CULTURE-SPORTS-TOURISM
The practice of acquiring calligraphic pieces - or “Xin chu” in Vietnamese - one of the Vietnamese fine traditions usually seen at the beginning of a lunar new year still exists today, despite many historical ups and downs.
The practice of acquiring calligraphic pieces - or “Xin chu” in Vietnamese - one of the Vietnamese fine traditions usually seen at the beginning of a lunar new year still exists today, despite many historical ups and downs.
Done mostly in classic Han-Nom scripts, a calligraphic piece not only shows the art of beautiful hand-writing, but also the calligrapher’s knowledge of Confucianism and classics, and the traditional studiousness and respect of Vietnamese people for teacher-masters .
“Xin chu” and its human values
Calligraphy in Han-Nom scripts is always treasured by Vietnamese people. A piece of soft, flexible calligraphic writing usually contains wishes for a good, lucky and peaceful new year or pieces of advice or moral teaching.
Images of Confucians wearing Vietnamese traditional turbans and robes on the streets in urban areas, and rural markets had become familiar to the past society. Nowadays, we can spot new-type “Confucian masters” doing the same. People would be eager to approach them with a request for a calligraphic piece, which makes Vietnamese New Year more colorful. This practice originated from one of the hobbies or pastimes favored by old-time Confucians: presenting to each other calligraphic pieces, parallel couplets, poems, etc. on the occasion of the beginning of a new year.
The instruments for this practice include pen-brushes, paper, mostly in red color, black ink, ink-slabs and different seals.
The customer will ask for Han-Nom letters and sentences, depending on their purposes and desires. The written piece is not necessarily lengthy. It must contain a lot of deep connotations, and the written words or sentence are often taken from Confucian classics, or Vietnamese classic literature; or they are just maxims or famous sayings, statements, which can express the very legitimate wishes of the requester or convey the calligrapher’s pieces of advice and recommendation, usually on morality. The requester is likely to have more motivation and determination to achieve the goals and aspirations set for themselves in the new year.
The custom of asking for letters at the beginning of the year has been making a strong comeback in recent years Photo Vinh Nguyen
How to preserve the practice of “Xin chu”?
“Xin chu” faded away for a long time due to many reasons including the abolishment of the feudal regime and Confucianism as a guiding ideology from modern Vietnamese society. Fortunately, it has been coming back nowadays with appearance of many new-type calligraphic clubs and individual calligraphers in many places across the country. They have done much, in new conditions, to propagate this fine tradition to people, especially young people, to enable them to understand the value of national cultural heritage; these efforts include calligraphic exhibitions, competitions, calligraphic writing at book fairs, at cultural and religious structures, in schools for students, calligraphic training courses for people of all age groups, and developing Romanized-script, which is the official script of Vietnam today. Viewed as paintings, calligraphic pieces may become cultural gifts or New Year decorations for homes, or even works of art, which may be sought by art collectors and art lovers. Through these activities, any person can get easy access to national legacies, especially calligraphy as an art. They would appreciate their national roots and cultural identity in the most natural way.
Still, when doing a calligraphic piece, the calligrapher should “devote” their mind and good emotions to it, which is likely to affect those of the customer. Not just writing characters; indeed, the calligrapher creates beauties to offer to people. This accounts for the resurrection of the fine tradition of “Xin chu”
Uyen Nhi