I remember that in the early hours of lunar October 23^rd, farmers in my village began to plant seeds in their backyards and front yards to grow flowers and vegetables for their own use during Tet.

The green of the vegetables and the colourful flowers made the village merrier as the local people looked forward to the new year.

On lunar December 25^th, putting away farm or house work, people visited their ancestors’ graves and did their cleaning.

Though the morning might be a bit cold, they all feel happy as their ancestors’ “homes” had been decorated for the new year.

These days, it has become a custom in my village that after cleaning of the ancestors’ graves, all members of a clan or a family gather in front of the family alter to pray for the deceased and for the prosperity and luck for the livings.

After that they have a meal together and talk about topics of their interest until late in the day.

It has become a practice in Vietnam that Tet is an occasion for family reunion. Any one who may work far away from home during the year is expected to come home for the Tet celebration.

Tet is also an occasion to tighten the bond among the family members and to remind the young generations of the history of their clan.

As from lunar December 25^th on-ward, people, particularly the young ones, start to do the house cleaning. The cleaning starts from the outside and then inside the house and finally the family altar is cleaned.

To show respect to the ancestors, only diligent and good children are given the duty to clean the altar and place fruit and flowers upon it. Although the work sounds very easy, it is not at all as the children must make sure everything is spotless and shining after the cleaning. They have to place the flowers on the east side and the fruit tray on the west side of the altar.

In the morning of lunar December 29, preparations for one of the main dishes – banh chung begin. Some people are busy with washing the rice and green beans and preparing pork to put inside the cakes.

In the afternoon, families begin making the square cakes and in the evening, the most joyful moment arrives, which is to sit around the big pot full of square cakes placed on a naked fire.

A proper cooking would take around 12 hours on a continuously simmering fire.

Another interesting Tet tradition practised in my village is the sharing of a pig by several families. Like a chorus, in the early morning of lunar December 30, the slaughter of the pigs begins. The sound of the pigs echo throughout the village.

People in my village say the loudness of the sound made by the pigs on that morning is an indicator measuring the level of success of the villagers during the year.

As a child, I still remember such nights when I was small. During those nights I could not sleep well as I was lying awake to wait for the sound of a pig being slaughtered so that I would jump up to ask for the pig bladder to make it into a balloon.

People make different dishes from pork to eat during the celebration.

In addition to pork, many other dishes are made from chicken, ducks and fish.

Many kinds of home-made cakes and fruit jams are also available for the occasion.

Though I have been living far way from my home village for many years, fond memories of my childhood during Tet are still fresh in my mind.

by Nguyen Dac Hoa