By Lynn Nguyen
In a matter of days, the streets of Ho Chi Minh City transitioned from its typical raucous, of honking motorbikes and vendors hawking their wares, to eerie silence of blowing wind and tweeting birds. You may think this is a description of pre and post-lockdown from COVID-19 measures. However, this transition occurs on a yearly basis due to Lunar New Year or Tết (in Vietnamese). In Vietnam, Tết is the holiday of the year, comparable to Canadian holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years’ Eve combined. While the city streets come to a lull, small towns and temples become bustling centres, as families congregate home and visitors flock to pray to deities for blessings and luck for the new year ahead. Growing up, Tết was one of my favourite holidays of the year and continues to be to this day. Celebrating Tết looks a bit different since I have immigrated to Canada and will look especially different amidst the pandemic. Regardless of where I am located or the state of the world, there are Tết traditions that I will continue to practice every year. Although you may not celebrate Lunar New Year, here are some practices that may be helpful to consider in coping with the pandemic fatigue.
Taking Action Steps
Rather than planning resolutions to start in the new year, a tradition in Lunar New Year is to “tie loose ends” prior to New Year’s Day. This includes tasks such as thorough cleaning and decluttering of your home, organizing your finances, mending relationships and other unresolved matters from the past year. To this day, the deadline provides motivation for me to take action steps and tackle these unpleasant tasks. If the Lunar New Year’s Day deadline is not of significance to you, imposing a self-made deadline to an unwanted task on your list may help in creating structure in the newfound world that lacks it.
New Year, New You
As the New Year’s Day approaches, families schedule haircut appointments and flock to supermarkets, flea markets, and shopping malls to ensure that they can show off fresh haircuts and new, colourful apparels on New Year’s Day. Similar to the new outfits and hairstyles donned during Tết, trying new looks can provide a change to the monotony. If you are not looking to change your appearance, continuing to get ready at the start your work day may be helpful in maintaining some structure and normalcy. As tempting as working in our PJs may sound, changing into our work attire can create a division between work and down time. In the newly emerging field of “enclothed cognition”, studies have reported correlations between attire and productivity at work.
In addition to changes in appearances during Lunar New Year, households are thoroughly cleaned and colourful Tết decorations are added to welcome a year of prosperity and blessings. Although luck may not come your way in cleaning your house, clearing the clutter accumulated at home throughout the lockdown can have a positive effect on your mental health and cognitive abilities. Studies have shown that less clutter in our living and workspaces allows us to focus better and increase our productivity, as a result.
Accumulate Positive Experiences
On New Year’s Day, large extended families gather under one roof and spend time together engaging in various activities such as cooking, playing traditional games, and catching up with one another. While gatherings aren’t happening this year, we can continue to accumulate positive experiences with those in our households and virtually, with those who are not. Accumulating positive experiences allows us to experience positive emotions, whether it be big or small, and balance the negative emotions that we may be experiencing amidst the lockdown. These can include activities such as cooking, connecting with loved one(s), engaging in a hobby – whatever brings you joy.
Sharing Fortune, Prosperity and Luck
Amidst the Tết celebration, children congregate in front of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and close family friends, to wish them good health, good fortune, luck and prosperity. In return for these wishes, they receive a small, red envelope with money for luck in the year ahead. In addition to sharing well wishes and wealth, offerings are provided to ancestors and deities, and donations are made at temples. Similar to the kindness that is shared during Lunar New Year celebration, I encourage you to contribute to the needs of your loved one(s) or to organization(s) that align with your values. This does not necessarily have to come in the form of a red envelope filled with money, but can be small acts such as giving someone a compliment, asking someone how they’re doing, dedicating your time to them. Contributing to others’ needs allows us to experience positive emotions and an increase in sense of meaning in life.
While you may not celebrate this holiday, I encourage you to take elements of Tết traditions into consideration and practice. Tết often marks the arrival of spring, as blooming apricot blossoms adorn homes and streets throughout Vietnam. Although flowers may not be blooming yet in Canada, know that spring is coming and with spring, comes hope.
You can learn more about traditions of Tết here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0JSq8BzGw
Sources
- https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200409-how-to-make-deadlines-motivating-not-stressful
- https://www.wsj.com./articles/the-science-behind-wfh-dressing-for-zoom-11600626704
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com./science/2020/08/why-coronavirus-stress-breeds-clutter-how-to-break-cycle/
- https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/17/health/kindness-health-benefits-wellness/index.html
Image
Muleba, H. (2018). Chinese New Year . UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/dYqMMG6LdZs.