Cocked up with Tet date. (New Year).

I thought Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, is on 14^th February. I hope nobody has taken notice, or they will miss it. It is on 3^rd February. I checked it out on the web and got it as the 14^th, which says a lot for my browsing prowess. There is a lot of activity going on everywhere in preparation and the calendar, which has Vietnamese and the other one’s dates  didn’t seem to be running in sync, so I checked the calendar out and now I know.

It seems like Tet, encompasses all the West does for Christmas, New Year and spring cleaning. There are fires burning everywhere and a lot of bad, burned, plastic smells to go with them. There is no bin collection off the main drag here, so everyone has to dispose of their own rubbish and the Vietnamese use a lot of plastic bags. They burn easy though. I think the ones in the UK only smoulder and leave a blob of plastic, something I need to check out, well not need perhaps, but something to observe one day. OK, I’ll forget about it all together. Another quirk is that people pay to take away recyclable rubbish. They come around on a bike with a big basket on the back and drop a few bob for the cans and plastic. What’s the chances of the council doing that? Yeah, I thought so.

The houses are all getting spring cleaned and Nu, the mother-in-law, is a cleaning fanatic at normal times, so now I try to keep out of the way. I’ve done a bit, but I am not good at it, I’ll burn the rubbish.

The cleaning has to be done by 23:00 on 30^th December, Tet eve and then everyone has to sit and relax and eat. Then the rest of your year will be the same, not rushed and the house will be clean and have plenty of food. There is no sweeping the dirt out of the house for the 3 days of Tet either. It signifies people sweeping the luck out of the house and there will be no money incoming for the year, or at least the year won’t be a prosperous one. I think the dirt can be swept into a corner and then swept out after day 3.

The first day is for staying at home with your family and eating being good natured and if an argument is brewing, it has to be quelled, put out of your mind, or there will be arguments all year round. Dung told me it is OK to argue on day 2. When I mentioned that if you haven’t argued on day 1, then day 2 should have no arguments, she just smiled. I don’t know how much is believed and how much is just superstition, like not putting on your shirt until you are in the tunnel. It is followed religiously by some and with not so much gusto by others, at least that is how I see it.

I was sipping a ca phe da whilst Dung did some bartering, arguing and buying on the market. She brought some fruit back half way through and I went to put it on the seat next to me. She stopped me and told me to put it on the table. Why? Because it is to go on the altar/shrine in the house and the deceased won’t be happy if it has been where some people’s bums have been. She got some flowers too and wanted to cut them, but I was hogging the sink, so I suggested cutting and cleaning them in the bathroom/toilet, wetroom. No way, these are for the altar too and the deceased won’t be happy if they are sorted out in the toilet. These deceased are a bigger pain dead than alive. If this blog ends here, it is because it is not superstition and I have upset them. Everything that goes on the altar, I don’t know the correct name for it, I’ll try to find out, can be eaten, drunk, smoked or whatever later. It all goes over my head. Yes, the altar is high. There are 3 in our house. 2 inside and one outside. I don’t know any more than that at the moment.

On the first day of New Year food is put out for all the people who are desired to come and visit your home, deceased people, and wish good fortune, luck and health for your home and family for the coming year. On the 3^rd day they get another lot of food for the journey back and to speed them on their way now that they have delivered the necessary. They probably can’t go, because they have over indulged. I’ll have to look into all this. (Mick scan the web for a book for me please, or anyone come to that. Why don’t I do it? Remember my New Year date).

On the first day, it is good to visit nearby family too, but generally staying around the home is preferred.

