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Vietnam dear homeland – Photo: DUYEN PHAN
In many countries I have been to, people just say “Independence Day”, “Independence Day”, “National Day”, but there is no equivalent phrase “Independence New Year”.
Perhaps only the Vietnamese understand that the three words “independent Tet” contain so many sacred things of a great day. Tet is the beginning of something new. Tet is accompanied by hope, happiness and joy. Tet is also a meeting day.
“I’m still in Indonesia, no flight to Vietnam yet, but I’ll have an independent Tet with you from afar!” I replied to Huong, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
I imagine that I will be able to return to the bustling, joyful, bustling but also very dignified atmosphere on September 2. On this day of previous years, when I was still living and working in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, I joined my family in the joys of many other Vietnamese, in activities that joyously celebrated Independence Day.
In those days, walking down the windy street, full of laughter, I always felt smaller in my nostalgia for the past.
As a person born in the last years of the war and growing up in peace, I always remind myself that I must learn about the past, about the losses that the Vietnamese people have experienced to achieve independence and peace. Vase today.
During long journeys from north to south, I remained in silence between historical monuments, cemeteries, in front of monuments, graves of unknown soldiers … and I deeply felt the pain. of a nation that was once lost, once dominated, invaded by many foreign forces.
Then, as I looked up into the deep blue sky, I heard the song of hope, where the rays of light reminded me how precious independence is today and how much it needs to be preserved.
Throughout the years, songs about independence, hope and peace have always followed in my footsteps as I traveled the long distant journeys. When I live and work in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Belgium, and now Indonesia, the independent New Year is always a time when those songs inspire me. I can’t sing when I have the opportunity to meet Vietnamese expats this time.
My children, my friends and I had the opportunity to get dressed again in ao dai, and then we chatted in our mother tongue. That Vietnamese language bridged the gap, brought us closer, so that I could understand that there is an invisible and sacred rope that binds Vietnamese together no matter how different we may have in our past.
In many years, this is the first time that I have to celebrate independent Tet from afar. The city of Jakarta where I live is currently suffering from the Covid-19 epidemic that paralyzes cultural exchange events.
But I don’t feel lonely because my country is just one phone away from me. I picked up the phone, I heard my parents’ laughter and I felt the grace of being born into this world, the privilege of my parents to be children, the privilege of walking, learning, knowing my roots. .
The grace of being Vietnamese. And when I opened my phone, the three words in the text “Independent New Year” made me feel sick of happiness.
May independence and peace always spread wings in the land of Vietnam.
