Hai Duong people celebrate Western New Year in other countries

Mr. Tuan's family makes Pfannkuchen cake together

Wishes of peace

Vu Van Tuan and his wife live in Berlin (Germany). Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, this year German people cannot buy fireworks to celebrate the New Year. But that does not make the Tet atmosphere in this country any less interesting. This year, Tet coincides with the weekend, so the atmosphere to welcome the New Year is also more joyful, and people have a longer holiday.

New Year's Eve in German is called Silvester. To have a sumptuous New Year's party, many Germans often spend the last day of the year preparing. Some people mark the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year by attending a church service. Many people decide to participate in the countdown festival that starts in the evening and lasts all night. Many celebrations in big cities have the participation of famous singers and musicians. But above all, people give each other the best wishes, looking forward to a peaceful new year, with the epidemic under control.

“Living and working in Germany since 2002, we have many close friends from the local community. Tet is also an opportunity for us to meet and prepare traditional German dishes such as roast goose, stewed pork leg, pickled cabbage, etc. Especially a cake called Pfannkuchen. This is a fried cake filled with fruit jam and covered in sugar. In the past, this was a dish for special occasions. Therefore, enjoying this type of cake at the New Year party is considered a traditional activity of the German people,” said Mr. Tuan.

On New Year’s Eve, people living in the capital Berlin often gather at the Brandenburg Gate. This is one of the iconic tourist attractions here. “We and many other Vietnamese people do the same. Come here and enjoy the vibrant music, watch the fireworks, and count down to the moment of welcoming the new year,” said Mr. Tuan.

Make Vietnamese specialties by yourself

Nguyen Hong Nhung's family gathered together to wrap banh chung on New Year's Eve.

The family of Nguyen Hong Nhung (27 years old), from Thanh Ha town, started living and working in Moscow (Russia) since 2017. This year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and the cold weather, her family chose to celebrate Tet at home instead of going to Red Square to watch fireworks like every year. Ms. Nhung said that Vietnamese people celebrate Western New Year in the same way as Lunar New Year in Vietnam. On the last day of the year, people often gather together to wrap Chung cakes and prepare a year-end meal to worship their ancestors. These days, the Vietnamese market is quite busy because every family goes there to buy things to prepare for the New Year meal. The girls often make peach branches by hand and prepare a table with traditional Vietnamese dishes such as fried spring rolls, pork rolls, braised pork, bamboo shoot soup, etc. The men sit and drink wine and turn on the TV to watch Russian Spring music programs. Those who like a bustling atmosphere can join the crowd in the square, shopping mall, church to watch fireworks and listen to the President's New Year greetings. Children are eager to receive lucky money. On the first day of the New Year, people often go to each other's houses to meet, socialize and do not forget to send wishes for health, luck, peace... at the beginning of the new year.

Ms. Lam Thu Huong in New Zealand often travels together with friends.

Ms. Lam Thu Huong (living on Nguyen Huu Cau Street, Ngoc Chau Ward, Hai Duong City), currently lives in Wellington (New Zealand). Ms. Huong has lived in New Zealand for 14 years. Her daily job is doing nails (nail care and beauty services). “On Tet holidays, I often gather with my Vietnamese friends and cook Vietnamese dishes together. Although I have lived abroad for many years, whenever I have free time, especially during Tet, I still like to make Vietnamese dishes such as fried spring rolls, banh chung, and even pork offal and congee. If we can arrange the time, my mother and I often drive to tourist attractions to see flower gardens, pick strawberries... in Rotorua city, Auckland port, snowy mountains, and ski in Queenstown,” Ms. Huong shared.

New Year on the cleanest island in the world

16 years ago, Ms. Truong Thuy Quynh (living in Xuan Dai street, Hai Duong city) married Mr. Vix Nivaren and followed her husband to live on Tasmania island (Australia). This is a place that was once rated as having the cleanest air in the world.

Ms. Truong Thuy Quynh's family in Australia often goes to the beach or travels to famous tourist destinations.

Ms. Quynh opened a shop selling Vietnamese handicrafts at Salamanca Market - a market specializing in providing souvenirs for tourists when visiting the island. This is a very famous tourist island in Australia, with more tourists than locals. Although the past year was very difficult because the island had to close many times due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Ms. Quynh's stall still stood firm thanks to maintaining a number of local customers who love Vietnamese handicrafts.

Every year on New Year's Eve, Quynh and her husband's family often go out, gather to eat and drink, go to Cradle Mountain or drive to the beach about 3 hours away from home and relax there for a few days. New Year's Eve in Australia often has a very large music festival, broadcast live. Quynh's family often watches this program together. There are also years when the whole family invites each other to watch fireworks. "Sometimes we have to go to the fireworks display in the afternoon to get a good spot, spread out a mat, bring out food to enjoy and then wait for the fireworks display. Here, fireworks are usually released at 2 time frames: around 9 o'clock so that children can watch and go to bed early, and around 12 o'clock for adults."

This year, Tet falls on Saturday, the day Salamanca market opens, so Ms. Quynh cannot go out and has to sell goods.

Celebrate Tet with friends

Ms. Thao and her family took souvenir photos in Warsaw

Vu Thi Thao and her husband are living in Olsztyn city (Poland). Thao said that unlike Vietnamese people who celebrate Tet twice, which are New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year, Poles only celebrate New Year's Eve. This is an occasion for family members, relatives and friends to gather together. After dinner, people often go to the central square in the locality or take the train to the capital Warsaw.

“Every year during Tet, my husband and I, along with some Vietnamese and Polish friends, usually arrange our time to welcome the New Year. We often take the train to Warsaw, the capital, and join the crowd in the squares and commercial areas. We welcome the New Year with many good wishes and souvenir photos,” Ms. Thao said.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Quan filmed Tik tok in Korea to introduce to young Vietnamese people about Tet in Korea.

New Year's Eve in Korea has many exciting activities such as ringing the bell at Bosingak, fireworks at Coex... Having celebrated 5 New Years in Korea, Nguyen Hong Quan, an international student in Daegu province, Central Korea, has a large community of international student friends concentrated in one area, so every time New Year comes, he does not feel lonely or lost.

This Tet holiday, Quan initially intended to return to Vietnam to visit his family, but due to the epidemic, he had to stay until Tet to wait for the epidemic to ease.

"Having to stay in Korea, we and our friends prepared a warm party with traditional Korean and Vietnamese dishes to welcome the new year, raising glasses of soju together to mark the end of the old year and start the new year with good luck. The environment, customs and practices of Korea are similar to Vietnam, so it also helps to ease the homesickness," Quan shared.

Nguyen Trung Truc and his friends took a souvenir photo in the port city of Yokohama (Japan) before New Year's Eve.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nguyen Trung Truc, a native of Ninh Giang district and currently an international student in Japan, could not return home this year. Truc organized a meal with friends and went on a short trip to the port city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. To ease the homesickness, Truc's group chose a Vietnamese restaurant in Noge District to enjoy hometown dishes before New Year's Eve. "We had 7 days off for New Year's Eve this year. Because of the long holiday, I and some classmates traveled for 4 days in Yokohama City. On New Year's Eve, we went to the port to watch fireworks and went to the temple to pray for good luck. At the moment of entering the new year, people far from home shared the joys and sorrows, successes and difficulties of the past year," Truc said.

PV