Horse Power

No, Tết, it does not rhyme with bet.
I've heard the word spoken and yet
I throw in the towel.
I can't make that vowel!
The Vietnamese aren't upset.

Happy New Year!

Today is the last day of Tết, the biggest and most important holiday in Vietnam. While it is celebrating the Lunar New Year, that's not all it is. Tết predates the introduction of the lunar calendar to Vietnam. Long ago, when most everyone was a farmer, Tết was a harvest festival. It was a time to give thanks to the earth for its bounty. It was a time to get rid of bad energies and bring in clean good ones. It was a time to ask the gods for a prosperous year to come. And most importantly, it was a time to be with family. Even if someone had moved to another village, Tết was a time to come home.

A welcoming arch to the riverside

Those of us from more temperate regions tend to think of harvest festivals as occurring in the autumn. But in the tropics, there are many planting and harvesting seasons in a year. Originally, Tết was in the spring, in the transition from the drier season to the rainy season. Later, the Vietnamese interacted with the Chinese, either through immigration or conquest. The Chinese brought their calendar along and their celebrations of the new year. The Vietnamese adapted these and somehow Tết got merged with the lunar new year. So Tết today is a mix of the new year traditions and the harvest festival ones.

Painted flower and real flowers. And Alrica

It is still all about family. Officially, Tết is four days long. But in the days leading up to Tết, the big cities empty out as people return to their hometowns to be with their families for the holiday. And it also takes some time for everyone to return. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City become ghost towns. Businesses shut down. We are in Da Nang and it doesn't empy as much. First, a lot of people here are from here, there aren't as many transplants. Also, Da Nang is very much a tourism hub and a place full of expats, so there are more businesses that stay open. Still, there is a law in the country that people who have to work during Tết must be paid double. So some Tết pricing is in effect.

The blue lights along the horse's body turn off and on

This year is the Year of the Horse. We visited the riverfront where there are concerts and decorations. We were approaching a live performance and I said to Alrica, "Those lyrics are in Spanish." We arrived to find a group of Latin dancers. Let me be clear, they were Vietnamese dancers, but they were dancing Latin dances. There was food and activities and lots of happy people.

Not the dancing I expected.

Being foreigners, we aren't engaged in most Tết activities as they are family centered. But we did go out for the midnight fireworks to celebrate the new year. You know what's great about midnight fireworks for the new year in Vietnam that isn't the same when you go to midnight fireworks in the United States? It's a beautiful temperature. January 1 fireworks at midnight at home are always cold. I'm sure the fireworks aren't cold, but I'm cold when I watch them. Here it was an amazing temperature, right around 70 degrees (or 21 degrees if you prefer Celsius. They would say 21 in Vietnam.) The fireworks were beautiful.

We've seen a lot of fireworks lately.

Walking home from the fireworks, we saw people with little metals cans in which they were burning paper. A woman was throwing some small seeds or something seed-like on the ground. I don't fully understand all the traditions, but it was very joyful.

I don't know all about this custom, but everyone was doing it.

There have been many things closed for the last few days, but still plenty of options for us. We took advantage of the time to have Indian food. The Indian restaurants are still open, because their employees, primarily Indian immigrants, don't celebrate Tết. They do sometimes have shortages on some ingredients because so many of the markets are closed.

Same horse, but during the day.

I imagine that over the next few days, things will be returning to normal. But it is nice that so many people got some time off, got to be with their families, got to follow their traditions, and got to welcome in the Year of the Horse.