Spring Sunshine

Nắng Xuân

Xuân về nắng ấm tỏa hương hoa

Tân niên chúc thọ mừng thêm tuổi.

Writer's Notes
Greeting on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Happy New Age

Mừng Tuổi

Nắng vàng mai nở mừng thêm tuổi

Gió lay tuyết lạnh ấm tình quê.

Writer's Notes
Greeting on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Joyous New Year

白雪紅梅 baak syut hung mui
龍年飛喜 lung nin fei hei

Literal English Translation version:
White Snow Red Plum
Joyous Dragon Year.

Writer’s Notes
The above Chinese phonetic writing of Spring couplet was not originally planned. It just happened that those Cantonese sounding words came to mind while I was thinking of my two most favorite Cantonese opera performers, Lung Kim Sang 龍劍笙 and Mui Suet See 梅雪詩, as they celebrated their fifty year of collaboration this past December (2011).

Word playing on their stage name's surname, 梅 Mui and 龍 Lung respectively, the couplet is to depict the coming of spring heralded with blooming plum blossoms and the coming year of the dragon filled with joy.

Credits and/or Citations:
The above written verses incorporate the utilization of the online MDBG Chinese-English dictionary for Jyutping Cantonese romanization of Chinese characters.

Winter to Spring

Gió Đông lành lạnh thổi
Tuyết trắng đón Xuân về.

冷冷的風吹
laang laang dik fung ceoi
白雪等春來
baak syut dang ceon loi

Literal English Translation version:
Cold Winter wind
Snow welcoming Spring.

Writer’s Notes
The idea of writing Spring couplet initially started out just for fun; and yet, it somehow became a personal activity of things to do in celebrating Lunar New Year.

That said the writing process is an enjoyable experience. It always brings smiles to my face.

For the year’s theme, the multilingual thoughts came to mind minutes passed four o’clock in the morning of Friday, December 9, 2011. Those lines of verses were later written down, revised and completed in the early afternoon of the same day.

This year's couplet depicts a beautiful winter scene in which my family and I used to welcoming the Vietnamese "Tết" New Year here in the Northeast.

Credits and/or Citations:
The above written verses incorporate the utilization of the online MDBG Chinese-English dictionary for Jyutping Cantonese romanization of Chinese characters.

Spring Flowers

Đào đâm chồi nẩy lộc
Mai nở đón Xuân sang.

Literal English Translation version:
Budding peach tree branches
Golden flowering plum blossoms signal the coming of Spring.

Writer’s Notes
Familiar imagery of budding peach tree branches (cành đào) and golden flowering plum blossoms (hoa mai) is the sign of Tet.

And that the simplicity of this year’s Vietnamese "Tết" New Year couplet is meant to highlight the essence of life itself.

Springtime Couplet

Đông qua xuân đến mai đào nở
Già già trẻ trẻ đón Xuân sang.

Literal English Translation version:
Flowering buds bloom as Spring arrives at the heels of Winter's passed
The young and the old together are welcoming Spring.

Writer’s Notes
As for Tet 2009, I must have forgotten to write a couplet in time for the Tet festival that year :P

Well, in anticipating this year’s Vietnamese "Tet" New Year, the year of the Tiger 2010, I had to go back to the basics to come up with the idea for my second pair of verses. This time around, the couplet is composed of two seven-character line verses.

Playing on the equivalent images of Winter’s passed (“Đông qua”) as to old age (“Già già”) and Spring’s arrival (“xuân đến”) as to the young (“trẻ trẻ”) is to depict the welcoming sign of spring and the traditional celebration of a happy new age to everyone on Lunar New Year’s Day.

With that, I would like to part with a saying of the Tet’s greeting in Vietnamese to friends and family as follow:

Thương chúc một Năm Mới vui vẻ, hạnh phúc và dồi dào sức khỏe.
(Lit. Wish you a happy Lunar New Year filled with happiness and health.)

Welcoming Spring

Tết đến tí tách pháo nổ đầu năm
Cả nhà khanh khách tiếng cười ngày Xuân.

Literal English Translation version:
New Year’s firecrackers crackling and flying with sparks
Family reunion gathering filled with laughter and happiness.

Writer’s Notes
Playing on the Vietnamese rhythmic sounding compound words of “tí tách” (lit. crisply crack) and “khanh khách” (lit. giggling laugh) in parallel, respectively on each of the two line verses, is to depict the sight and sound of the Vietnamese New Year festival, which is best known as “Tet” (Vietnamese: Tết).

Conceived and recorded back sometime between summer and fall of 2007, this couplet is the first pair of eight character verses I had attempted to come up with for the 2008 Vietnamese “Tet” New Year.

Although the couplet was intended to be written for such occasion, I didn’t officially put it on display or to publicize electronically, excepting for sending them as a part of the Lunar New Year’s wishes to family and friends.

With the 2010 Tet festival that is fast approaching, it seems fitting to blog this couplet at the stroke of midnight on the Lunar New Year’s Eve to say goodbye with the old and welcome the new year. Still, preserve and capture the true atmosphere of Tet; happy family laughing in celebrating the joy of reunion at the sound of the firecrackers crackling and showering with sparks.