THE VIETNAMESE people love to hear stories of long ago. It is a common sight to see little children sitting with their grandparents listening with awe to tales passed down through countless generations.

Many of the customs in use were brought about through legend. Tet time, or the lunar New Year, is a period that is especially influenced by customs.

Spreading of Lime Powder Around the House of Tet

Each year at Tet, Vietnamese spread lime powder around their home and draw a bow and arrow in the lime powder in front of their door.

Legend tells us that after defeating all the feudal lords and pacifying Vietnam, the Emperor Dinh-Tien-Hoang had to face an even more terrible enemy. Plague was spreading through the country. The emperor realized that there was nothing his army could do about this menace.

He asked for help from heaven and a genii appeared who ordered him to have lime spread around every home in the kingdom of Vietnam. The genii also prescribed that a bow and arrow be drawn in front of each threshold to drive off the evil spirits. This was done and the plague subsided. The custom was thereby established and has remained until this day.

The Legend of the Apricot Tree

Apricot trees are very important at Tet also. Though the branches are now used mostly as an ornament, they were originally used to scare off evil spirits.

Once upon a time, there was a huge apricot tree, larger than all the others. The shade from its leaves covered a wide area of the ground below. Two genii, Tra and Uat Luy had chosen it as their home and mercilessly exterminated all the demons and phantoms in the entire area. Because of this, people living in this area were protected from the demons.

When the end of the lunar year came, Tra and Uat Luy, like all other divinities, had to go and offer their respects and good wishes to the Emperor of Jade. They left their home for a few days to do this, leaving the people living nearby at the mercy of the evil spirits. The people knew that the spirits were deathly afraid of the big apricot tree where the genii lived, so they each went and picked a branch from the tree and placed it on their door to scare the bad spirits away.

The Legend of the Narcissus

Like the apricot blossom, the narcissus plays an important role at Tet. It is considered a good omen if they bloom on New Year’s Day, so great care is given to their cultivation, with the use of sugar water, gruing, and other techniques, to ensure their blooming at that time.

A rich old man had three sons. When he felt he was about to die, he called in his children and said that he wished his fortune to be divided equally among them. The children promised to respect his will and the old man died happy.

He had hardly been buried when the two elder sons took most of the youngest one’s share. Only a poor plot of good-for-nothing-land was given to him.

The unfortunate younger son was sadly looking at his inheritance when he saw a fairy appear. "Stop crying," she said. "There is a treasure hidden beneath your plot of land and your brothers don’t know it." She explained that the sprout of a most valuable flower was hidden under the soil.

The boy was astonished and the fairy said, "You’ll get rich with these flowers; each spring will see them bloom in your garden and you can sell them at a good price."

The boy was filled with gratitude and prostrated himself on the ground to express his thanks, but the fairy disappeared.

The very next spring, the land was covered with a fragrant whiteness. In memory of the fairy who protected him, he called the flower Thuy Tien (water fairy). Everyone who saw is loved its beauty and delicate perfume. The lords and the rich began to contend with one another to buy them and offered fabulous prices for the floral wonder.

In just a few years, the lucky fellow accumulated an immense fortune from the sale of the narcissus. As he became richer than his stingy brothers who tried to rob him, the narcissus became the symbol of success and prosperity. This is why it is used a Tet.

The Legend of Firecrackers

Tet could not be celebrated properly without firecrackers. They sound off like machine guns at midnight before the New Year, blasting out the old and bringing in the new.

In ancient times, there were two wicked spirits who hated mankind and played many wicked tricks on the people. Their names were Na Ong and Na Ba, husband and wife. Both of them feared light and noise, however, so they did all their nasty deeds at night.

At Tet when the good genii of that neighborhood had to report to heaven, the two bad spirits were particularly bad and threw the people into a frenzy. The people learned that Na Ong and Na Ba were afraid of light and noise so they lighted their homes and exploded firecrackers to scare the bad genii away. They kept the noise and lights going strong until Tet was over and their good protectors could get back home from heaven, Then, the firecrackers and lights were no longer necessary.

The Betel and the Areca Tree

This legend explains why the betel nut is chewed by newlywed couples and at ceremonies and anniversaries. During the reign of Hung-Vuong III, there was a mandarin by the name of Cao. He had two good-looking sons who resembled each other so much that many people thought they were twins. The two boys, Tan and Lang, were most fond of each other.

Tan and Lang’s father and mother died, leaving them without any money. After a series of misfortunes, the boys decided they would try to find work. Guided by fate, the first place they went to was the home of a good friend of their father, Magistrate Luu. Luu welcomed the boys cordially and offered them a place in his stately mansion.

Luu accepted the boys as his own sons for he had never had a son, and this is considered to be a terrible fate in Vietnam. He did have a beautiful daughter, however, who was "as fair as a white lotus and as fresh as a spring rose." The magistrate wanted to tighten the bonds of affection and friendship between the boys and his family, so he decided to give his daughter in marriage to one of the boys.

