TET IN MY HOME VILLAGE

In day near Tet, Hanoi has many traditional foods like Chung cake, spring rolls and pickled onion. Only in two hours and with enough money, you can have delicious foods for Tet. However, the warm atmosphere of Chung cake pot and working together with family to clean onions for pickling or with neighbors killing pig and enjoying pig’s entrails gruel are not easy to be seen in Hanoi nowadays. My memory about Tet in my home village comes back.

One month before Tet, people in my home village told each other to grind sticky rice and dry it on sunlight for making sweet cake and floating cake. Banana leaves were cleaned, boiled and dried in sunlight to avoid tearing. Some of theme were used to wrap the cakes and the rest was used to wrap lean pork paste. The odd jods were rather interesting. Some farmers hurried in finishing work on their field to have free time enjoying Tet and others went to market to buy new clothes for their childen.

Following legend, the Three Kitchen Gods (Tao Quan) in every home return to Heaven on the 23^rd day of the twelfth month of lunar calendar to make report to the Jade Emperor about everything in that home over the past year. On lunar December 27 – 28, Tet flavor spead over village with Chung cakes, sweet cakes, lean pork pastes and the sound of pig to eat on Tet, while the poor families like mine and some others such as Mr Nghi’s and Mr Chung’s had to share a pig. I like to go getting the meat home because I could enjoy the burned rice (at the bottom of a gruel pot) at Mr Nghi’s house.

After having the pork meat, all families prepared to make Chung cake and sweet cake (make from sticky rice, mung beans and molasses). Although my father was easygoing, he always kept to traditional customs of my home village. In the past, my village wrapped Chung cake with phrynium leaves without cake mold. Nowadays, many families find that it is difficult to do so, and they use a mold or buy cakes in the market. But my father said that Chung cake is a specific feature of Tet, so it should be made following traditional method. While wrapping the cake, he showed my brother how to make a square – shaped cake. Mr Huy and some neighbors came to my house to learn how to make the cake as helping him in splitting bamboo string and cleaning phrynium leaves. In the night of December 28, all families started to make fire cooking Chung cake. My brother and I wached the fire and added water into the pot of Chung cake. The wattle wall of our kitchen could not hold back the wind so the smoke made my eyes smart. My mother stirfried pig head’s meat, mixed mushroom to make lean pork pastes. When Chung cakes were arranged under a door plank to drain them of excess water, I could hardly open my eyes due to sleepiness. While nearly sleeping, I still asked my mother to take me to the Tet market in the next morning.

On Lunar December 29, I followed my mother to the market. Tet market had many things to buy like candies, jams, flowers, fishes and meat. It was ebullient with crowed people laughing and talking. My mother and I bough a peach blossom branch that was important in Tet holidays. In the last day of year, among the warm smell of burning incenses, my family sat down together for a Good Bye Old Year – Hello Happy New Year meal. In New Year’s Eve, we listened to the President’s New Year greetings and watched fireworks on TV.

On the first day of Lunar New Year, I wore new clothes following my parents going to enjoy a feast at my father’s eldest brother’s house. I liked receiving lucky money and having a fun with my cousins more than eating. Everybody wished each other health and happiness. In the next days, they went to each other’s house to congratulate and drink wine.

My memory of my home village’s Tet has been gradually blurred by the Tet in city. Also peach blossom and Chung cake, however, they cannot make me eager as in my childhood. Perhaps because now I am a grownup!

Dieu Ngo

TẾT QUÊ

Sắp tết rồi, phố phường Hà Nội nào bánh chưng, giò chả… và cả những lọ dưa hành. Chỉ cần bỏ ra vài tiếng đồng hồ cùng cái hầu bao nằng nặng là có thể sắm một cái tết ngon lành. Nhưng… để tìm thấy hơi ấm của một nồi bánh chưng với không khí quây quần ngồi nhặt sạch những củ hành cho mẹ muối dưa chuẩn bị đón tết, hay mấy nhà trong xóm rủ nhau đụng lợn cùng nhau ăn bát cháo lòng thì không dễ gì tìm thấy ở nơi phồn hoa đô thị này. Kí ức về tết quê lại tràn về trong tâm trí tôi…

Trước tết một tháng, quê tôi đã rậm rịch nhà nhà hò nhau đi xay bột nếp phơi cho được nắng để tết lấy cái làm bánh mật, bánh trôi tàu. Những tàu lá chuối cũng được đem về, róc ra, luộc tái rồi đem phơi cho khỏi rách. Một ít dành gói bánh, một ít để làm giò… Những công việc tuy nhỏ nhưng thật vui. Người hối hả lo công việc đồng áng sao cho gọn gàng để trong ba ngày tết rủng rỉnh ăn chơi, người thì chuẩn bị lên phố huyện mua quần áo mới cho trẻ…

