Tet needs protecting under new colonialism

Traditional games come to town at Tet in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Phuong Quyen/ Tuoi Tre

Tet, Vietnam's Lunar New Year festival, comes under scrutiny every year as its impact on business is assessed and Vietnamese compare notes on their experience of the latest event. This time of recreation and family re-connection has its detractors, but firm defenders, too, as we will see below.

As with Easter, the festival occurs in accord with the lunar calendar, so its dates change each year and so do the arrangement of the public holidays, of which five are codified, though an adjacent weekend can extend the time off work and school. Business operators and experts in the field have raised calls for a fixed-date holiday structure.

Other factors lead Vietnamese to turn their backs on Tet traditions. Businesses entice workers with up to double normal pay rates to stay on the job and keep production flowing. Those with the means often make the most of the opportunity to travel, not to their hometown, but abroad. Young people with few resources sometimes see it as a waste of money to travel home, with fares rising hugely, and because they feel they must comply with the customary gift-giving. Also, they cringe at the practice of family investigating their urban lifestyle, romantic activities, and especially, their economic condition. Vietnamese can be very direct in asking how much a person earns, along with their age.  

Though Tet remains solidly entrenched within Vietnamese society, modern ways of thinking, in particular the individualism and consumerism Western cultural colonialism imposes, are weakening its unifying force and its ability to uplift the people through focusing on what is noble, lovely and admirable relating to the past and present.

Fortunately, Tet has defenders who uphold this precious legacy of their ancestors. Trinh Nguyen is one defender, though she admits to having once been among the "boycott Tet" brigade of young Vietnamese. Now, with doctoral study and work experience overseas, she has very strong views on Tet's value. She writes:

I now see Tet as a special gift inherited from our ancestors. Just as we give children lucky money during Tet, our ancestors worked hard to preserve the tradition of saving a few days a year from work so their descendants will not be swooped away in the frantic typhoon of economic growth.

Let each person use this lucky gift the way he or she chooses. Let Tet be a period when the extroverts have a fantastic time partying and gathering, the introverts have their peaceful moments with their warm tea and Tet candies, the elders cheerfully wait for visits from their children, the young have time to finish their books, and the children learn to appreciate a red Tet envelope containing a sincere New Year wish rather than a high-value note.

The question is not whether to keep or to abandon Tet but rather how to celebrate it. By focusing on the value that Tet brings, Tet is no longer a burden. It is a time of harmony and synchrony between old and young, yin and yang.   

North America fades by comparison

Nguyen compares the Vietnamese approach to life with the experiences of Canadians and Americans:

During the two weeks prior to Tet, people's minds are already busy shopping and cooking. The common work email reply is: "Out of the office." Your co-workers are excited about their extended annual leave. Some projects seem to halt forever; the delivery schedule is uncertain, and many plans suddenly need to wait until after Tet. The whole system pauses to prepare for Tet. I advocated, therefore, abandoning this time- and energy-consuming holiday. I believed that by only celebrating the calendar New Year, Vietnam would be more advanced and more productive.

[However,] after more than 10 years working and studying in both Vietnam and Canada (I now live in Vancouver, Canada, where most people only have one or two days off for their New Year), I realized how much I miss the anticipation of the public announcement of the duration of the Tet holiday for that year. And I wonder, what are we all working for?

The exciting projects are endless. Success and ambition go hand-in-hand. Some people work to bring prosperity to their families; yet, "prosperity" has no limits. Some people work for their passion, and sometimes the passion swirls them away from their family before they realize it. The United States is a good example of this work-centric view.

The United States is particularly sparing with days off. It is the only developed country that offers no paid maternity or paternity leave to expecting parents. Parental leave is at the mercy of the employer. Most mothers, consequently, rush back to work as soon as they finish delivering their baby. A nine-year ethnography study of American bankers by Dr. Alexandra Michel in 2011 showed that the more successful these executives are, the more they work. One study participant shared that he must not miss a meeting even though his serious back pain forced him to lie on the conference table. The idea that hundreds of millions of people in Vietnam and other countries are willing to stop working for one week would be inconceivable to these executives.

Tet is intense, and Vietnamese take this time seriously, but, as Nguyen says, the burdens of Tet participation have to be seen from the perspective of service to society. She also advocates focusing on what is essential to the annual event, and dispense with what is not. "It is a time of harmony..." and within that, it can be a time of creativity in seeking to achieve the ancient goals. 

Ω See also: Tet 2024: Lunar New Year in Vietnam (photos)

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