Hello everyone, how are you today?
This is the 2nd day of the lunar new year, year of tiger. Currently, we are still on Tet holiday which is the biggest holiday in Vietnam. If you come to Vietnam at this time, you see the festive atmosphere everywhere from the streets, offices, shops, houses. Currently I am still enjoying time with my family. And I would like to introduce the flowers that we use to decorate our home for this year's Tet holiday.
Apricot blossom is the most popular Tet decoration flower in the south of Vietnam because it is suitable for the sunny climate here and it usually blooms on this occasion. Besides, the yellow color of apricot blossom symbolizes fortune and is considered a lucky color for the new year. So people often put a few pots of apricots or plant apricot trees in front of the house to pray for good luck for the whole year. For the same reason, it is also a popular gift people give each other during Tet.
And the bees love the apricot blossom as much as I do, below are the pictures I took of them sucking nectar from the apricot blossom.
Cherry blossoms are also a type of flower used to decorate Tet holiday. It is more common in the northern region of Vietnam because it is an area with cooler weather. I am fortunate to live in the highlands of Vietnam, we have both the sunny climate of the South and the cool climate of the North. So we can have both of these signature flowers on Tet holiday.
Chrysanthemums are another popular flower used to decorate Tet holiday in my hometown. Like apricot flowers, the yellow color of chrysanthemums is believed to bring good fortune in the new year. In addition, this is a fairly easy flower to grow and its flowers are also fresh during Tet, so it seems to be present in most homes during Tet.
Orchids are another signature flower in my hometown. It is a flower that is suitable for cool climates and lots of greenery like in my hometown. Unlike most other areas of Vietnam, we are fortunate to have this extra option for home decoration on Tet days. And especially, my family loves this flower, so we display them quite a lot around our house.
Also, you can find a lot of other kinds of flowers around my house. In front of my house, there is a "phat tai" tree. I don't know its English name, but its name in Vietnamese means fortune. We plant it in front of our house to pray for good luck. Kumquat tree is also a very popular tree on Tet holiday. The luxuriant kumquat trees symbolize the birth and the fullness of offspring. The bougainvillea is also a popular flower that is planted in front of my house, symbolizing ethereal beauty. My mother is also very proud of the fig tree in front of my house because it has a lot of fruit this year. Figs represent abundance.
Two other typical flowers of my hometown that bloom in spring are coffee flowers and avocado flowers. As you may know, the highlands of Vietnam is the coffee capital of Vietnam. And we are the second largest coffee exporter in the world. So if you visit my hometown during this season, you will see coffee flowers blooming everywhere. I think this is my favorite flower in my hometown because from it we get fragrant coffee beans to drink every day. And another typical flower in my hometown is avocado flower. You may be surprised, but large avocados are born from very small avocado flowers.
Okay, besides spending time with my beloved family, Tet holiday also gives me the opportunity to admire the beauty of these flowers. I hope you like them too. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and have a great day!