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I headed for Van Mieu on the second day of the Lunar New Year. It was extremely crowded and we had to queue to buy a red or white piece of paper and a ticket. Although it was drizzling and rather chilly, I left the crowd sweaty and with a ticket. I asked for the character “dat” (which means achievement because I wanted to be successful in the new year), but was rather disappointed because the writer did not wear the traditional dress of “ong do”, and was very young. However, the character he produced was not disappointing at all. After that, I looked for a place to wait while the ink dried. That was easy to find: just opposite the place where I asked for the character, there was a row of people spreading their precious characters on the ground or holding them before the wind. I joined them
As we left Van Mieu, I immediately spotted a real ong do in traditional dress spreading a mat and preparing to give out characters. Intrigued, I decided to ask for another “dat” for which I had to pay. I think this is okay because these two people have made great efforts in doing us a favour and deserve some compensation. The only problem is I hope it won’t become too commercial, because the feeling of waiting in silence, as the brush strokes back and forth, is so wonderful. It is like a special lust for knowledge and respect for intelligence that rekindles and prospers in your soul. And that is a good feeling for the start of a new year.
And that is how I spent the first two days of the Lunar New Year. Time flies when it is being enjoyed. I have much to do and plenty of places ahead to go. Happy New Year to all of you – Chuc mung nam moi!
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Giang Nguyen
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Hong-Anh Nguyen | Feb 17th, 2005
Well done!
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