People with flowers as friends. My mother told me that Gai’s grandfather, who gave birth to her, lived in Hang Gai street, so he called it that to distinguish it from other old people, there was an orchid garden in the house. The width of the old townhouse is usually narrow, only 3 m, the house is 4 m wide, but it is long and deep. Particularly, his house is 8 m wide, leaving space for an inner courtyard. In the yard before the French put the pipe for running water, there was always a well to get water to eat, my great-grandfather planted a garden of orchids.
My mother told me that when I was a child, I often went to Hang Gai Street to watch him take care of the orchid garden. Tools do not water with tap water, there are substances that kill plants. He also does not water with well water. But he bought water from the Red River. At that time, there were people who specialized in drawing alluvial water from the Red River, carrying it by ox cart, going to the streets, selling it to buyers to water plants. That’s how I know that the old Hanoians played really fancy flowers.
Near Tet, he bought daffodils to peel and make flower soup to bloom on Tet. How to peel daffodils to flower is a complicated technique. I just heard my mother say it was difficult. After nearly half a century, Hanoians now play daffodils on Tet holiday. I just bought daffodils to display in the living room, but haven’t tried to peel it yet. Recently, Hanoi’s cultural industry has restored the traditional Tet of old Hanoi at Kim Ngan Dinh Dinh on Hang Bac Street. The living room has a set of mahogany tables and chairs on glossy black water, on the table is a bowl of daffodils, a peach branch with a vase of water hyacinth… so solemn.
During the French colonial period, the French imported Western culture. Many varieties of flowers from temperate regions, flowers from the Mediterranean region were brought to Vietnam for cultivation. In Hanoi new flowers are planted in Ngoc Ha village. To become a famous place, Ngoc Ha flower village. Now that Ngoc Ha village is a city, the land is as expensive as gold, and there is no longer a meter to plant flowers.
Western flowers are beautiful in color but often without fragrance. Flowers often cut branches, put in vases, play for a few days and then leave. Western-style flowers were quickly accepted by modern people, and gradually became an identity of Hanoians. A famous painting by artist To Ngoc Van, “Girl with a lily”, a masterpiece depicting a young girl leaning over a lily, later called a lily.
My mother was sent to a French school by her grandparents from a young age, so she also loves flowers in the Western style. Mom arranged flowers very well. During the subsidy period, she was starving and she mightn’t even eat enough, so she might only play with flowers on New Year’s Day. I still remember on New Year’s Day, following I put the flowers in the vase, there were leftover multi-colored chrysanthemums, my mother cut the stalks, dropped the flowers into a big bowl, which she called the flower bowl. This bowl of colorful flowers every year I see on the reception table. Later, I rarely see anyone arrange flowers in this way.
When my parents got old, the family conditions were better now, my mother went to the market for a few days and bought a bunch of flowers to arrange in the living room, so she and the florist became close. Later, following having a stroke and lying in one place unable to walk, my mother still directed me to buy flowers for Tet during Tet. Mother always said to buy a peach branch and a bouquet of red gladiolus. Sometimes when my mother gets a little better, I take her to the flower market to buy flowers for Tet.
These days, the streets of Hanoi are filled with flowers. When spring comes, looking at flowers reminds me of people. Oh the old people of Hanoi, gone now.
Author: Doctor, Doctor Quan The Dan graduated from Hanoi Medical University in 1983, used to treat and teach at a number of medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. private healthcare sector.
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