Both of the boys were naturally attracted by the pretty maiden with her beautiful appearance and graceful manners and each of them loved her secretly. However, each of the boys had a generous heart and each one insisted that his beloved brother have the honor of marrying the Magistrate’s lovely daughter.

The father knew the boys could never come to an agreement and because they looked like twins, he never had a really known which brother was the eldest. He prepared a little trick to find out who was the elder brother, because he would offer his daughter to him. The eldest son in a family receives priority over the others, according to custom.

Luu ordered that a fine dinner be served to the brothers but told the servants that they were to put only one pair of chopsticks on the tables. The boys were seated and without hesitation, Lang picked up the chopsticks and respectfully handed them to Tan. Tan took them in a most natural manner as any elder brother would do. Therefore, Magistrate Luu chose Tan as the bridegroom.

Tan was now the happiest man in all of Vietnam. He loved his bride so passionately that he spent most of his time making up love poems to describe his feelings. He completely neglected his brother Lang, who seemed to have disappeared from his thoughts.

After the wedding of his brother to the fair maiden, Lang overcame his secret love for her and accepted his lot, for he wanted only joy and happiness for his beloved older brother.

After awhile, however, Lang realized that his brother was very cold and indifferent to him. Lang sat alone in his room waiting for some sign of care of friendship from his brother, but nothing happened.

Poor Lang! To him, this was the worst possible fate. His beloved brother no longer cared for him and he had also lost the love of his dreams. In wild sorrow, he ran away from his home, for he could stand the sadness no longer. He ran and ran, passing leafy forests, until he reached the dark blue sea. Night came and Lang fell exhausted on the ground, hungry and thirsty. His head was as hot as fire. He cried and cried until he died and was turned immediately into a white chalky rock.

Tan discovered that Lang had stolen away and he felt extremely sorry and ashamed for his selfishness toward the brother he loved. Full of regrets and worries, he set out to look for Lang.

He went along the same way that his brother had gone and arrived at the same dark blue sea. He, too, was exhausted and sat down by the white rock and began to weep. He wept and wept until he died and then he was turned into a tree with a straight stem and green palms. It was the areca tree.

The lovely maiden missed her husband, Tan, so much that she set off one day to look for him. She went along the same way as the brothers and reached the sea and lay down exhausted at the foot of the tall areca tree. Tears of despair rolled down her cheeks, and she cried sorrowfully until she died. She was turned into a creeping plant–the betel– which twined round the lofty column of the areca tree.

The peasants who lived near this place all had a dream about the three people and built a temple in commemoration of the fraternal and conjugal love of the three.

Years later, King Hung-Vuong III, happened to be in that place and he was puzzled by the rock, the tree, and the plant, all of which he had never seen before.

When he heard the whole story, he said, "If these are such devoted brothers and faithful husband and wife, let us mix up the three things together to see the result."

They burned the rock which became soft and white, and they wrapped a little of it in a betel leaf, cut a piece of areca nut and squeezed them all together. A sort of red liquid, like blood, ran out of the mixture.

The king thought a few minutes and said, "This is the true symbol of conjugal and fraternal love. Let the tree and the plant be grown everywhere in commemoration of this beautiful but sad story."

Brothers and sisters, and especially newlyweds, began to chew betel in order to maintain conjugal love. The habit spread very quickly and now a great number of people chew betel at all meetings to " maintain mutual affection."

(Adapted from a translation by Mrs. Bach Lan)

The Compassionate Protectress of Children

In some old Vietnamese pagodas, there is often found a statue of a woman carrying a child in her arms. She is the goddess Quan-Am-Tong-Tu (the compassionate protectress of children). The legend behind that story follows.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Thi-Kinh, who came from a most humble family. She was industrious as well as beautiful and many men of means, including some of the most handsome men in that area, sought her hand in marriage. She refuses them all and married a poor, simple man.

Life was hard for them from the beginning. They had just a few acres of rice-fields and they worked them alone. Despite all of the hard work, the young wife was undaunted an found great pleasure in giving love and devotion to her husband.

One summer afternoon, Thi-Kinh’s husband was asleep in the hammock and the young wife whiled away the afternoon just gazing at his face. All at once, she noticed a hair of his beard, growing in the wrong direction on his chin. She took a sharp knife and approached her husband with the intention of shaving off that hair. She had just barely touched his face with the knife when he awoke with a start. Frightened, he began to scream, accusing his wife of trying to kill him.

Stunned by the terrible accusation and all of the neighbors who came running, she did not say a word to vindicate herself. Her husband and the neighbors took this silence as an admission of guilt. Thi-Kinh was cast out of her come and no one felt sorry for her.

Thi-Kinh felt lost because everyone had turned against her, even her own family. She decided to renounce the world and find forgetfulness.

