Online Lunar New Year celebrations

On the third Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, Thai Thai Son (born in 1995) from Tran Phu ward (Bac Giang city) stays in the Republic of Korea. He is currently a PhD student at the Incheon National University, about 50 km from Seoul. He is trying to complete a doctoral programme in mechanical engineering.

Thai Thai Son – a PhD student in the RoK.

In the days before the traditional Lunar New Year, like many Vietnamese people living far from home, in the hustle and bustle of work, Son always remembers the year-end meals for family reunion. This year’s occasion, he can neither return to his home country nor meet with friends to celebrate Tet in the foreign land because the epidemic in the RoK is still complicated.

The Incheon National University now hosts 20 Vietnamese students. In the first year here, he and his Vietnamese friends together decorated the room, wrapped banh chung (square sticky rice cake), and cooked traditional dishes for Tet. The joyful atmosphere made him and everyone less homesick.

This Tet, they plan to celebrate the Lunar New Year's Eve online by phone. The programme has been meticulously planned, such as organizing exchanges, sharing learning experience, doing scientific research in combination with a few musical performances to create a close and friendly atmosphere.

Sharing with compatriots

From the port city of Odessa in Ukraine, Tran An Mo (born in 1973) from Le Loi ward (Bac Giang city) also wishes to go home for Tet but could not because of the Covid-19 epidemic. She has been running a business for 24 years in Sen Village area – which is home to more than 200 people from Bac Giang.

Tran An Mo is happy with her family on Tet holiday.

Mo said Ukraine's time zone is 4 hours behind Vietnam's, so at the time of the Lunar New Year's Eve, the Vietnamese community in Odessa also celebrates Tet like in Vietnam. Families burn incense to worship their ancestors and welcome the new year. On the first day of Tet, people stay at home and go to each other's houses to congratulate each other. On the second day, all trading and business activities at markets and commercial centers of Vietnamese people go back to normal.

Despite being far from home, people still feel the atmosphere of the nation’s traditional Tet. The Tet offering tray is full of dishes, including square sticky rice cake, soup with dried bamboo shoots and vermicelli, salted onions, spring rolls and chicken meat... Houses are decorated with apricots, peaches, and kumquats. On the altar, there is a tray of five fruits, with the faint scent of incense, leaving a very cozy feeling.

In 2021, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out in Bac Giang, Mo and the community of Bac Giang people in Odessa raised donations and transferred 80 million VND (3,535 USD) to the Covid-19 prevention and control fund of the province. Although the amount was not large, it showed the feelings and hearts of Bac Giang people living and working overseas.

Take care of each other

Hoang Thi Hai (born in 1984) from My Thai commune (Lang Giang district) is working in Cyprus. This year she does not return to her hometown to celebrate Tet due to the complicated situation of the epidemic. Hai has been in Cyprus for 14 years. The last Tet she was reunited with her family was in 2018.

Hoang Thi Hai celebrates the birthday of the elderly she is taking care of.

Currently, in Cyprus, there are about 8,000 Vietnamese workers, with 80 percent coming from Bac Giang, mainly women from Lang Giang, Luc Nam and Yen Dung districts.

Hai's work is to take care of the elderly couple. For 14 years living in the foreign country, she has served as a caregiver for four families, taking care of six elderly people, most of whom are 90 years old or older. Currently, Hai is looking after an elderly couple (a 95-year-old man and a 93-year-old woman).

According to Hai, far from her hometown, the Vietnamese community in Cyprus still celebrates the traditional Lunar New Year happily and warmly. On the Lunar New Year's Eve, Vietnamese often gather to burn incense and organize cultural and art activities such as singing contest and fashion show.

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