Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) needs to be preserved in its original, traditional values.

During Tet (Vietnamese New Year), I will teach my children about traditional customs and meaningful practices that our ancestors have passed down through generations.

Preschool children in Ho Chi Minh City participating in activities to celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year - Photo: MY DUNG

During Tet (Lunar New Year), alongside the joy, there were also quite a few complaints from some friends and relatives, saying, "During Tet, the kids cling tightly to their parents."   phone   "I don't know what to do all day..."

"This year, whether tired or healthy, Mom will still wrap a few bundles of rice cakes to celebrate Tet!"

Gazing towards the thatched roof, my mother busily rearranged bundles of firewood in the kitchen shed and said to us, "This year, whether I'm tired or healthy, I'll still wrap a few rice cakes to celebrate Tet!"

My mother's firm declaration filled my heart with excitement because ten years had passed since my father's death, and the tradition of family reunions and making traditional rice cakes during Tet (Lunar New Year) was no longer a reality.

On this occasion, I will teach my children some important things to do.   traditional   It carries a beautiful meaning that our ancestors have passed down through generations. I will help my child find joy in real life, instead of celebrating Tet indifferently with a phone in their hand.

Because whether future Lunar New Year celebrations, after their grandparents and parents pass away, will retain their full and sacred essence depends on future generations.

Celebrating Tet with your children means helping them clean up the small house after a season of sun and rain that has left it covered in moss and weeds. Parents can guide their children in age-appropriate tasks, such as wiping down tables and chairs, or pasting red patterned paper onto the melons, pomelos, and coconuts displayed for Tet.

This also helps children understand the customs of cleaning the house and arranging the five-fruit offering during Tet.

Celebrating Tet with my child, we'll go out to the porch where the banana trees are laden with lush green leaves and ripe yellow fruit picked by hand.   take care of   My mother's meticulousness. As I carefully trimmed each lush green leaf, my child would wipe them clean and neatly arrange them in the corner of the kitchen for my grandmother to use as ingredients in making fragrant cakes, a heartfelt offering from her descendants to their ancestors.

Celebrating Tet with your children means helping them prepare the offerings for the New Year's Eve meal. Many parents, when their children want to help with small tasks, are afraid the children will get in the way and quickly refuse, giving them a phone to keep them quiet.

I will guide my child in picking vegetables, peeling eggs for the braised meat dish… although children's clumsiness can sometimes be a nuisance, let's see all the preparations for Tet as opportunities for them to learn and help the family, even with the smallest tasks.

Experience the warmth and love of family reunion.

Celebrating Tet with your children means watching over the pot of banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes) over a blazing fire in the middle of the night, sometimes with your child falling asleep in your arms.   experience   A long day filled with exhausting work for these young children.

But let our child be by our side, experiencing the warmth and love of family reunion. Then, when I see my child cherishing each piece of cake, knowing that I helped make it, with a bright smile, I realize that I have guided my child towards the right lessons.

I will take my child, dressed in new clothes, for a stroll through the spring streets, where traditional rural markets are set up in the heart of the city, allowing my child to fully experience the atmosphere of a market.   Tet in the countryside   In the past, from the monkey bridge and the small boat on the pond to the carrying poles laden with traditional New Year's treats, everything will be deeply etched in our minds.

Celebrating Tet with my children means that after visiting the ancestral graves and wishing grandparents and relatives a happy new year, I never forget to teach them about the importance of gratitude on the third day of Tet, when we pay respects to our teachers.

Because just as parents have the merit of giving birth and raising us, teachers have the merit of imparting knowledge and moral values, so their contribution is as profound as that of our parents.

These New Year's greetings are filled with deep gratitude, and small New Year's gifts like boxes of jam or bags of tea express sincere affection. Through these New Year's greetings to teachers, I want my children to understand that this is a beautiful and humane way of life, a sacred thread continuing the tradition of "respecting teachers and valuing education" that has been cherished by Vietnamese people for generations.

It's important when children receive red envelopes from adults as a New Year's gift. It's also an opportunity for me to teach them about proper etiquette in receiving gifts.

Children naturally love receiving lucky money, so explaining the Vietnamese custom of giving lucky money through these bright red envelopes is important. It helps them understand that these are small gifts carrying New Year's wishes for good luck, health, and rapid growth.

Therefore, you shouldn't dwell too much on the quantity; just politely and respectfully accept it, and respond with simple New Year's greetings in a joyful manner. You will understand that this is one of the beautiful customs of Tet culture passed down from our ancestors.

Lunar New Year is an opportunity to educate the younger generation with meaningful lessons through New Year customs. This helps children understand their roots and ancestors. These aren't lessons filled with pressure from textbooks, but rather valuable lessons from real-life experiences that have existed for generations.

No matter how modern life becomes today, Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) still needs to preserve its traditional values, which are considered the foundation of profound lessons that we and our children should cherish for generations to come.

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/tet-can-duoc-luu-giu-ven-nguyen-gia-tri-truyen-thong-139495.html