Tet.... take 3

Tet (New lunar year) falls over the 31st January, 1st and 2nd February this year. Yet somehow we have already been involved in 3 different Tet celebrations!

The first was last weekend at the volunteer house.
We set up a table loaded with food, rice, some sort of mung bean based custard, chicken, fish, pork, green tea and rice wine.
Lit incense and prayed to the ancestors, then waited for about 15 minutes (with occasionally topping up of the rice wine and tea.)
This is to give time for the ghosts and ancestors to eat and drink.


We also burnt paper symbols of clothes and food and all the things our ancestors need in their afterlife.

Then we sat down to feast! (I should point out, this was at about 10am..... after a 7.30 breakfast. I didn't really to feast!)
There was also plenty of opportunity to mot, hai, ba, YO - drink!

Then, Last Thursday was our last day at the Hoa Mai Clinic (a school for Autism, and we use the ground floor as a physio clinic for kids with disabilities who live with their parents). We ended early and next second, there is a row of low tables on the ground and food gets piled on!

So we shared another celebration with them. Then while trying to leave kept being given more and more of the leftover sweets or dried fruit. I ended up with a hand full of dried coconut sitting on a paper towel that I had to nurse the whole way home!

On Friday we go to the family house of our night watchman's father (and house coordinator's grandfather!) for Tet. I am really looking forward to it! apparently it is in a small village about 20km out of town.

Also, now that Tet is closer I get occasional glances of someone driving around with a large tangerine tree in pot on the back of their motobike. And regular glances at people with one or two large flower pots. The tree is meant to be lucky, but is also very expansive.... so lots of people opt for flowers instead!