The Year of the Buffalo is ending and the Year of the Tiger is about to begin.

Travellers are buying bus and train tickets from North to South or South to North. Business people are displaying goods for Tet and their customers are worrying about price increases. But worried or not, whether prices are stable or sky-rocketing whether the goods are imported or home-made of high quality or low, when Tet approaches, consumers will only hesitate a moment before rushing to buy the goods.

Calendars are made by people only to delineate and mark the events in their brief lives. All calendars originate from natural conditions and community traditions. All are based on the movements of the Earth, Sun and Moon and are tuned to the rhythms of the seasons of planting harvest and migration. Primitive men did not have a calendar. They observed the moon and stars, but followed the example of bears who found a cave or birds who fled to warmer areas when winter drew near. Robinson Crusoe, alone on a desert island, used a knife to notch a wooden pole to keep track of the number of days he had been living there. A revolutionary in his cell marked the cell’s floor with a clay shard to number his suffering but hopeful days. Calendars seem to be soulless but very significant.

While rambling about the past, suddenly I found many sacred and interesting coincident at landmarks in our nation’s history.

Human’s history has been written for some five or six millennia now. The Vietnamese nation might have begun in the 3rd millennium BC, which was the primitive age. The nation developed in the 2nd millennium which began with the Hung kings. In the 1st millennium BC, Vietnam was dominated by foreign invaders and witnessed the uprising of indigenous tribes. In the 1st millennium AD, the Vietnamese nation rose up and established a foundation for their autonomy. It began with the insurrection led by the Trung Sisters (in the years 40 to 43) which was followed by the uprisings led by Lady Trieu, Ly Bon, Mai Thuc Loan and Phung Hung.  Governor Khuc Thua Du (905-938) born in what is now Hai Duong province was the first Vietnamese to force the haughty northern dynasties to officially recognize him as “the head of the Viet land”. Then came Ngo Quyen with the glorious victory on Bach Dang River. The 1st millennium ended with Kings Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Hoan and the establishment of their capital city in Hoa Lu (980-1009).

In the 1st millennium, the Vietnamese people struggled against northern domination and received the juice of the brilliant cultures of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties while preserving their own cultural identities to hand down to their descendents.

In the 2nd millennium AD, the Vietnamese won their independence and sovereignty and broadened their country. It began with the Ly dynasty and the relocation of the capital to Thang Long in 1010. The will and determination of the Vietnamese people thrived in this millennium. They were industrious and clever in building their country, and heroic and strategic in their struggle against foreign invaders. The last century of this millennium which was the 20th century marked many heroic events in Vietnam which culminated in the successful August 1945 revolution and national reunification in 1975.

People with their limited lives followed one another to establish everlastingness. The 20th century witnessed the two fiercest wars in human history. However, it was brightened with many great men including Lenin from Russia, Jose Marti from Cuba, Ataturk from Turkey, Gandhi and Nehru from India, Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong from China, Sukarno from Indonesia, and of course, Ho Chi Minh from Vietnam. They were born when colonialism and imperialism were ruling the roost. The great men of the 20th century, with one way or another, found a way to challenge Western power, which was considered inviolable and changed the world order.

Ho Chi Minh was born at the end of the 19th century in 1890. 40 years later, in 1930, the Vietnam Communist Party was established. Five years earlier in 1925, Ho Chi Minh had set up The Youth, the first revolutionary newspaper whose mission was to make theoretical, political and ideological preparations for the establishment of the Communist Party. Under Party leadership, the national liberation revolution succeeded 15 years later, in August, 1945. And 30 years later, in 1975, Vietnam was reunified. Many special events will take place in 1010, the Year of the Tiger. They are the 120th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh, the 80th birth anniversary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, the 65th founding anniversary of the republic system and the 35th anniversary of national unification.

The most historic event will be the millennium of Thang Long – Hanoi.

Isn’t it a marvellous coincidence when many significant events can be celebrated in a single year? 

Celebrating an anniversary is to review the old in order to understand the new. It is to look back at the past and learn lessons for new actions.

The millennium of Thang Long –Hanoi is a lifetime event. This milestone provides an opportunity for us to enjoy festivals, show gratefulness to our ancestors and respect our predecessors. This is our opportunity to hand over to future generations many great infrastructural, economic, social, cultural and spiritual works. This is also a chance to look back at our origin, enhance our pride and conserve our traditional lifestyle in a modern and civilized society.

Is this the meeting point between leaders’ guidelines and people’s wishes?

Human life is limited. In this short period, we should ask ourselves what we must do to overcome difficulties and add our small contributions to the very long life of the nation in the infinite course of time.