Tet 2011, the Vietnamese Year of the Cat. With the high-energy charge of the previous Tiger year, I am ready to welcome a supposedly more subdued, easier-going New Year. We started off by visiting Lion Plaza earlier in the week, stopping by the fresh flower- and fruit-markets.
All around us were traditional New Year flowers, chrysanthemums a fresh burst of yellow to welcome the spring sun, red and pink plum blossoms for luck, lovely lavender orchids, and fragrant white tuberoses commonly put on altars as an offering for the spirits of ancestors, who are invited to visit their families and homes on the First of every New Year.
Fruits traditionally put on the altar have names that pun on a popular New Year's prayer or wish: "Cau vua du xai," meaning, "Hope you have enough to spend." The Vietnamese usually offer four types of fruits:
-Mang cau (Cau): custard apple
-Dua (Vua): coconut
-Du-Du (Du): papaya
-Xoai (Xai): mango
Among other favorites (some imported from Southeast Asia) are rambutans, longans, grapefruits, tangerines, and kumquats, the last typically sold as a whole tree.
In the days leading up to New Year's, Lion Plaza comes alive with vendors selling their goods. Lucky red envelopes dot the displays on tables, and the usual murmured exchange of sellers and customers is punctuated by bursts of firecrackers to scare away evil spirits.
It has become a tradition for us to shop here every year, and to buy some fresh and lucky decorations to adorn our home.
I like to think that a house gradually adapts to its owners' unique spirits the longer we live in it, and these holidays with their festive decorations are what builds a house's character, transforming it into a cozy and rightful home.
Yes, it's true, you are usually given li-xi envelopes stuffed with money until you get married, after which you, as a married couple, distribute them to your children, your siblings' children, or simply to those younger than you. Older married couples who have grown kids would often give li-xi to their elderly parents as a gesture of "mung tuoi," or "celebrating another year of life." Everyone is said to become a year older on New Year's, no matter when their exact birthdays are, technically adding another year to their actual age. This may seem strange in Western cultures where everyone strives to be young and, at a certain point, even dreads celebrating the aging process, but in Eastern cultures, the older a person is, the more she is revered for her wisdom and life experience.
That said, sure, I kinda feel pretty clever staying single to cash in on my lucky red envelopes. And our parents want us to get married and give up on all this?
Sure, maybe in another year or so. ;) Chuc mung nam moi to all our family and friends! May 2011 be filled with fortune, prosperity, and wealth for you all, and may another year of wisdom also bring with it all that you have been hoping for in life.
2 comments:
Lovely. Thank you for sharing bits of your language w translations & traditions. Viet Nam is [still] a lovely place despite what we [americans] and others did to it and your people. I have always felt very ashamed for my country's invasion & transformation by the horrors of bombs and other atrocities even though i had nothing to do with the decisions that wreaked such havoc. Nothing heals my soul more than flowers. My mother's sister used to say: "Give flowers to the living." I like to start our traditional new year with company many who have stayed over from the night before with a very low-key new year's eve celebration of a good meal & token toast of champagne to the new year and then on the first day of the year, serve flowering tea, have fresh flowers,and small gifts to open. Thank you again for the pictures & memories.
Roxanne, thank you for your comments, and for reading. Glad you enjoyed the blog post.
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