Time stands still on the peach blossoms.

For children, Tet means new clothes, trips instead of school, lucky money, and sweets... For young people, Tet is about summarizing a year of studying and working, and dreaming of a new year filled with even more success. And for those in their "golden" and "silver" years, Tet is a time for reflection and memories to flood back...

There are many ways to celebrate Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year). Although Tet often brings rush and busyness, everyone finds something beautiful about it to enjoy. Every time Tet arrives, after all the shopping and preparations, what I love most is the feeling of living slowly. Very slowly each morning waking up without an alarm clock. Very slowly with the swirling incense smoke spreading over the altar. Very slowly with a cup of tea I brew myself, sipped with ginger and candied winter melon. Very slowly on the morning of the first day of Tet, quietly watching the dew drops on the fading peach blossoms in my mother's garden.

The Quang Ba Flower Market area ( Hanoi ) on the afternoon of the 29th day of the Lunar New Year. Photo: Thuy Du

For children, Tet means new clothes, trips instead of school, lucky money, and sweets... For young people, Tet is about summarizing a year of studying and working, and dreaming of a new year filled with even more success. And for those in their "golden" and "silver" years, Tet is a time for reflection and memories to flood back...

I remember those years when my sisters and I took care of each other, raising chickens and ducks, while our parents were still working at the office, right up until the days leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year). During the subsidy period, we usually only got three days off for Tet, from the 30th to the 2nd; by the 3rd, Tet was practically over, and everyone would rush back to work, returning to their normal lives. My older sister, with her bent side, would carry the youngest sibling, holding the third's hand with one hand, while keeping an eye on the bewildered second. Yet, the meals were delicious, the house was tidy, and our parents could just rest when they came home from work. Moreover, as Tet approached, my eldest sister would split bamboo to make strips, wash banana leaves, and prepare rice and mung beans for our parents to make banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes). Then, when the banh chung were finished, my sisters and I would run back and forth, carrying firewood from the yard to the kitchen so our father could start the fire. The whole family gathered around the large, bubbling pot of sticky rice cakes for a long time, waiting until they dozed off to taste the first perfectly cooked cake… The sounds of Tet in a complete family, filled with hustle and bustle, excitement, and anticipation, mingled with the fragrant aroma of sticky rice cakes, the sweet and creamy sweet soup, the slightly rough and burnt homemade peanut candy… The deep scent of incense that mother respectfully lit on the ancestral altar and the offerings to heaven and earth placed outside on the porch. All of this created the sounds and smells of Tet of yesteryear. Even in the cold wind of the 30th night, the doors were always open to welcome the sacred moment of the new year into the house…

The Lac Long Quan flower garden area on the afternoon of the 29th day of the Lunar New Year. Photo: Thuy Du

And then there's the scene of the whole family lining up to go back to their hometown on the first day of the Lunar New Year to wish each other a happy new year. That day, my parents were all smiles and easygoing, and my sisters and I were truly overjoyed, dressed up in our best clothes, each with bags full of candy and melon seeds. Greetings and well wishes filled every house we visited… Before the whole family went out to celebrate, the chicken offered as a sacrifice on New Year's Eve was brought down and slaughtered to warm the children's stomachs. The "sacred" box of New Year's sweets, bought in limited quantities at the state-run store (each family was only allowed to buy one box), was opened under the watchful eyes of four pairs of wide-open eyes and four hearts pounding with anticipation. But besides the coconut, carrot, pumpkin, ginger, and peanut sweets—counted in large quantities—the box also contained two other flavors: jujube and kumquat, each with only one fruit. Therefore, every year, after the jar of jam is finished, the lingering taste is always filled with a sense of regret…

And what about other Tet holidays? As my sisters and I grew up, each of us had our own concerns and loves besides our parents, and our own families. Those Tet holidays, when we were getting used to being away from home and our hometown, were so intensely missed. The house was empty without the children's chatter; surely our parents felt sad and missed us terribly. But when we were young, how many of us stopped for a moment to understand how much our parents missed us?

For those in their "golden" and "silver" years, Tet (Lunar New Year) is always a stream of memories of a time when the whole family was together, a longing for grandchildren to return, and prayers for peace and good health for everyone. They don't yearn for an overly materialistic Tet. When the colors of time have stained their hair, anything too extravagant seems a luxury. A bowl of white narcissus, a pot of white plum blossoms, a branch of fading peach blossoms brings a feeling of tranquility and peace. At each New Year's Eve dinner, children and grandchildren gather, mother smiles, but her eyes well up with tears. She remembers the Tets of yesteryear when her grandparents were still healthy, she remembers father taking his children to buy peach blossoms and kumquats. Those familiar figures are returning, to share a warm New Year's Eve dinner, to share a cup of jasmine-scented tea with her, and to see time stand still on the fading peach blossoms in the windy courtyard…

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/thoi-gian-ngung-dong-บน-nhung-canh-dao-733780.html