There are springs that do not start from fireworks or a tight schedule, but gently come from memories, from the smell of kitchen smoke, from things that seem very far away.
The Old Tet Festival at Nha Trang Ancient Craft Village opens up a rare moment of silence amidst modern life - where Vietnamese Tet is recounted with emotions, with culture and with the gentle intersection between yesterday and today.
Old Tet – where memories are told
When Tet comes, people often talk a lot about change. Streets are brighter, life is faster, and technology is present everywhere.
But perhaps, what makes people wait for Tet for generations is not in those changes, but in the moment of living slowly, returning to the deep values that have made up the core of each family, each village, each region of memory.
In that flow, the Old Tet Festival was held for the first time at Nha Trang Xua Craft Village (Nam Nha Trang ward, Khanh Hoa province) as a very gentle whisper.
In a space of nearly 3 hectares, the festival not only recreates the Tet of Vietnamese people in the past, but also opens up a living cultural space - where the past and present meet in respect and continuity.
With the theme "Preserving Vietnamese Tet - Creating the Future", the festival does not seek to hold onto time, but chooses to preserve the Tet spirit with the closest things: customs, community activities, craft villages and traditional cultural life.
Stepping into the Old Tet Festival, people can easily recognize a familiar but strange space.
Familiar because it is the image of village roads, thatched roof houses, rustic Tet markets, soft cheers in the late afternoon of the year. Strange because in modern life, those images suddenly become rare and precious.
Here, Tet is not just for looking at, but for feeling. Folk games such as ô ăn quan, bầu cua tôm cá, figurine making, catching ducks in ponds... are present simply but vividly.
They are not restored as a performance, but return to the original spirit: fun, close, connected.
Adults find childhood memories, children first touch a Tet without screens, without smart devices.
As for Western tourists, the old Tet opens up like a cultural book in images and experiences – where they can understand that Vietnamese Tet is not just a holiday, but a cultural space that synthesizes family, community and nature.
Traditional craft village spaces, diligent hands, and handicrafts imbued with the breath of the countryside help viewers feel more clearly that Vietnamese culture is formed from labor, from the lasting bond between people and land, villages and each other.
When tradition goes with modernity
In the age of technology, artificial intelligence and globalization, the Old Tet Festival is not separated from the new life. Conversely, the festival shows a soft approach.
Those are modern values that can go hand in hand with tradition, so that culture is not left behind, but is recounted in today's language.
Old Tet, therefore, is not in contrast to modern Tet. They intertwine and complement each other.
In the stream of people visiting the festival, there are Vietnamese people returning to their roots, there are international tourists learning about a rich Asian culture, there are young families taking their children to sow in childhood memories a very different Tet season.
The message "Preserving Vietnamese Tet - Creating the Future" therefore has a profound meaning: Preserving is not about framing, but about making tradition continue to live in today's life; creating the future is not by forgetting the past, but by cherishing the values that have created Vietnamese identity.
With its scale, long organization time and consistent content, the Old Tet Festival is expected to become an annual cultural rendezvous every spring of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa.
Further, the festival adds a necessary silence in the picture of the country's cultural festivals - where Vietnamese Tet is not only remembered, but also lived, understood and spread.
Because when Tet still has a place to slow down, to tell stories, to connect people with people, the old Tet has never left - Tet is just returning, in a very light way.
