Overseas students in Strasbourg, France celebrate Tet

Children wear the Vietnamese traditional long dress (ao dai) during Tet

Far from home

Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy lives in the German city of Hamburg and is among the millions of overseas Vietnamese who have already celebrated Tet far from home because of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. All of Thuy’s family get together to make square sticky rice cakes (banh chung) and prepare food offerings like spring rolls and pork pies. Thuy said she still remembers the scent of holy basil, grapefruit peel and old coriander, as well as the image of her parents being the first New Year’s callers to wish her family a happy new year.

Unlike families who have settled in foreign countries, Vietnamese students abroad have spent Tet feeling lonely due to lockdowns. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, overseas Vietnamese student associations have not organized year-end meals or New Year’s Eve programs to welcome Tet, preventing the opportunity to interact with fellow countrymen.

Ha Kim Anh recalled the Tet she spent in France during the pandemic. When a 6pm curfew was imposed, she quickly went to a Vietnamese store to buy banh chung and pork pies after her class ended at 5pm. In her first year, she prepared a Tet meal alone and then made phone calls to wish her family and relatives in Vietnam a happy new year.

Due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, Anh cannot go home for Tet this year. However, she still can organize a small party with her friends to welcome Tet, which will ease her homesickness.

Preserving traditions

Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy said Vietnamese parents in Germany are interested in teaching their children to make banh chung, spring rolls and pork pies for Tet so as to preserve the Vietnamese culture and traditions.

Pham Minh Duc from Paris said Vietnamese goods are available to meet the needs of Vietnamese people abroad. However, not everyone has time to celebrate Tet.

Ms. Vinh, an export worker in Chinese Taipei, said she still has to go to work normally during Tet. Because she does not have much time for preparations, she and her friends go to a Vietnamese store in Chinese Taipei to buy banh chung, spring rolls, pork pies, dried bamboo shoot soup, and pickled onions for a small year-end meal.

Thuy Phuong