Disguised as a man, she entered a religious order in an old pagoda. Despite the simplicity of the religious garment she wore and her head being shaved, Thi-Kinh was, indeed, handsome and the people frequenting the pagoda often commented on how handsome "he" was.

Before long, a pretty young girl fell in love with the handsome monk (Thi-Kinh is disguise) and tried in vain to get his attentions. In desperation, the young girl approached the monk one day and began to spill out her feelings for him. Before she could finish, her words were cut short and she was requested to respect her vow.

Confused and upset, the girl gave herself to the very next man who courted her. When she found herself pregnant, she went to another village and later gave birth to a son.

The unwed mother then took her new baby, put him in a basket and left him on the gate of the pagoda where Thi-Kinh was a monk. In a letter she placed in the basket she accused Thi-Kinh as a being the father of the child.

When the superior, surrounded by all of the monks, was reading the note from the unwed mother, Thi-Kinh bent down and picked up the baby because he was screaming. Her natural gesture confirmed the charge in the eyes of the monks and she was expelled from the religious community.

Thi-Kinh would have committed suicide in her despair, but she felt pity for the deserted child and decided that she must resign herself to her fate. She had to resort to begging, tramping up and down the streets every day with the child and a bowl in her hands, asking for alms.

Finally, she could continue no longer. She staggered to the pagoda to knock for the last time at the religious door. She confessed the secrets of her life to the superior and begged him to forgive her for disguising herself as a man in order to become a monk. She also asked that no one be harmed for what they had done to her. She thrust the child, who had become like her own, into the superior’s hands for safekeeping and drew her last breath.

The king was told of what had happened. He was so deeply impressed by the chastity and drive of the unfortunate woman that he issued an order to title her "Quan-Am-Tong-Tu," the compassionate protectress of children, and raised her to divinity rank.

(Adapted from a "retelling" by Le-Huy-Hap)

The Lady of Nam-Xuong

As a nation that has seldom known relief from war, Vietnam’s women have grown accustomed to being left alone and not knowing whether or not they will ever see their husbands alive again. The following legend tells the story of a family in such a situation.

Once upon a time, in the region of Nam-Xuong, there lived a woman whose husband had been sent with the army to a border guard post on the northern front. Communications were almost impossible and she rarely heard from him. She resigned herself to her fate and stayed at home doing agricultural and house-work and looked after their small son. Each evening, she would cast her eyes on the horizon and yearn for her husband to come home.

One winter evening a storm came up creating a frightful noise. Their little house shook with the wind and the oil light blew out, leaving the mother and child in darkness. The child began to scream in fear.

The mother held the child to her breast and re-lit the oil lamp. As she did so, her shadow appeared on the wall and a thought occurred to her. She said to her son, "Don’t be afraid, darling, daddy will protect you." She then pointed her finger at the shadow on the wall and said, "see daddy." The little boy looked up at the quivering shadow and stopped crying immediately. His mother hummed a sweet tune and he fell asleep.

The next evening before going to bed, the little boy called for his father. His mother’s face lit up with a smile and she placed herself so that her son could see the shadow on the wall again. Then she taught him to clasp his hands in a mark of respect and bow to the shadow and say, "Goodnight, daddy!" This grew into a habit and took place every evening.

Some time later, the man returned to his home and family. His wife was overcome with happiness, but as was traditional with Vietnamese women of her time, she said nothing to reveal her feelings. She could not keep her joy to herself and tears flowed down her cheeks. She said to him, "We must have a thanksgiving to our ancestors, I am going to get some food. Prepare the altar and look after your son and I will be back shortly."

The man began to get acquainted with his little boy. Each time he told the child, "Come, I am your father," the child would refuse and say, "You are not my daddy. Daddy isn’t here now and I always say goodnight to may father before I go to bed."

The father was shocked, but was too proud to say anything to his wife. He did nothing and kept quiet. When his wife returned from the market, she had a feeling something was wrong and that misfortune was coming to her home. It had come, indeed! When she spoke to her husband, he turned away in silence. Her usual reserved manner only inflamed the doubt in her husband’s heart.

Silently, he prostrated himself before the family ancestral altar and just as silently, he folded up the mat to keep his wife from performing her rites. When the meal was served, he did not even touch the chopsticks or taste a morsel of the food. After the food had cooled, he walked from the house.

His wife spent many days in solitude awaiting his return. One day, she could stand the sorrow no longer and she embraced her child and entrusted him to a neighbor. Then running like a mad woman, she threw herself into the river and drowned.

The death of his wife was a severe shock to the man’s cold heart. Suspicion gave away to sorrow. He returned home and claimed his child. One evening when he lit the oil lamp, his own shadow appeared on the wall. To his surprise, he saw his son clasp his little hands together, bow to the shadow and say, "Good-night daddy!"

At once he knew what had happened, but now it was too late to do anything for his poor wife. He had an altar set up on the river bank and three-day and night requiem mass was celebrated.

The man never married again, but spent his entire life caring for and educating his son.

 

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