Lunar New Year and the Legend of the Mai Flower
Happy Lunar New Year!
This holiday is the time for extended family to reunite, prepare traditional dishes, and decorate our homes with red envelopes. Lunar New Year – unlike the New Year you might be more familiar with on January 1st – is based on the lunisolar calendar and marks the first of 24 solar terms and the beginning of spring. Often referred to as “Chinese New Year”, this holiday is also celebrated in countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Each country has its own traditions associated with the new year. For Vietnamese families, we love to decorate our homes with the yellow Mai flower. This flower is originally the Ochna integerrima species in Vietnam, but other species including those of the Forsythia genus are often adopted as the Mai flower abroad. As if on cue, the buds push forth an explosion of delicate golden blooms during the days leading up to Lunar New Year, called Tết in Vietnamese.
The Mai flower is named after a heroine in Vietnamese lore. Mai, a young warrior set off with her father to slay a giant serpent which had been terrorizing their village. Mai’s mother gave her a bright yellow áo dài (traditional Vietnamese dress) to wear when she returned, so her mother could see her coming. Sadly, Mai ended up sacrificing her life to save her father from the serpent. Impressed by her heroic feats, the Gods made her a saint and granted her the ability to return home to her parents during the Lunar New Year celebration. After her parents passed, Mai transformed into a tree in front of her family home which blossomed with yellow flowers every year. Over time, the villagers would collect branches from this tree and decorate their homes for Lunar New Year.
As family members would say to each other during this celebratory time, we at the UW Botanic Gardens wish you a prosperous and happy new year! Chúc mừng năm mới!
Here are additional resources on Lunar New Year:
What is the Lunar New Year? (nationalgeographic.com)
Lunar New Year 2022 – Animal, Dates & Celebrations – HISTORY