Ngày hai ba tháng chạp, tiễn ông Công, ông Táo về trời. Hai bảy, hai tám nghe hương tết đầy ắp xóm làng, rụch rịch bánh chưng, bánh mật, gói giò… tiếng lợn kêu eng éc… nhà nào giàu thì giết hẳn một con, nhà nào nghèo như gia đình tôi thì hai ba nhà cùng rủ nhau đánh đụng. Nhà tôi thường chung với nhà bác Nghỉ và bác Huy. Tôi thích nhất việc vác rổ đi nhận phần thịt về vì thế nào tôi cũng được cạo cháy nồi cháo lòng nhà bác Nghỉ. Chả hiểu sao tôi thích ăn cháy đó đến vậy, vừa ngậy, vừa éo, vừa thơm.

Lợn làm xong thì cũng là lúc nhà chuẩn bị gói bánh chưng, bánh mật. Bố tôi là người tính tình tuy dễ nhưng phong tục quê hương không bao giờ làm thất truyền. Từ xa xưa, quê tôi đã có tục gói bánh chưng vuông bằng lá dong không cần khuôn. Nay nhiều gia đình thấy khó nên cứ làm sẵn khuôn dừa hay ra chợ mua cho tiện, riêng gia đình tôi thì không. Bố tôi thường bảo, bánh chưng là cái đặc trưng nhất của ngày tết nếu không gói, không làm theo cách truyền thống thì xem như không khí tết mất đi một nửa. Vừa gói, bố vừa bảo cho anh trai tôi cách gói thế nào cho bánh được vuông như chiếc bánh chàng Liêu dâng vua cha thuở nào. Anh Huy và mấy người hàng xóm cũng chạy sang học mót và giúp bố tôi mấy việc lặt vặt như chẻ lạt, lau lá dong… Đêm hai tám tết, các nhà rục rịch bắc nồi, nhóm lửa để nấu bánh. Tôi cùng anh trai ngồi nhóm lửa, chêm nước nồi bánh chưng. Cái phên không đủ cản gió làm khói lởn vởn, mắt cay xè nhưng vẫn thích thú. Mẹ trong nhà xào thịt thủ với mộc nhĩ để gói giò với bố thật vui. Khi những chiếc bánh chưng được xếp hàng dài và dùng cánh cửa ép nhẹ thì cũng là lúc mắt tôi díp lại. Trong giấc ngủ chập chờn tôi vẫn đòi mẹ sáng mai đi chợ tết quê.

Hai chín tết tôi theo mẹ đi chợ. Chợ tết đủ loại thức quà, chỗ là gian hàng tạp hóa đủ loại kẹo mứt, chỗ là hoa tươi khoe sắc… Người người nườm nượp chen nhau. Tiếng cười nói, hỏi han thật tưng bừng vui vẻ. Tôi và mẹ cùng nhau mang về nhà một cành đào chúm nụ, thế là đầy đủ tết rồi. Ngày cuối năm, mùi nhang trầm ấm cúng phảng phất, anh em, con cháu với ông bà tề tụ bên mâm cơm tất niên - mâm cơm chia tay năm cũ để ngày mai mùng một tết sẽ bắt đầu bằng những điều mới mẻ, tốt lành… Đêm giao thừa cả nhà ngồi nghe thư chúc Tết của Chủ tịch nước, pháo hoa nổ ngợp một góc trời qua màn hình ti vi.

Ngày mồng một, tôi xúng xính trong bộ quần áo mới theo bố, mẹ đi ăn cỗ chạp ở nhà bác cả. Đến đó tôi không thích ăn cỗ mà chỉ thích được nhận tiền mừng tuổi và đùa nghịch cùng lũ trẻ con trong họ. Ai cũng chúc nhau câu năm mới mạnh khỏe, “nuôi con lợn cho to, con gà cho béo”… rồi sang ngày tiếp theo kéo đến nhà chúc tụng, uống chén rượu mừng xuân.

… Những kí ức về tết quê xa dần và thay vào đó là tết phố. Cũng cành đào, cũng bánh chưng xanh… nhưng không còn háo hức như ngày thơ bé. Phải chăng bây giờ tôi đã lớn?

Diệu Ngô

Customs of chewing betel and areca nuts and smoking thuoc lao

According to legends, chewing quid of betel and areca has been a custom since the Hung Vuong period and is connected to the antique legend of betel and areca.

A quid of betel, also called trau, is composed of four elements: an areca leaf (sweet taste), betel bark (hot taste), a chay root (bitter taste), and hydrated lime (pungent taste). The custom of chewing betel nut is unique to Vietnam. Old health books claim that "chewing betel and areca nut makes the mouth fragrant, decreases bad tempers, and makes digesting food easy". A quid of betel makes people become closer and more openhearted. At any wedding ceremony, there must be a dish of betel and areca nut, which people can share as they enjoy the special occasion.

