‘Tet’ is by far the biggest holiday in our culture. Every year, my family gets together on
this day, we travel to temple, make visits to our loved ones, bringing gifts. Afterwards, the party gets started with a feast of food, gambling (yes, Blackjack, etc), and being with each other. It’s a ritual that has taken place since I could remember. Each person has their own definition of the day of Tet. To me, it’s a day to start over again, like a new beginning and maybe an omen for the year to come. When I was younger, I received money from elders (aunts and uncles) in little red envelopes and used to make out like a bandit, a couple hundred dollars. Mind, you, I have a huge family! Now that I am older it is time for me to give back to my little cousins and I find myself lucky to get even a dollar!
It’s been tough since I went to college because I have always been away from my family on this occasion. It’s been refreshing of late being here in LA where half of the family is. But this year was especially strange because all of my aunts and uncles traveled back to Vietnam to celebrate. Hence, the ‘2nd’ generation, my cousins and I, were left by ourselves. We had no clue what do and it did not even dawn on me that we should have held our own ritual all together until it was too late. Afterall, we ARE the next generation, what will happen as we have children, will this tradition pass on? My cousins, Tina, Vanee, and Caroline did the best we could. The night of, New Year’s, I decided to cook for Vanee, Caroline, and some friends a meal, not necessarily representative of what we normally eat but, nevertheless an interesting effort. A menu of 5 courses, I attempted a tribute to the Year of the Pig, which was average and did not compare to the traditional poached chicken, sweet rice, caramelized fish and or/beef, pickled cabbage, ‘pork sausage’ wrapped in banana leaves, roasted pork and of course what we younger generation folk like to call ‘the brick’ rice, mung bean, peppered pork cake (Banh Trung). I apologize but I don’t have a picture, everyone who is not Vietnamese would be interested to see what this cake is like. It’s wrapped in Banana leaves and on top of the leaves there could be a lucky red envelope. We usually eat this cake for days before and after the new year. Although afterwards, we find other variations, a.k.a. frying the darned thing, yes, frying, after all we are Americanized! It’s actually very good tasty fried and I am bummed this year that I have not had my intake.
Moving on, as it strikes midnight on the new, we usually ward off evil spirits with incense throughout the whole house, bless our ancestors (my grandparents, great-grandparents) and Buddha, f
eed them those delights and give our loved warm wishes. My mom throws rice on our front porch to make sure we are healthy and prosperous for the new year. Some of my cousins feast at midnight as well. This year, I actually served my grandparents some of my food. I hope they enjoyed it because it was the first time they had ever tasted my cooking! The next day, my cousin Tina and I went to temple and tried to gamble and feast on some foods we bought from the Vietnamese store. I have to admit it just wasn’t the same. I really missed my family, my aunts happily cooking away, kids running throughout the house, the loud yammering of my uncles when they won gambling, and most of all, just being together. I think I learned a valuable lesson this new year, cherish your family, friends and the moments, because change is inevitable.
this day, we travel to temple, make visits to our loved ones, bringing gifts. Afterwards, the party gets started with a feast of food, gambling (yes, Blackjack, etc), and being with each other. It’s a ritual that has taken place since I could remember. Each person has their own definition of the day of Tet. To me, it’s a day to start over again, like a new beginning and maybe an omen for the year to come. When I was younger, I received money from elders (aunts and uncles) in little red envelopes and used to make out like a bandit, a couple hundred dollars. Mind, you, I have a huge family! Now that I am older it is time for me to give back to my little cousins and I find myself lucky to get even a dollar!It’s been tough since I went to college because I have always been away from my family on this occasion. It’s been refreshing of late being here in LA where half of the family is. But this year was especially strange because all of my aunts and uncles traveled back to Vietnam to celebrate. Hence, the ‘2nd’ generation, my cousins and I, were left by ourselves. We had no clue what do and it did not even dawn on me that we should have held our own ritual all together until it was too late. Afterall, we ARE the next generation, what will happen as we have children, will this tradition pass on? My cousins, Tina, Vanee, and Caroline did the best we could. The night of, New Year’s, I decided to cook for Vanee, Caroline, and some friends a meal, not necessarily representative of what we normally eat but, nevertheless an interesting effort. A menu of 5 courses, I attempted a tribute to the Year of the Pig, which was average and did not compare to the traditional poached chicken, sweet rice, caramelized fish and or/beef, pickled cabbage, ‘pork sausage’ wrapped in banana leaves, roasted pork and of course what we younger generation folk like to call ‘the brick’ rice, mung bean, peppered pork cake (Banh Trung). I apologize but I don’t have a picture, everyone who is not Vietnamese would be interested to see what this cake is like. It’s wrapped in Banana leaves and on top of the leaves there could be a lucky red envelope. We usually eat this cake for days before and after the new year. Although afterwards, we find other variations, a.k.a. frying the darned thing, yes, frying, after all we are Americanized! It’s actually very good tasty fried and I am bummed this year that I have not had my intake.
Moving on, as it strikes midnight on the new, we usually ward off evil spirits with incense throughout the whole house, bless our ancestors (my grandparents, great-grandparents) and Buddha, f
eed them those delights and give our loved warm wishes. My mom throws rice on our front porch to make sure we are healthy and prosperous for the new year. Some of my cousins feast at midnight as well. This year, I actually served my grandparents some of my food. I hope they enjoyed it because it was the first time they had ever tasted my cooking! The next day, my cousin Tina and I went to temple and tried to gamble and feast on some foods we bought from the Vietnamese store. I have to admit it just wasn’t the same. I really missed my family, my aunts happily cooking away, kids running throughout the house, the loud yammering of my uncles when they won gambling, and most of all, just being together. I think I learned a valuable lesson this new year, cherish your family, friends and the moments, because change is inevitable. 
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