillment and completeness. If you pour tea in a circle of cups, each cup pours a little bit, from beginning to end, then back to the beginning, this makes the tea have no difference in lightness or darkness between the first and last cups. Its meaning is to show equality between host and guest in enjoying the essence of nature.
Besides traditional tea, most ordinary people also like to drink fresh tea and tea buds. This is a unique way of drinking tea of Vietnamese people. Drinking fresh tea also demonstrates the communal nature of Vietnamese village culture and Southeast Asian wet rice civilization. Tea speaks of the optimism and love of life of Vietnamese people, combined with the spirit of freedom and freedom from constraints, making Vietnamese tea imbued with folk and national character.
Vietnamese people drank tea in the early 20th century (Source: Internet)
Many people often ask why Vietnam doesn't have a tea culture comparable to Japanese Tea Ceremony, Chinese turmeric tea, or British afternoon tea? Although it has not yet developed into a "religion" in drinking tea, Vietnamese people still have a harmonious and simple culture of enjoying tea. Therefore, it is not really "religious" like the Japanese tea ceremony, not too sophisticated like Chinese turmeric tea, and not too practical like Western afternoon tea. It can be said that Vietnamese tea is both noble and leisurely, but also rustic and rustic, not wanting to be confined to any rigid pattern, reflecting a synthetic mindset, a mixture of ideas. harmony and wisdom in Vietnamese culture.
All of this is not a coincidence that the ancients created it like that, it is the very simple culture of our ancestors. It is rustic and simple, in harmony with nature, with people and with one's own inner world. Through the way Vietnamese people use tea, we can also see some of the sophistication of Vietnamese people, enjoying life with seemingly simple things but containing so many emotions.
Nguyen Le Phuong Anh – thainguyen.gov.vn
