When Tet comes, people in Ha Tinh often build a tree in front of their houses. Due to busy work, many households have to rely on services. The group of workers makes “trees to ward off evil spirits” during the bumper season.

These days, a group of 5 workers working at the family of Mr. Le Tran Huu Sang (65 years old, in Chau Ha village, Thach Chau commune, Loc Ha district, Ha Tinh province) are busy completing the above trees to build for families during the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit in 2023.

It is made from an old, straight bamboo tree, 10-12m long. According to Mr. Sang, half a month ago, his son went to Do Luong district (Nghe An) – about 100km from home, he ordered 200 bamboo trees and then rented a truck to take them home. This year, his family received 50 trees, the rest sold to customers.

On the above stems are wrapped leaves enough for decoration. This plant grows naturally in the forest, Mr. Sang’s family bought it in the mountainous district of Huong Khe (Ha Tinh) for 50,000 VND/bundle with 10 branches. When buying, they will cut the leaves with small branches, remove the large branches.($1=24,000 VND)

When doing, Mr. Sang used a knife to cut off all the excess branches, wipe them clean and keep the bamboo tops.

Then, they will wrap the leaves on the bamboo stem. This is done by 2 people. One person bundles and holds the leaves and the other uses a plastic drawstring to tie it tightly.

In the next stage, the worker will wrap the flash bulb so that the tree will glow at night. “This year, the weather is erratic, it rains a lot, so we have to do it meticulously to ensure the quality of the trees for customers to use during the Tet holidays,” said Le Tran Huu Su (33 years old, Mr. Sang’s son). shall.

In addition to flashing lights, the tree trunk is also decorated with tinsel, lanterns, star lights and national flags.

To complete the progress of making 50 trees, Mr. Sang and his descendants work from 6am to 9.30pm, sometimes “overtime” until 00:00. “Each tree has a selling price of 1.2-1.7 million dong, minus the cost of raw materials, we have a profit of 400,000-500,000 dong. Thus, on this occasion, we pocketed about 20 million dong. Already 5 This year, my children and I do this job every time Tet comes . Normally, we work as bricklayers and electricians”, Mr. Sang said.

The trees mentioned above after being finished are brought by the team of workers to the house to build for guests or placed in front of the gate for the homeowner to do by themselves.

The tree-building or the ceremony is performed by people on December 23, which is the day on which Mr. Cong and Mr. Tao return to heaven. The summer day is usually on January 7th.

According to the old concept and legend, when Tet comes, Mr. Cong, Mr. Tao, and gods return to the heavens, when people’s houses are easily invaded by ghosts and demons… treasures” as a tree to ward off and fight them. In addition, the tree also has the meaning of wishing for a smooth new year, good crops, and national peace. 

According (Dan Tri)