Fragrant soapberry

On the last afternoon of the year – the final moments before the new year begins – many families still have the habit of boiling "herbal" water for bathing. These aren't luxurious ingredients; they're often simple, common herbs like soapberry, coriander, grapefruit peel, grapefruit leaves, and lemongrass. Bathing in herbal water on the last afternoon of the year is a common custom and a beautiful cultural tradition that many families have preserved and maintained to this day.

As we journey through the old days, people tend to feel nostalgic every time Tet (Lunar New Year) comes around, especially in today's modern world where everything is readily available. Some remember the intoxicating scent of Tet, the smell of banana leaves, sticky rice, peach blossoms, and kumquat trees... For me, among all the things that evoke memories of Tet, there's another scent: the fragrant aroma of soapberry and various other leaves blended together in a steaming pot of bathwater by the fire on the last afternoon of the year, placed next to a pot of banh chung (traditional rice cake).

Ms. Dung and her child prepared various types of leaves to boil for making tea.

Every late autumn, when the soapberry harvest season arrives, women in rural areas, carrying baskets to the local market, choose to buy fresh bunches of soapberries to store. They dry them in the attic above the kitchen to prevent insect infestation, so they can be used throughout the year. My mother said soapberries are used for fumigating the house, for washing hair, and I don't know when or where, but in my hometown of Lam Thao district, many families still have the custom of boiling soapberries, coriander, and various other leaves to make a bath on the last day of the year.

My village is located on the banks of the Red River, where there are alluvial plains formed by sediment after each flood season. During the dry season, people still "break up the land" to grow vegetables, especially around Tet (Lunar New Year). Small plots of land are used to cultivate coriander plants, waiting for them to bloom and mature until the last evening of the year when each family cuts a bunch to bring home, wash, and boil in water for bathing.

Maintaining this habit for many years, Ms. Nguyen Kim Dung from Xuan Huy commune, Lam Thao district, shared: "Even though life is becoming more modern now, and shower gels and shampoos are used daily for skin and hair care, replacing natural herbal remedies, I still personally boil a pot of mixed herbal water for the whole family to use because I want to preserve the old ways, so that my children can better understand and love the traditional culture of my family in particular and of my village in general."

The coriander plant used for boiling water for bathing is when it has flowers and its stem is dark in color.

Because soapberry fruit has cleansing properties and produces a lather similar to natural soap, people in the past, before modern soaps existed, often used it to make hair wash. As for coriander, besides being a familiar spice in daily meals, mature coriander is also known for its many health and spiritual benefits, helping to ward off bad luck and bring good fortune and purity to the family in the new year.

The coriander plants chosen for bathing must be mature, flowering plants with stems that have changed from green to purplish-brown. When boiled, they release a fragrant, slightly spicy, and very distinctive aroma. Perhaps that's why the scent lingers for so long when these leaves are combined. More than just a long-standing tradition, bathing with these leaves is also believed to have health benefits, improving blood circulation.

Soapberry, coriander, grapefruit peel, and lemongrass leaves are indispensable ingredients in the bathwater mixture for the last afternoon of the year.

The elders in the village always tell their children and grandchildren that soapberry and fragrant herbs will ward off the misfortunes of the old year and welcome a new one. Each person, bathing in a pot of fragrant herbal water on the last day of the old year, feels as if unfulfilled desires, incompleteness, or lingering sorrows are being released, leaving them ready to embrace the joys of the new year.

Soapberry, coriander leaves... with their distinctive flavors of the homeland, remind each person of their origins and roots. No matter where they go or what they do, they always remember to return home after a year of hard work and struggle for food, clothing, and money to celebrate a complete and joyful Tet holiday with loved ones.

Vy An

Source: https://baophutho.vn/thom-huong-bo-ket-226908.htm