Earthly fruit for a lunar festival
by Anh Huøng
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HAØ NOÄI — Whether bulging with ripe mangoes, lush mandarins, or perhaps even a bright red persimmon, the tray of fruit placed by each Vietnamese family on the ancestral alter during the Teát, or Lunar New Year, festival is a vital component of this lunar event. Traditionally the tray includes just five pieces of fruit – each signifying one of the five nguõ haønh, or basic elements, which suffuse Oriental philosophy: fire, water, earth, metal and wood. The five-fruit tray is just one manifestation of this typically Asian configuration, which is reflected in all aspects of local culture. |
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But today, with produce from throughout Vieät Nam readily available to most familes, the amount and variety of fruit has increased.
And along with the more bountiful trays, families have taken to adorning their offerings with all manner of decorations: flowers, leaves and even electric fairy lights and candles.
To each piece of fruit is attributed a specific meaning:
The banana represents the Buddha’s hand and the phaät thuû – a kind of grapefruit – evokes a man’s palm. Both offer protection.
The oval melon and the round grapefruit embody the wish for a new year full of luck.
The yellow mandarin and the red Japanese persimmon are good for the career.
Certain fruits are more closely associated with particular regions: bananas, grapefruits and mandarins being important components of a northern tray; while in the south, melons, custard-apples, coconuts, papayas and mangoes are considered essential.
Placed together in a single sentence, the southern ‘selection,’ in Vietnamese, creates the sentence: "I hope to have enough money for next year" – a common enough wish among the poor.
Others adorn their trays with a fig, which in Vietnamese means "wealth."
A simple tray of fruit it may be, but the tradition is a crucial component of Teát, – the most important festival in the Vietnamese calendar. — VNS
Picture: Fruitful year: a tray of fresh fruit gives thanks for the old year and offers hope for the new in household altars.
