In the last days of the year, people hustle, go back and forth, worry regarding finishing the last jobs to look forward to returning home soon, but there are also many people still “rolling around” in the distance, quietly nesting in the middle of the city. Prosperous, looking forward to returning home with tears in their eyes…
“I won’t come back this spring” – only someone in that situation can understand and feel the loneliness in the depths of their soul. New Year away from home, miss my parents, whose hair has turned gray because of the wind and fog waiting for us to come back, miss the reunion meal, miss the smell of hometown smoke in the boiling pot of banh chung on the followingnoon of the thirtieth year, miss the frozen meat, miss the onions mother’s salt palanquin, remember the laughter of loved ones and remember the taste of family and friendship.
Remember the pot of banh chung my mother cooked on the followingnoon of the 30th of Tet. Photo: Shutterstock
My cousin, from Thai Binh province, has been working for the south for almost 15 years. The day before, she called and her voice was choked: “This New Year, I can’t come back, following the epidemic, the sewing company where she made orders also decreased a lot, The workers take turns to rest, the salary is meager, so they stay in Saigon to get something to do overtime and then continue next year.”
Having lost so many things, Tet with workers far from home is not comfortable and full. They sacrifice happy moments of being reunited with family and loved ones to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Among the tens of thousands of people working in southern industrial zones such as Saigon, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, etc., there are also thousands of workers who cannot return to their hometown to celebrate Tet like everyone else. There are many reasons for people to not return. When coming home to celebrate Tet, the salary is not enough to pay for a trip home, it’s rice, rice, money… As Tet approaches, the choking and self-pity in the urban area is even more intense.
There’s nothing like a New Year’s Eve with family. Photo: Shutterstock
Spring does not come to understand the loneliness, in the sacred moment of transfer of heaven and earth to welcome the new year, a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks without having time to wipe them. It is a crowded city but still feel lost without a loved one. It is an empty moment, alone in a small room with no one to share. It is the regret that the children away from home miss their appointment in the “reunification” train together and swallow it whole. Each fate, each life scene is a different situation, but they all have one thing in common: celebrating Tet away from home.
That’s when I knew that people who were far away from home when Tet came back in the spring, they filled their hearts with nostalgia for their homeland. The homeland “where we bury each other and cut our navel” is not only Tet, it is also a moment of reunion, the atmosphere of Tet with many ancient customs and traditions imbued with the national soul. In that moment of sacred New Year’s Eve, each family member offers to ancestors, grandparents, incense sticks to express gratitude, good wishes to the one who has lived for a long time. Health, peace, is a wish for a happy husband and wife’s family, good children and grandchildren. Tet in the heart of the homeland is as beautiful as ancient songs, romantic and peaceful is like that…
Homeland is very dear for two hours, the homeland is like a sweet mother’s milk still tolerantly protecting us on the chosen life path. Although you do not return this spring, my heart still reminds me of the homeland where my parents and loved ones are waiting to welcome me back in the coming springs.