[ First day of Lunar New Year ]

Have a nice day Hive Bees!

I guess most of you have gone through 2023 for half of January, however, to some Asian countries, such as we Vietnamese, started our official new year just last night.

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Differing from other countries that also celebrate Lunar New Year, Vietnamese choose Cat as one of 12 spiritual animals over Rabbit.

So it is January 1st 2023 today according to our lunar calendar. Yesterday's Eve was stirred up with annual fireworks’ launched into the night sky. I can not describe exactly how colorful it was since I have stopped watching fireworks for years. I simply stayed home and heard the legal firecrackers and fireworks exploding loudly on the rooftop while I was dealing with my final essay for Marx Philosophy. Even my mother, she decided not to go out to celebrate Eve with others this year. To be precise, the Tet atmosphere currently is not as intense as it was many years ago, after a long period of quarantine and economic decline. Back then before the spread of COVID19, my mother would always buy sunflowers, confetti, or marigolds to decorate the living room a bit more lively. However, we will have no guests this time so we only cleaned the house without doing any ornaments. I have spent my luck on the shifting moment at 0 o’clock by doing gacha and got a high-grade character (not the one I want but whatever, something is better than nothing). That was surprisingly joyful to be honest, it nearly made me doubt my below assumption about “just a switch of time”. Eventually, I am not that easy to be bent.

I think the similarity to the earlier Tet is the food and refreshments. My mother bought special dishes for New Year as she has always been doing: Bánh Chưng, Bánh Tét, Lạp Xưởng, and some butter cookies of many brands. Bánh Chưng and Bánh Tét are used for our traditional worshiping rituals so I think they are annually quite necessary. I consumed a couple of Bánh Chưng 2 days ago, still I can feel the sticky feeling in my guts, what an experience. You know, the nightmare of Tet holiday is weight gain, of course we can prevent it from happening, nonetheless, sometimes parents are the main cause. I have done my workout for a few days, in the hope that after Tet my physique would get a little bit fitter (even though it is somehow 95% contrast to the common reality).

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The square shaped one is Bánh Chưng, and the cylinder shaped is Bánh Tét. Their stuffing are quiet the same with sticky rice, pork meet, pork grease, and green beans. Beside them are typical sweets for Tet, Mứt dừa or coconut jam (not slimy texture), watermelon seeds, banana candy, peanut candy, Mứt bí or melon jam (the bright orange ones, sticky but not slimy as well), Mứt gừng or ginger jam (yellow slices) and sugared lotus seeds

Another worthy expectation is playing cards. I am not a gambler, but I like earning trivial income that way (only in Tet!) I used to play with my family and maternal relatives, Blackjack or Southern Tien Len, both were pretty interesting. Yet, I have not played them for a long time. Some dilemmas happened and made it hard for everyone to gather around again. Or because their cards were shown, we no longer wanted to get along with them. Fortunately, I am a risky player and I am willing to earn some small change to pay my moped’s keeping fee. My mother has offered to ride me to play with my cousins, certainly I said yes.

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Blackjack cards. I will not explain the gameplay of this because I do not want to turn this daily post into a gambling one LOL

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Southern Tien Len is simply the straight of the cards you have from 3 to K. You can also play a twin or triplet from 3 to K in case you start or follow the previous players'. As "Tiến lên" means "Advance", the following player must hand out a higher value straight or cards than their former opponents. Why don't I mention the 2 card? Because once the 2 is played, or twin 2 is played, the harsh game would definitely start. And if someone have a four-of-a-kinds of 2, they win the game and take all the bet money. Apart from gambling, Tien Len is really an intellectual game cards when you have to count how many cards are down on the table to guess others' hands. If you are interested in, I might explain it in another post.

Have I mentioned “Lucky money”? If I must say, it was one of the things I loved the most whenever Lunar New Year came. When I was a child, for sure. Now I am 19 years old, not too old to receive lucky money. Howbeit, younger me cared about the value of the polymers, while older me is concerned for from whom the polymers would come. I bet you can tell the difference here.

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Ordinarily, lucky money are put into red envelopes and given to kids or the elderly. Rest assure! Giving without envelopes will not be a matter. But it would show more respect that the giver has towards the elderly they give if it is put inside the red envelope.

Usual rituals of the previous times were to visit relatives and ancestors' graveyards on the first day of Tet, and I am not finishing them this year as well. Maybe my mother will take me out somewhere in the evening? Well I can not tell. She is taking care of my ill grandparents for the time being at my aunt’s house. That is the reason why I am not going anywhere right now without her company. And this new neighborhood is such an ideal place for tranquility lovers like me. Instead of the cheerful New Year songs, the almost absolute silence has occupied the air. I tried looking outside the glasses and what I saw was a sunny space with Vietnam flags flapping to the wind. Are they really going somewhere? The people? Or are they the same to me, that New Year is just a switch of time? My plan for today is nothing special, I just wish I would complete my one-hour workout this afternoon successfully. I am listening to my favourite Lana Del Rey’s music when typing these words, then I will continue my essay once I publish this one on Hive.

In case you question where my Tet photos are, pardon me. This is the only one I shot, at yesterday afternoon.

So how is your January going? I hope you are all managing well with your life and everything!

Regards.