Tete a tete
This week is the first new moon of the year (after the middle
of January). This marks the lunar calendar New Year, or to my way of
thinking Tết Nguyên Dán. This is the first Têt in a few years when Tran
hasn't been around to stop me and try to explain Têt and its customs.
She's very earnest in this. She explains the visits to friends and
relatives homes in the morning of the first day, or their visits to
you. The exchanges of gifts. Tea is served with pasty and
fruit; was it pastry or was she just using the word pastry to try to
convey some meaning to me without wrestling with specifics? Then there is the traditional Vietnamese
dress, the Ao Dai, that is often worn by women during Têt, She seemed especially fond of this.
There were details about lanterns as well and fire crackers. What
kind of holiday could it be without fire crackers? All this said
watching for some hint that I was understanding - understanding
something about her life that she had been obliged to leave, and not
just listening politely. What would I tell her if ever possessed by the
same degree of earnestness?
This year she is in Vietnam, doing all these things she spoke
of I imagine, and in narrow flowing dress. So I'll mark the day on my
own, and watch the phases of the moon grow through the month. Through
to full brightness, then down across to the Nones of March, to a
slender white crescent that will tell me when she will be back.
11:39:07 PM  ;;
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