Celebrating Tet

Tet dawned cool, cloudy and windy. Grey sky, pewter roiling sea, the Cham Islands barely visible on the horizon. It has been so cold that we are still wearing our airplane clothes and last night I slid into bed with all my clothes on. Up north the Vietnamese are really suffering in close-to-freezing temperatures. Village kids have no shoes or jackets, even in Hanoi there is no central heating.

Undeterred by the chill, our little family ventured over to La Plage for a breakfast of bacon and eggs on Tet morning. Nhan, the owner, was so happy to see us all, even though the party crowd at the bar in her seaside bistro kept her busy until 2am serving drinks and food to welcome the New Year the previous night. Bruce and I had been to Ly's house at 6:30am to be her first "lucky" visitors and customers and after breakfast we were all heading downtown to bless and open the Reaching Out shop and tea house.

At the beach bistro, Lucky the dog and a new litter of kittens, as well as a whacky game of pool, kept the boys occupied until breakfast was ready. Quyen got into the kitchen to help Nhan cook and serve!

Preparations got into full swing a couple of days ago, shopping, cleaning, and cooking special traditional Tet items.

Our landlord harvested the betel nuts which were growing along our fence. The betel nuts have special significance on the shrines and altars set up to worship the ancestors and pray for luck, good fortune, wealth and happiness in the coming year.

Prayer flags have appeared at local shrines and pagodas and even modes of transportation are blessed with fruit and flower offerings and burning incense on the grill. Cigarettes are often gifts at the altars, some are simply scattered in the street, along with candy.

Visiting the pagoda is a ritual also followed on the day of Tet where once again ancestors are venerated and those of the Buddhist faith pray, chant and offer donations. In return the monks will invoke a blessing or even predict a "fortune" for the coming year.

I hover close to this statue of Quan Am, Lady Buddha the bodhisattva of compassion.

With flowers adorning the temples, pagodas and shrines, they become even more stunning works of art. The altar fronts, even in small local shrines, are often elaborately painted

But best of all are the children's festive costumes, whether traditional or "high fashion".

Our Gao wore a yellow ao dai made by Quyen. The three brothers in matching ao dai were pretty spiff and overshadowed their little sister in red silk. Nothing though, topped the fashionista in the white tulle, knitted bolero and UGG's on her feet.

Not to be outdone the kids on our road were also sporting some pretty fabulous dresses. We spotted these two charmers across the road. I love the little one who absolutely would not look at the camera until she had safely tucked the "lucky" money envelope which I had given her into her rather large purse. The Mickey Mouse jacket and Hello Kitty hand bag worn by her sister over her ao dai also made me smile.

And everyone has to have a picture of the family at the shrine, including us of course!!!

Binh, Quyen and the boys were then off to see their parents and in-laws for a full day of visiting. We could come home for a snooze and later a bike ride. We had had enough by 10 am!!

Our first week here has sped by. We are hoping for an improvement in the weather but the coolness has kept the mosquitoes away AND the tourists from the beach.