New Year's Eve Dress | SAIGON GIAI PHONG NEWSPAPER

Every late winter, when it's drizzling outside, the cold of Central Hue , groups of people hurry down to the fields to quickly plant the last rice seedlings to go home to prepare for Tet...

When spring comes, in the garden, flowers are blooming, and people remind each other to prune the leaves of a few apricot trees so that they can bloom in time for Tet. This is also the time when everyone pays attention to the Tet costumes in their house…

In the middle of December, people working far away from home gradually return to their hometowns. People in the neighborhood ask those working far away if they will be returning home for Tet this year. The stories are updated daily, heating up the current situation of Tet in the hometowns…

In the old days of Tet, life in the countryside was simple and peaceful. All year round, people worked in the fields and gardens. But mid-December was the time when many families made new clothes for each family member.

Tailor shops in the countryside start to heat up when December comes. At that time, there were only a few small tailor shops in my village. They were hand-sewn with foot pedals, but the stitches were excellent. So there was a lot of sewing on normal days, and even more near Tet…

Fabrics for making Tet clothes are piled up, tailors have to hire extra staff to make buttons and iron the clothes after they are finished. They work hard day and night to get them in time for customers to pick up…

In the old days, ironing clothes was a lot of work. I still remember the iron with a rooster-shaped head. Put in charcoal, sit and fan the charcoal until it was red hot, cover it and put it in to iron, iron for a while until the charcoal cooled down, open it, fan it again and iron… It could take more than an hour to finish ironing a set of clothes. Unlike today, with electric irons, it takes five to ten minutes to finish and it’s clean. But if you go back to the old days, there would no longer be irons with a rooster-shaped head! Because at one time, merchants talked to each other to buy all irons of this type…

In the countryside, if the family is well off, they can get their clothes made early to avoid waiting. Otherwise, they will only have money to bring home from work far away before Tet, and they will have to wait until the last minute of the old year to get their children to have their clothes measured and made...

The tailors in the village are also very skillful, not only do they sew well but they are also very good at handling situations. When customers come to receive their tailoring on Tet holiday, they are still happy to leave even though it is not finished yet. Because they are promised a “near future”. Sometimes the tailors have finished sewing but the collar has not been put on yet, sometimes the zipper has not been put on yet, sometimes the tailors have finished sewing but have not ironed yet…

The pressure of work during Tet makes me feel sorry for the tailors, sometimes they stay up until dawn to make sure their orders are on time. In the days leading up to Tet, customers come and go from tailor shops busily. Those who receive their clothes happily leave with their new ones, while those who haven’t received theirs are still hopeful for the next day…

On the eve of the New Year, five customers came to pick up their clothes and left, just as New Year's Eve had arrived. Ending the old year and welcoming the new year, a job of beautifying people! Mixed feelings of joy and sadness, hard work but happiness!

On the first morning of the new year, after staying up all night to celebrate New Year's Eve, everyone woke up late, but the children of every family woke up earlier than usual, getting out of bed and immediately looking for new clothes. They wanted to put them on and leave early, but their parents told them: "Let the person with the right age enter your house first in the new year, then you can go to their house later, okay kids!"

The children looked through the door to see if someone was coming from the house next door, so they ran out into the street to meet each other, showing off their new clothes, their faces filled with happiness, happily playing on the first day of the new year.

Adults visit each other on the first day of the new year, burn incense for their ancestors, chat and wish each other a happy new year, not forgetting bright red lucky money envelopes for the children. New shirt pockets still have the fresh smell of fabric and red lucky money envelopes, which are the happiness that comes back to the children of the old Tet...

Outside, a few drops of spring rain linger on the apricot branches, rolling on the leaves, on each yellow apricot petal, a slight breeze, swaying and swaying. The yellow flowers are just right, on the first day of the year, the trees in the garden seem to be young again, people seem to be filled with energy from the spring flowers and grass. Simple happiness: The new dress of the old Tet is like that...

CAO NGOC TOAN

Tam Giang High School, Phong Dien, Thua Thien - Hue

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ao-moi-tet-xua-post724615.html