Leaving the city centre of Hoi An you quickly finds yourself between rice fields and silence. Far away from annoying tourists and vendors who want to do business with you.
Kumquats
In the villages one finds some families with a lot of trees in front of the house. Some of them plant kumquats. The edible fruit can be compared to an orange. However, it is smaller than an orange and can be eaten with peel. The flesh tastes bitter-sweet and the peel sour to bitter.
In Vietnam, the tree is not only used for fruit production, but also plays a role in the most important festival of the year. What the fir is for Christmas, is the kumquat tree for the Tet festival.
Tết Nguyên Đán, Tet for short, is the most important festival in Vietnam. The New Year is celebrated according to the Chinese lunar calendar and such a tree should not be missing. It is important that the tree, flowers, fruits and young leaves are on it. They symbolize the past, present and future and should bring wealth and happiness.
The transport of the trees looks particularly bizarre to the western eye. Mostly they are not brought home with a van or truck, but strapped onto a scooter or moped.
