New Year greetings, lucky money in the technology era

As technology develops, the way of wishing a happy new year and giving lucky money to relatives on New Year's Day also changes.

Online New Year Wishes

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh, 46 years old, Hai Duong City, has been living and working in Incheon (Korea) for nearly 10 years. This year is the 7th Tet she has not celebrated in Vietnam with her relatives. Talking via messenger, Ms. Tinh said that although she did not celebrate Tet with her family, her smartphone helped her stay in regular contact with her family during the New Year. All Tet activities are still updated by everyone on the family messenger group, helping her feel closer.

On New Year's Eve and the morning of the first day of Tet, she called her family with pictures to wish them a happy new year. For Ms. Tinh, celebrating Tet far from home, thanks to digital technology, she felt like she was at home. "During Tet, I often call my parents, children, grandchildren and relatives via Facebook and Zalo to visit and wish them a happy new year. Seeing everyone happy and healthy, I feel much more secure living far away," Ms. Tinh said.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Vuong's family from Ninh Giang district (Hai Duong) moved to Mong Cai city (Quang Ninh) to start a business more than 10 years ago. This year, his family did not return home for Tet due to busy work.

Choosing to stay in Mong Cai City during Tet, although he could not be with his relatives, thanks to smart devices such as phones and iPads, he and his wife and children were always updated with the Tet holiday situation in his hometown. The New Year's Eve meal, when the family gathered together in the countryside, was also livestreamed, with everyone sending pictures for his family to enjoy online.

“In the 4.0 era, technology has helped connect people so no matter where we are, we can send each other New Year wishes,” said Mr. Vuong.

Money transfer bonus

This year, Nguyen Thi Dung and her husband in Phuc Dien commune (Cam Giang, Hai Duong) who are working in Phuc Dien industrial park did not return to Lang Son to celebrate Tet with her grandparents because she just gave birth to a baby. Dung said she was a little regretful because even though she has been married for 5 years, she still returns to her parents' and siblings' grandparents' house every year to celebrate Tet and give lucky money to them.

Unable to return to her hometown and bring home Tet gifts for her parents, Dung planned to give them Tet gifts by bank transfer. She and her husband agreed to transfer a sum of money to her grandmother's account to give to her parents for Tet expenses and as New Year's gifts.

“On New Year’s Eve, we also called our parents via Zalo to wish them a happy new year. Even though we couldn’t meet each other in person, giving lucky money via bank transfer and wishing them a happy new year online helped us fulfill our wishes for the new year with our family and relatives,” said Dung.

Online lucky money has been chosen by many people in recent years because it is fast, convenient, safe, and not limited by distance or geography. Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh in CT2 apartment building, Tue Tinh (Hai Duong city), from Ninh Binh, said that his family has many siblings, each living and working in a different province or city, so they often cannot gather together during Tet. For the past 2 years, although they have not met each other at the beginning of the new year, Mr. Tinh can still send lucky money to his children far away with just a few simple steps via the banking app on his smartphone.

Mr. Tinh shared: "In the past, we had to meet each other to send lucky money, but for many years now, whether we are far or near, whether we meet in person or online, I can still send lucky money to my relatives living far away for good luck at the beginning of the year."

Online lucky money is popular among young people. Mr. Nguyen Ba Luan in Cam Giang district said that a few years ago, every time Tet came, he was busy running around asking people to exchange new money to prepare lucky money for the New Year, but in the past 2 years, he has almost completely switched to online lucky money.

“Online lucky money is good and convenient because many banks have created impressive and meaningful Tet wishes; you can schedule lucky money delivery time as desired; you can send lucky money online to many people at the same time to save time; you can choose beautiful numbers corresponding to the amount of money to give as lucky money…”.

Giving New Year greetings and lucky money on New Year's Day is a beautiful traditional cultural feature of Vietnamese people. Although New Year greetings and lucky money have changed a lot, they still deeply express the feelings of the giver to their relatives and friends on every occasion of Tet and spring.