During festivals or Tet Holidays, betel and areca nut is used for inviting visitors and making acquaintances. Sharing a quid of betel with an old friend is like expressing gratitude for the relationship. A quid of betel and areca nut makes people feel warm on cold winters days, and during funerals it relieves sadness. Betel and areca nuts are also used in offerings. When Vietnamese people worship their ancestors, betel and areca nut must be present at the altar. Nowadays, the custom of chewing betel remains popular in some Vietnamese villages and among the old.

Let’s not forget to mention thuoc lao or strong tobacco. For women, betel can initiate various feminine conversation, but for men, thuoc lao is related to their joyfulness as well as the sadness in their lives. Peasants always carry their dieu cay (pipe for smoking while ploughing the rice fields).

Kham Pha 24h

Worship of Ancestor Custom

Vietnam Worship of Ancestor Custom: A very popular belief among Vietnamese is the custom of the ancestor cult. In every household, an ancestor altar is installed in the most solemn location.

Vietnamese believe that the soul of a dead person, even if dead for many generations, still rests along with their descendants on earth. The dead and living persons still have spiritual communion; in everyday life, people must not forget that what they enjoy and how they feel is the same for their dead relatives.

On the last day of every lunar year, an announcing cult, cung tien thuong, is performed to invite the dead forefathers to return home to celebrate Tet holidays with their families. During the last days before Tet, all family members visit their ancestors’ graves; they clean and decorate the graves, in the same manner that the livings clean and decorate their houses to welcome the New Year.

On the anniversary of an ancestor’s death, descendants and relatives unite and prepare a feast to worship the dead people and to ask for health and happiness for themselves. From generation to generation, ancestor worshipping customs have been religiously preserved. There are some small variations between those customs among the many Vietnamese ethnic groups, but the common theme of fidelity and gratitude towards the ancestors remains.

Vietnamese Traditional Costumes

Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is simply a piece of cloth wrapped around the head and their footwear consists of a pair of plain sandals.

For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men’s dress has gradually changed along with social development. The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes. Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an "Ao Dai", a long gown with slits on either side. The outer garment is a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman’s neck. Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers. An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman’s formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace. To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer. In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Vietnam; however, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings. In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics. In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges. Áo Dài The "áo dài" (pronounced [ao yai] in the South, [ao zai] in the North) is one out of several traditional Vietnamese dresses worn (nowadays) primarily by women. It is the most popular national costume. History The first model of Vietnamese áo dài date back to the 1700s and were influenced by Chinese garb (qipao). After 1975, the áo dài was rarely seen because many considered it to be an excess inappropriate for hard work. However, since the 1990s, the áo dài has seen a resurgence both in Vietnam and for overseas Vietnamese. There is also a male version of the áo dài, which is worn less today, except in ceremonies like weddings, funerals, or other "traditional" occasions. Men’s áo dài’s, in contrast to women’s, fit very loosely. Original Áo Dài The first style of Áo Dài tended to be much looser fitting in general, with more flowing, longer and bigger sleeves. Royal patterns and colors were common, and commoners were restricted from wearing them. The Royal Wedding Áo Dài: Áo Mệnh Phu Besides the multitudes of fabrics, designs and patterns one can use for the Ao Dai, some versions perhaps also connect to the Northern peasant Vietnamese dress called Ao Tu Than. In this version there is often a flowing outer jacket (with large belled sleeves) as well as two extra flaps (making a 4 flapped dress, as opposed to the typical Ao Dai’s 2 flaps). The 4 flapped Ao Dai is commonly worn for weddings and is known as Ao Menh Phu. There are countless varieties of Wedding and royal court attire, but the most common similarity they share would be the 4 (or even more) flaps. Wedding attire typically is in brighter colors like red or pink (for women). The modern costume and its place in modern-day Vietnam The most popular style of the modern áo dài is tight-fitting around the wearer’s upper torso, emphasizing her bust and curves. For this reason, the áo dài, while it covers the whole body, is said to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin or see-through fabric. More adventurous versions of the modern Áo Dài are even collarless. The first, more "modern" version of the áo dài did not appear until 1930, when Vietnamese fashion designer Cat Tuong, known to the French as Monsieur Le Mur, modified it. He lengthened the áo dài so that the top reached the floor, made it fit the curves of the body closer and moved the buttons from the front to an opening along the shoulder and side seam. In Saigon during the 1950s, Tran Kim of Thiet Lap Tailors and Dung of Dung Tailors modified the áo dài to a form closest to what is seen today. He produced the gowns with raglan sleeves, creating a diagonal seam that runs from the collar to the underarm. Áo Dài is the uniform for female students in all Vietnamese high schools and some universities. Many companies also require their female staff to be attired in the áo dài. Source: http://www.companiontravel.com.vn