Day 2 is for visiting friends, but I am not sure all comers are welcome. If someone is a bit of a waster and doesn’t have luck or good fortune, I think they are not too welcome, as they leave some of themselves in your home, so the reverse is true, a good looking rich bloke, driving up in a Ferarri, or landing in his helicopter will be welcomed, unless he is a gangster, I suppose. I think I will be staying at home! Not because I am ugly, a vagabond and generally bad news, although that could be true, but because I don’t want to be held responsible for any bad news in the coming year. I’m starting to believe in some of Dung’s voodoo-like stories of people who can lay a spell on you and I don’t want any payback for any bad tidings I deliver. She believes one of her aunties has the power, but it is possible to hire these lovely people too and the penalties are not minor, death is one of them, so I am told. There are too many superstitions for me to follow them all and I definitely don’t understand some of them. I put a drain pipe in, out the back, to take the waste water from the house to a nearby stream, instead of into our pond. The uncle next door asked if he could join his waste water into our pipe. I said OK. BIG MISTAKE. It is very, bad, luck to have the waste water from somebody else’s house passing through your property and a bit taboo. I wonder if the UK councils know this. It would interesting to bring up at a council meeting, I guess not so, they would just do as normal and ignore anything they like and make up their own rules, said the bitter and twisted, grumpy, old, man.

I’m still paying council tax, whilst my house is unoccupied. There is a rebate of 50%, but that isn’t allowed, because I am going back to the house. “What’s that all about Granddad?” “Beats me Paige.”

Anyway, the uncle and his wife know of this superstition, so a long discussion ensued. It was amicable enough, but not all sides were happy, in fact none were, but it was soon forgotten, as with most such occurrences.

Moving onto day 3. During this day, family should visit the ancestral family house. Granddad’s place. It gets passed down to the youngest son in each generation. I haven’t asked what happens if there are no sons. It doesn’t always seem to work that way anyway, but the ancestral home should be visited anyway. Local members shouldn’t eat there, but go home to eat, but any members travelling will eat there, so a little party will probably spring up and a spring of ruou will probably arrive and then wait and see. As in the U.K., sometimes fireworks, sometimes lots of laughs. I’m going for the laughs, as everyone seems to be getting excited about the approaching Tet celebrations. A similarity with Christmas in the U.K. is that extra money is required and for those who can’t lay hands on it, they lay hands on other people’s property, crime increases. 7 of our 9 chickens went missing the other night. The cold nights seems to be killing of the ducklings too, there are 6 of 12 left. Over the last couple of weeks, the nights have become cooler, I can’t really say cold, as a t-shirt and shorts will still suffice, but if sitting around, long trousers and a jumper may be in order. About 16 degrees, I reckon. It is more damp than cold. There is no rain though. The little pond has dried up and any useful rubbish in it has been retrieved, including a couple of old tree trunks that Binh has used as planters. Flowers are a big affair at Tet. Everyone seems to want them. Mang, a lad down the road, came home with a load on the back of his moto,  he was almost instantly mobbed, it was nearly as bad as the welly wagon at Glastonbury. He made a few bob on the side and made some local people happy. Today and last evening has been spent potting them up, along with cleaning and tidying. There is a tree, I don't know the name, but all the leaves are picked off 2 weeks before Tet and they are supposed to flower profusely for Tet. I have my doubts, but hope I am being too pessimistic. It must work as everyone has taken the leaves off, it is a bit like a ritual. Hiep told me it is called giving the trees a new shirt for Tet, or similar. I have take a photo of some bare trees, just as proof for other doubters.

Trees waiting for their new shirts.

Grave in amongst the paddy fields.

A few days before Tet, the family graves are tidied and decorated too. Dung’s family’s are behind some pig sties. They weren’t there originally, or last year, come to that. The sewage from the pigs seems to be seeping onto the ground around the graves. I would think that is a big no no, but haven’t heard anything kicking off yet. Watch this space. The graves are in out of the way places sometimes. The middle of paddy fields seems to be a popular place. I’m not sure if it isn’t to bring good returns on the crops, as they are watched over by the ancestral owners, something else to check out. It may be just that the land is owned by them, so they are buried there.

Well, Tet approaches, I had better go and do something. A shower I think. The football is on tonight, internet and power permitting, otherwise another trip into town to watch it in a cafe may be the order of the night. Bars are not common around here, but I am not complaining.