More than 20 years of keeping the tradition of 'the 3rd day of Tet for teachers'

Regularly on Lunar New Year, many students choose to gather with their teachers, the people who taught them to be good people, keeping the tradition of 'on the 3rd day of Tet, we honor teachers'.

Students come to wish their homeroom teacher (third from right) a Happy New Year on the third day of Tet - Photo: NVCC

It could be the homeroom teacher, subject teacher or simply the person who has the most memories with the student during their school years.

Many people, now 25 or 26 years old, still remember and visit to wish a Happy New Year to the teachers who helped them write neatly in elementary school.

More than 20 years teachers still waiting

Right from the days before Tet, the class of Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc (25 years old, living in Binh Phuoc ) started to bustlingly discuss visiting teacher Cao Van Bien (54 years old, living in Binh Phuoc) - the homeroom teacher of class 2 of the whole group.

Since learning to ride a bike to school, Duc and his classmates have had a habit of visiting teacher Bien for Tet. He remembers that when they first visited the teacher, the whole group went empty-handed. When they were in middle school, they started pooling money to buy a box of cakes. When they were in high school, the whole group saved their school money to buy bigger gifts.

Anh Duc and his group of friends visited Mr. Bien - Photo: NVCC

Mr. Duc said his group used to be very crowded, there were always at least 10 people when they visited the teacher. This year, due to work and losing contact with many people, the group of students who came to visit the teacher who taught them for more than 20 years has only 5 people left.

“Mostly these are friends who live near the teacher, who keep in touch with him regularly, so they come every Tet. Some others have families and are busy with work, so they have gradually separated from the group. 5-10 people is fine, as long as they can visit the teacher, it is fun,” said Mr. Duc.

Teacher Bien had to put down his chalk and blackboard for three years due to illness. There were many visitors during Tet, but he reserved the third day just to receive his students.

“Since 7am on the 3rd, students have been ringing the doorbell, the most crowded are still the kids from my nearest class, nearly 15 of them.

The German group is the smallest, but it is the group that I really like. For more than 20 years, every year I wait for them to visit," Mr. Bien confided.

For more than two decades, from the kids who used to come to visit him on their bicycles, now some are engineers, some are doctors... "Every time I come, I ask them to take out old photos, point out their faces, and tell stories about their school days," Mr. Bien shared.

A chance to chat

For Nguyen Thi My Chau (20 years old, living in Binh Phuoc), on the 3rd day of this year, she went to visit Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan - homeroom teacher of grade 12 - to wish her a Happy New Year. Chau had the chance to meet her old friend again.

Since graduating from high school, Chau's homeroom teacher has maintained a common class chat group, always asking about and caring about each student's studies: "Our class size is 28. In the past two years, even though some people go to university and some have jobs, we always set aside the 3rd day of the new year to visit our homeroom teacher."

Many of my friends choose to study at universities outside Hanoi , so only on occasions like this that I have the chance to meet my teachers again. But according to Chau, every time we meet, it's like a festival, we can talk endlessly.

My Chau and her friends visited the homeroom teacher of grade 12 - Photo: NVCC

“In the past, she seemed strict in class, but at home she was the complete opposite. We all received lucky money from her,” Chau said.

Ms. Loan clearly felt the maturity of each student through the Tet holidays they visited: "The children started visiting each other during the first year I was homeroom teacher, and now it has been three consecutive years."

Ms. Loan said that besides family, teachers like her really look forward to seeing their old students again during Tet. "The most precious thing is that after so many years, the kids still remember me. They don't need any gifts, just having them all come to my house is enough to make me happy," Ms. Loan said emotionally.

In addition to students coming to her house to wish her a Happy New Year, Ms. Loan also received many wishes from students via text messages and social networks.

Meanwhile, Ho Thi Anh Nguyet (23 years old, living in Binh Phuoc) also used to have a group of classmates who organized visits to their teachers every Tet. But in the past four years, from 15 group members, now only Nguyet and three other friends are interested in this.

Nguyet shared: "I know everyone is busy with family matters, but I hope everyone will try to keep the tradition of the 3rd day of Tet."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hon-20-nam-giu-nep-mung-3-tet-thay-20250131153318857.htm