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Incense Agarwood on the last day of the year

Every year, on the last day of the year, when the incense smoke from the Agarwood begins to spread, fragrant throughout the house, my heart suddenly feels unspeakable. So many feelings rushed back, quietly in that illusory agarwood scent.

Which is also strange, a year has so many full moon days, the first day; how many Tet big and small... On those occasions, when I burned incense on the altar, my heart was also a little bit wistful. But that sadness passed quickly, as light as a sigh. As for the sadness, anxiety, and confusion, only on the thirtieth day of the New Year is there. At this time, the year-end offerings were solemnly displayed on the altar.

Candle lights, five-fruit trays, fruit cakes, jams and candies are also arranged in advance. The incense sticks are slowly fading, the incense smoke is faint. The smoke of incense brings me back to the old Tet, the innocent and carefree Tet of a happy childhood.

Hương trầm chiều ba mươi

I see me again when I was a child, on the days leading up to the New Year, my siblings and I sang together to sweep the roads back and forth, the front and back alleys to be clean and neat. Then they clean and decorate the house together.

Call it home decoration, but actually it's a cottage with a wall, nothing. Just remove the old yellowed newspaper layer on the cork wall separating the house, paste on it a new layer of newspaper, some pictures. The paintings my father bought from the previous market: paintings of the four quarters: pine, bamboo, chrysanthemum, apricot, paintings, Ly Ngu Vong Nguyet, Chicken Dai Cat, Pig eats agar, red couplets...

I looked at each picture, touched the smooth surface of the paper, inhaled it, smelled the ink, the new paper smelled so good. I carefully glued each picture to make it smooth and neat. When I finished, I kept looking at it, seeing how beautiful and lovely my house was.

The incense sticks on the altar were quietly emitting incense. The scent reminds me of loved ones who have passed away. I remember my mother. On the afternoon of the twenty-eighth, the mother washed the rice, treated the beans, and washed the leaves as a filling to wrap banh chung. My mother told me to pack cakes early to celebrate the end of the year to have cakes for worshiping tools, this has been the custom for a long time.

All afternoon, my mother sat in the small kitchen, hard at work wrapping each cake. Mother also asked me to cut the red paper into squares the size of a matchbox, and paste one square for each of the jackfruit, longan, and custard apple trees in the garden. Thus, the person envelops the tree, so that next year the tree can produce flowers and have many sweet fruits for people. Mom said so.

I miss my father. In the afternoon of the thirtieth New Year like this, the father dressed neatly, carried a solemn offering tray, placed it on the altar, and burned incense. I don't know what the father prayed for, only knowing that the man stood with his hands folded for a long time, his face solemn. The smell of incense wafts around, the scent is soothing throughout the house.

Later, my father once told me that it was time for our family to officially celebrate Tet. We had to invite our grandparents and ancestors to celebrate Tet with our families and children, to show our gratitude to those who gave birth, nurture yourself. As a human, we must not forget our roots...

All year round, busy with all the worries of life, rarely have time to think and miss. So on the last day of the year, the incense on the altar calms my soul, allowing me to live with sweet memories and warm love. How many worries and troubles suddenly disappeared. Young heart, light, peaceful.

Lighting more incense sticks on the altar, I listen to the new peaceful and happy spring coming.

Ba Hung (Tuoi Tre Newspaper)

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