Saigoneer

On the Cusp of a Modern New Year, Reflections on a Simpler Tet Past

Every year, as the pages from my block calendar peel off, bringing me towards another Vietnamese New Year, my mind once again fills with nostalgia about an old Tet. Tet in my memory begins with my childhood in a small house nestled under a coconut grove on the outskirts of Bac Lieu in the Mekong Delta. Those were days of hardship, yet my parents worked hard so that Tet could bloom magnificently for all of us.