HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE BUFFALO !!!
On the 5th day of Tet (30th of January 2009)
Dear confreres, relatives and friends,
Chùuc möng nam môùi ! Happy New Year ! Isn’t it a bit late to wish someone a happy new year? Not at all! In Vietnam, although the country follows the western calendar, people still pay attention to the lunar calendar. According to this calendar, the New Year of this year fell on the 26th of January. It is the most important feast of the year and for most of the Vietnamese, the only period of the year when they can take holidays, for four to ten days, or even more if they are students. People prepare for the feast carefully. They decorate their houses, there are flowers everywhere; in the city, you can see decoration lights like at Christmas time in Europe. Those who can afford it go back to their hometown, by plane, bus, train or motorbike; everything is fine as long as you arrive on time in your hometown!
Exotic and beautiful fruits and flowers everywhere
during the Tet (New Year) feast...
Last year, my community decided to go to celebrate Tet in the family of our vietnamese confrere, Father Trinh, in the Mekong Delta region. This year, we split; Father Patrick stayed at home, Trinh went back to his hometown and I was invited by a vietnamese family to celebrate Tet in Vung Tau, a city along the sea. I went there with a religious sister who had invited me, and with her aunt and cousin. Besides the immersion in vietnamese language, I was deeply touched by the atmosphere in the family who welcomed me.
I realized that the family bond is a very strong value in vietnamese society. During the Tet festival, the tradition is to go to visit your relatives, starting with the house where the grand-parents live. When you arrive at their home, people pray together and then one member of the family greets the grandparents in a formal way: “I wish you, grandmother or grandfather, a happy new year, wealth, happiness, the grace of the Lord,…” Once the wishes have been expressed, the elders will also express wishes for their family and then distribute some red envelopes that contain “lucky money”. Everybody laughs and enjoys this moment very much. Then, it is time for a meal. People eat and drink ( you don’t stop eating and drinking for several days…) and everybody is truly very happy.
The New Year, an opportunity to pray together for the family, at home and in the church.
I don’t like to make comparisons between vietnamese society and western society because I think that every society has good and bad qualities. Nevertheless, vietnamese society has something to tell us about the importance of the family as an area where everybody feels comfortable and warmly welcome. In western society, beginning in childhood, the great value is autonomy. In Europe, when it is possible, each child has his own room. Soon they will leave their family, for a short period at first, participating in youth camps, or holidays with friends, and progressively they will be away for a long time, especially if they study at university. To be autonomous, independent, is a sign of maturity in our western society.
Is there something more precious than friendship and joy to be together ?
The situation in Vietnam is completely different. Here, from childhood, people live with their brothers and sisters and their parents. The price of housing is so high that a young couple will never be able to live in their own apartment. The wife or the husband joins their family-in-law and, most of the time, the whole family live together in the same room. Consequently, physical loneliness is something totally absent in Vietnam. Another important value in the vietnamese culture is the respect for the elders and the veneration for the ancestors. In every family, you can see an altar for the dead with pictures of the ancestors, as well as statues of Jesus and Mary if it is a christian family or Buddha if the family is Buddhist.
During the Tet festival, when people go to visit each other, they pray together and if a priest comes with them, it is considered as a blessing. In the morning, the vietnamese go to mass at 5.00 am; the first day of the year, the mass is celebrated for peace, the second day for the family and the third day for the dead. The other days, mass is celebrated at 4.30 am and the church is crowded! They even ring the bells at 4.00 ! As usual, I was warmly welcomed by the parish priest who invited me to preside at masses during my stay, one at 4.30 am. So early (!) and I had to preach!
I am very grateful to sister Doan who invited me in her family for these fabulous holidays!
Being so warmly welcomed by many families, I find it tough sometimes to renounce having my own family, but the christian communities are so supportive that I feel encouraged to thank the Lord for the life He has given me and the joy of being a pastor! I wish you a holy and joyful new year for the Year of the Buffalo.
Father Frédéric.
Our Lady with the Child, pray for us...
