The rituals, customs, cultural beauty of Tet in Hoi An - where more than 500 years ago was the bustling Faifo port integrating many cultures from merchant ships, merchants around the world to and from on. famous silk road from the end of the 16th century to the early 17th century - preserved and attracted by the people here.
Tet on the street
When was Tet to reach Hoi An? It is throughout the street space, everywhere faintly incense. My friend, a fellow of Hoi Street who went to study abroad, said that once, I had come across a rare Asian-style temple in the host country, stopped for a long time, breathed in and remembered Tet holiday at home. weep. Tet holiday in Hoi An, in the space of the deep scent of each breath, the new moss germs turn green in the spring rain and fly, change the color of new clothes for thousands of yin-yang tile roofs of the temples, pagodas, ancient houses have counted every beat of spring - summer - autumn - winter - and then spring again over the centuries. Trees waving about the red silk signaling that Tet had arrived in front of pagodas and communal yards. And the porch of the city is also full of spring with yellow pots of apricot, or dahlia, pink roses, daisies ... put neatly on both sides of the door leading to the house entrance. Tet has knocked on the door of each Hoi An town house.
The streets of Hoi An on Tet days are full of joy with folk games that can be said such as chanting a song, playing chess, playing songs and charms ... Folk games thought only to be an old memory, from "Small days" of the people of Hoi Street, now revived in the footsteps of travelers looking to feel the right atmosphere and culture of the local traditional Tet holiday.
Tet is knocking on every door
Tet bustling in the Hoi Hoi sticky house. On New Year's Eve, the family members are busy trying to clean the ancestral altar cleanly, displaying aromatic flowers, Tet cakes ready for the time to transfer the old and new year. New Year's Eve, when the fireworks glow in Hoai River Square and sparkling in the thousands of eyes looking up at the bustling colors in the air full of joy and hope, in the streets of the house, the homeowners adjust their clothes chu, respectfully stood in front of the family's altar, then went to the altar and placed on the doorstep, praying for good things for the coming New Year.
As soon as the New Year is finished, or early in the morning of the new year, according to the hierarchy in the house, the family wishes New Year, lucky money and offers each piece of cake, hot cup of tea. Tet cakes, nest cakes, explosive cakes, printed cakes are four kinds of Tet cakes which are almost indispensable in the houses of Hoi An, and are also the customs of Quang past. There was an explanation that banh tet, nest cake wrapped in which the heart remembers the origin; Pancakes and cakes are printed in the hope that a new year will be fulfilled, crispy and full.
There are taboo customs in Hoi An during Tet such as not giving fire to avoid losing luck (lucky) in the new year, not arbitrarily "breaking ground" because often the people here take people very seriously. in the new year, a house was carefully told before people "broke ground"; but there are also houses that everything should be predestined to guess the new year's fortune based on the age of five, the personality of the "stormed the earth". "Departing" at the beginning of the year, local people often go to the temple, visit graves first and visit each other's houses. Before visiting grandparents, parents, relatives, teachers, friends, neighbors. Should dress well, talk politely when visiting each other in the traditional New Year.
Joining the people of the old town to celebrate the Lunar New Year must be an unforgettable experience for visitors in Hoi An on this special occasion. Especially the level of sacred emotions transmitted from the peaceful space, ancient here. In the bustling sounds of spring, the hearts of people walking in the middle of Hoi An in the early days of the new year, there is still a bit of quietness amidst the small roads, curved like a bow full of questions, for centuries, the roofs The tile has become so brown that stars from year to year still look like youth forever in each smile, eyes that are easily caught on the streets of Hoi An.
Hoi An people love Hoi An, of course. Where people go to Hoi An seems to fall in love with Hoai Pho (called Hoai river name in Hoi An), as the poet Che Lan Vien once wrote a couple lines: "Hoi An is not home. It's incense, suffering! Forget the countryside - who can. Huong? How easy ... ”. That "incense" might be like in anecdote as the poet's first love scent in Hoi An. But that "fragrance", as felt by the writer of this article and of the travelers who have set foot here, is like the scent of the "sedimentary culture of a thousand years" lingering in the hearts of people who have strolled through small alleys, peaceful small street beside Hoai river in Hoi town. That "incense" can also be absorbed in every breath, forever lingering in the hearts of Ho Chi Minh City lovers from the New Year in Hoi An.
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