Notes From Hanoi
by Jan Beecher
While all you saps in B.C. have
been gearing up for Valentine’s
Day and Olympic Ceremonies,
Hanoi has been building up to
their biggest annual celebration—
Tet Holiday. This is the Lunar
New Year, or what we know
in Canada as the Chinese New
Year. It is honoured with three
official days off, along with several
days of hardly working. The
college I work at is closed for a
week and there are no classes for
three weeks. I have found it very
similar to our Christmas celebrations.
Feb. 13 was the eve of Tet. I
believe it is known as the Thirtieth
Day. Because the holiday is
governed by the moon, the date
of Tet changes yearly, just like our
Easter. Calendars here all have
two sets of numbers on them:
Gregorian calendar dates (that’s
what “the world” uses) and Lunar
calendar dates.
In the days leading up to Tet,
people shop, cook, and prepare.
ABBA throbbed through store
speakers like some intercontinental
nightmare. Motorcycles,
adorned with Tet kumquat trees
and Tet blossom trees, teetered
down the roads. I saw live pigs,
chickens by the dozen, and
flatscreen TVs, all bungied to
motorbikes. Often they would be
so tightly packed that any extra
passenger had to sit in front of
the driver, curled up so as not to
block his view.
Flower shops and Tet specialty
shops materialized all over
the city. Weird things appeared
in the markets, like square cakes
of sticky rice wrapped in banana
leaves, goldfish for the kitchen
gods, stacks of butchered dogs,
and chickens all plucked and
posed, ready for flight (and cooking)
in decorative bowls.
The sounds of this city changed
in the last few days as the maze of
alleys absorbed the population of
Hanoi. Families settled together
in their homes. Their motorcycles
are still for once; the streets
are abandoned. Now children’s
giggles and squeals echo up from
the courtyards, freed from long
days in school and extra lessons.
As I write this, there is a family
somewhere down below having a
sing-along around a piano. Only
some of them know the words,
and the piano player stumbles
and laughs once in a while.
I went for a walk this morning,
the first day of Tet, to enjoy
the rare solitude of empty Hanoi
streets. Everything is closed.
What were stores yesterday are
now kitchens. They still leave
their doors open and you can
see families around tables. Store
merchandise is pushed aside disguised
with balloons and the red
and gold decorations of Tet. Altars
are piled high with food and
money for ancestors. The air is
not full of exhaust for a change.
Instead, it is filled with incense
burning, the smoke from lucky
money, and spices from delicious
Tet food. Lots of laughter. It feels
good to be near such closeness.
Today, my Canadian friend
and I are going to hole up in her
apartment and watch seasons of
Sex and the City, her tradition on
Valentine’s Day. We have hopes
of finding a pizza to be delivered.
I think I will bring a package or
two of noodles just in case.
How lucky I am to get to bring
in 2010 a second time. The year
of the Tiger. My year.