The Smell of Tết

For a full three-day celebration of Tết (Lunar New Year), the preparations were completed early, and the whole family gathered happily to welcome the new year, to visit relatives, and to wish for the best for the upcoming year. All the hard work and great effort of the whole year were paid off, and people come together to retell the stories you have had each year – the stories you have remembered by heart. Every year, when it is getting closer to the end of the year, my mind is busy thinking about Tết and how to start preparing the things needed to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year while living in the West.

For me, Tết (Lunar New Year) is a memory of stories told and shared when making Tét cakes together.

People in the Central area of Vietnam do not make Chưng cake. Instead, we use banana leaves, glutinous rice, bacon, and mung beans to roll a long, cylindrical cake called Tét cake that shapes like a biceps. I always remember my mother’s advice to make Tét cakes round, symmetrical and not dented. Every single cake should be looking identical as if they are all made from the same mould. Ever since I was a child, I kept wondering about how my grandmother and mother could make such beautiful, symmetrical Tét cakes with just their bare hands.

The most enjoyable part of making Tét cake is that family members have a chance to get together to tell each other stories about their lives. Even sometimes, the same stories are told again and again every year but no one ever gets bored. The little stories can be my grandmother’s ultimate method of teaching my mom how to make Tét cakes, how to wrap the leaves, tighten the strings, and tie the cakes together. But that little thing is all I need!

Tết (Lunar New Year) is the time to gather together to cook traditional cakes. While waiting for the cakes to cook and waiting to take them out, everyone’s face was radiant and joyful in the warm light of the fire. That beautiful image is forever imprinted in my memory, so that even when I have moved to another continent, I still cannot forget to tell my child every detail about all the time I cooked the traditional cakes with my family.

My child is not Vietnamese and currently lives in Australia, but that does not mean that she is unfamiliar with Vietnamese and Asian culture. “Birds have nests, people have families”. I always look for opportunities to “expose” my daughter to Vietnamese culture as much as possible. Particularly, Tết (Lunar New Year) is the best chance for me to introduce my culture in the most appealing and interesting way. I always show great interests when learning more about my roots and especially my Vietnamese culture. Every Tết, my daughter will learn how to make Tét cakes while listening to me telling her the stories that I heard when I was a child. Seeing my child feeling happy, remembering and keeping on nurturing this beautiful culture is enough for me to feel more overjoyed and grateful each time Tết comes.

Not only on New Year’s Day but also in daily interactions, I also find opportunities to share with my daughter about the values of maintaining your culture and ethnic origins. We may not remember a lot of things in life, but I believe that what belongs to the roots needs to be engraved no matter where we live on this planet.  

Tết is also the scent of fruit jams that mom and us make together.

Not only for the intriguing stories, Tết (Lunar New Year) is also indispensable for the sweet taste of jams made right in my family’s small kitchen. I always remember the irresistible aroma and taste of the batches of coconut jam, ginger jam and chewy jam that my mother used to make every Tết (Lunar New Year). The best part was when the jam was yet fully cooked and the texture of the food was still flexible, soft and fragrant, making us kids crave it immensely.

My memory of my childhood Tết (Lunar New Year) is strongly connected with the image of a strangely delicious piece of jam that I still remember even until now. Ginger jam has a spicy, sweet taste; coconut jam is soft enough that it melts in your mouth and carries an irresistible fragrance; then the whole aroma from pineapple, tomato, papaya, kumquat and other fruits in the batches of sticky jam really made me unable to hold back from “sneaking” a few pieces to put in my mouth when my mother was busy pouring the batches of jam out to dry. 

Tết (Lunar New Year) celebrated far from home may lack a few things, but I can never forget the childhood memory of batches of jam that are carefully stir-fried until your arm turns fatigued. The image of my mother standing and stir-frying the pan full of jam with her hair in a bun, her hand holding a chopstick is forever imprinted in my mind. Every time I eat a piece of jam, I miss my mother so much and I start to remember the old days when I still had Tết with my family.

Tết (Lunar New Year) is the time to gather and decorate the house beautifully to welcome spring

Someone once told me that “The smell of Tết (Lunar New Year) is the smell of a house being cleaned”. In Vietnam, we normally say that “Clean house makes us feel fresh, clean bowl makes the food feel delicious.” Everyone wants to welcome the new year with a clean and fresh house that is filled with the pleasant scent of fresh flowers and traditional incense. Although I do not live in Vietnam, every year close to Tết (Lunar New Year), I still find ways to come up with different concepts to decorate my house to create the nostalgic “Tết” atmosphere. Many items have to be brought from Vietnam by my brothers and sisters and then sent to me and the process normally takes a lot of time, but in return, we can fully live within the true spirited atmosphere of the traditional Lunar New Year holidays.

Or sometimes, my family decided to build a model of a traditional Vietnamese country market with stalls and baskets in one corner of our house, and we displayed some dear little goods that reminded me so much about my childhood. One year, my daughter really wanted to try carrying the stick of the Vietnamese “street hawkers”, so I asked a relative to send it over. I  tried first by putting the stick on my shoulder and was surprised that it was not as easy as it seemed in the movies. I often take these occasions to tell my child stories about the countryside, about the farmers and the wholesalers who have to work very hard during extremely sunny or rainy days.

My house in Australia still has an altar, and we still maintain the custom of worshipping our ancestors. My daughter is taught how to bow to her grandparents, how to light incense, and how to pray for good fortune. She can talk with my parents, welcome the New Year, eat jam, play many folk games of Tết (Lunar New Year), etc. Every little thing makes her feel excited and curious more and know more about Vietnamese culture.

Tết (Lunar New Year) is about preparing gifts for the loved ones

Living in a different country and a different culture adds the spin of modern to my life, and thus the Tet atmosphere may seem to be not as intact as in the old days. But for me, it is not really like that. The further I am away from Vietnam, the more I miss Tết.

For me, Tết (Lunar New Year) still retains all the nostalgic flavours of the past. Although Tết (Lunar New Year) makes things busier and more difficult to spend and take care of my family, I still feel as eager and happy as when I was a little girl who often ate my mom’s freshly-made fruit jam. Living far away from home, and soon becoming a wife and a mother, I enjoy the feelings of happiness and exhilaration every time I prepare for Tết (Lunar New Year) with my loved ones. It is somehow like a traditional lifestyle inherited from my grandmother and my mother.

Tết (Lunar New Year) is an opportunity for people to show their love, care and concerns for each other after a full year of hard work. My to-do list at the end of every year is always filled with so many things, but that is not an excuse for neglecting my family. The closer it is to Tết (Lunar New Year), the more I want to spend time with the people I love, and I do not want to forget anyone because of the spin of life in a foreign country.

I prepare Tết (Lunar New Year) very early, usually around two months prior to the Lunar New Year day. I buy new clothes, carefully choose the gifts for my loved ones, and review thoroughly the list of things needed for the preparation of Tết. Besides my family, I also like to give gifts to my teammates. Seeing the joy on their dear faces also makes my Tết become more meaningful. Each gift is the love that I want to give to them, and it is also a great way for me to teach my child about the values of sharing and love.

I understand and treasure the Vietnamese Tết (Lunar New Year) so much because I am inspired by the love and inspiration from my parents. Those are the elementary lessons taught from home that have become a cultural practice and a beauty of our Vietnamese people, so that no matter where we go or live in this world, we still remember and have a heart to preserve all the good memories of the Vietnamese Tết (Lunar New Year).

How is everyone’s Tết?

Much love,

Truly Inspired.