It has to be a fresh scented bouquet, one that smells like a fairy's hand as soon as you hold it, not counting the shampoos, shower gels, and soaps that contain old scented extracts that are "becoming trendy" for convenience.
Because those biochemical products cannot touch the heels of the old coriander, which only needs to be boiled in water to create a deep brown, golden-colored cleaning liquid, emitting billowing smoke and a fragrant, intoxicating scent.
Thanks to that scent, people feel clean and pure to welcome spring. That is why Vietnamese people have had the custom of bathing in coriander leaves since ancient times, perhaps since the time Lang Lieu put a pot of banh chung on the stove, then next to it put a pot of water boiled with old coriander.
Coriander, a very rustic and familiar Vietnamese plant. Although it has many names such as coriander, coriander, fragrant coriander, nguyen tuy, huong tuy… but none of the names are as familiar and true as the name Mui. Mui is fragrant, very fragrant so the name is Mui, whether it is young green coriander or old green coriander.
The scent of the old coriander plant is wonderful. Just a tray of old coriander stalks slowly trodden on is enough to scent the whole street. The old coriander plant is not as appealing as the young coriander plant at first glance, because it does not make us feel the need to put a stalk in our mouth and chew it right away, but the charm lies in another aspect.
The old coriander plant is slender, the leaves are no longer as large as tamarind leaves but are pointed and needle-shaped. The old coriander stem is as big as an incense stick and grows to about half a meter in height. On the stem hang clusters of round fruits, as big as peppercorns, with umbrella-shaped flowers blooming at the top.
Looking at an old coriander plant, from the roots to the flowers and fruits, every part contains fragrant essential oils. Therefore, if used to boil water for bathing or for housewarming, people often smash the roots to remove all the dirt, wash them, and then boil the whole thing to avoid waste.
That “New Year’s Eve” day was really short because people had a thousand things to do to prepare for a proper Tet. But no matter how busy they were, they still had to bathe in the old coriander water, which was boiled in the pot used to boil banh chung, to have enough old coriander water to bathe the whole family of “3 generations”.
The pot of bath water, after boiling, is usually placed next to the wood stove to keep it hot from morning to night. During Tet, everyone is busy so they can bathe whenever they have free time, so they have to have the old coriander water ready to bathe. When the smell fades, drain the water and immediately add more old coriander and water to the pot.
Scoop up a large basin of scented water, carry it into the bathroom to avoid the wind, then soak in the fragrant water, comfortably enjoying the feeling of the scent permeating into your body and soul. Wherever the scent permeates, you can hear the excitement of rebirth.
Gently stroking my hands, I felt the hot scented water washing away dead skin cells, revealing a smooth, clean, and fragrant appearance. After bathing, my body felt light and airy, extremely happy. I suddenly felt like I had turned into a fairy, just by raising my arm I could feel the fragrance emanating from my hands and spreading.
That scent lingers for a long time on every strand of hair, from the fine hairs as if there is an anchor attached to the body. With that feeling, we can understand the meaning of the New Year's Eve bathing with old coriander water and know the anxiety of not being able to welcome Tet without bathing with old coriander water.
