chúc mừng năm mới ... happy new year!This was my fourth Tết (lunar new year) in Vietnam but my first celebrating with Vietnamese people in the traditional manner. I've known my boyfriend, Hoan, for 3 years and we've been dating for about two of those. He decided this year was the year he would invite me to về quê (go to the hometown) to ăn tết (celebrate Tet). Having been here for so long, I knew some of the traditions and superstitions around Tet.
The week before Tet (really like the 10 days before but whatever) was when Hoan started really getting everything ready to go ... as in coming home from work early and buying everything required to về quê. About 4 days before Tet break, I got dragged into the preparations. We went to buy fruit, clothes for his nieces, new shoes for me, prepare like 50 envelopes of lucky money and chúc tết (celebrate/give Tet wishes) at the houses of a couple relatives in Hanoi. In the course of 2 days, I met about 10 family members in Hanoi and was feeling pretty confident about going back to his hometown. I understood 90+% of the context of every conversation (in Vietnamese) over those 2 days and maybe 60-70% exactly what was being said. And then we về quê -edOur first stop was in Bim Son, Thanh Hoa (town, province ... equivalent to "Chapin, SC") to see his uncle and relatives. Everyone was really nice and patient with communicating with me, rephrasing as needed, etc. I could still understand a lot of what was being said/asked. While we didn't plan on spending the night, it got late, the rice wine shots were aplenty, and his cousins offered us their spare room so that we could stay and karaoke with them. The next morning his cousin drove us to his parents' house in the village of Thon Xa Ve, Thanh Hoa.
We napped after lunch, we napped before dinner, and we napped before midnight ... thank you rice wine. First important thing I learned about Tet in the countryside is that the party doesn't start until midnight. The goal is not to stay up until midnight. Anyways, the alarm went off at 11:55pm and we pulled ourselves out of bed, still drunk/hungover from the earlier rice wine shots at dinner with his old high school classmates. We lit the one firework we had procured from a neighbor (because of covid, they were hard to get as the good ones all come from china), watched outside for some of the other fireworks, then set off on our adventure. First stop was the temple to pay our respects to the town elders, get the certificate for the family (I guess saying that we had gone and paid our dues?) and light incense. Rice wine shots were had ... yes, at a temple and yes, plural. From there we went to family members houses. The first day of the new year is supposed to be for family visits, the day after is for friends. #thingsIlearned. From here the Tet pattern is: go to someone's house, "chúc mừng năm mới, chúc gia đình nhiều may mắn, sức khỏe, và thành công" (happy new year, wishes of luck, health, and success to your family), drink, eat, drink, leave, repeat. Variations on the well wishing include wishing marriage and babies on the yet unwed people ... aka me and Hoan. Many aunts wished 2-3 babies on us before asking when we are getting married. It was all great fun yet super exhausting. As in the US, small rural towns can have their own accents, linguistics, slang, etc. This was no different. Most of this last week in the village, I understood about 20% of the context of conversations and generously 5% of exactly what was being said. Hoan did a great job of trying to translate direct questions asked of me and answered what questions I did have about the conversations/what was happening. But I definitely just went with the flow most of the time. Some Tet foods
After the first few days ...Things calmed down. We still went around and saw people but the drinking switched from rice wine to tea. The food being forced upon us was snacks not meals. We saw more friends and less family. Our last 2 days we took a trip to the beach and had one last party at a rich relative's house. I mention that he's rich so I can explain why. Apparently, there is a mutant orchid strain which is sold for upwards of $10,000 USD per small plant in Vietnam. This relative grows and sells these orchids. Final PhotosFinal ThoughtsWhile I was way out of my depth language wise, I had a great time in Thanh Hoa. The only English conversations I had were with an 8 year old son of a former classmate of Hoan's and some 22 year old girl who was at the rich relative's party. But everyone was super nice and generous - friends, family, neighbors. I've been added to the family group chat and included in family photos. I learned a lot about the upbringing and character of my boyfriend which makes me love him more than I already do (sorry that's super sappy). This was the first time we've really gotten to travel together since his job is nonstop. Next goal: work on his English (and my translating abilities) in time for going to America for Christmas to meet my family.
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ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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