On Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays during first years of the 20th century, well to do families in Hanoi just had to have a pot of white narcissus flowers blossoming immaculately beside the sprig of peach blossoms and the kumquat plants.
Tending to this flower is very difficult, especially the part where the bulbs have to be trimmed. In order to have a beautiful bloom, the bulbs have to be bought a month before Tet and nurtured carefully to make it blossom right on New Year’s Eve.
For many years until the early 1990s when they imports of the flower resumed, Hanoians had no access to them. But at that time virtuosos in trimming narcissus had become old and it was no longer a passion to grow them.
But two decades after its return, the narcissus flower is being chosen again for Tet displays. However the way to tend to it has changed and the flower has become very expensive, with one pot worth several million dong.
The Nghi Tam Village in suburban Hanoi used to be famous for breeding ornamental fish and cultivating bonsais, but these have fallen victim to urbanization. It is interesting, therefore, that the village is now well-known for growing narcissus flowers and has several artisans to trim the bulbs so that it blossoms right on New Year’s Eve.
The most famous narcissus artisan in the village is a man who has lost a leg but has very skillful hands. After being disabled he found a relative for study trimming narcissus bulb.
Over 50 years old, Duyen said that he had to buy narcissus bulbs 25 days before Tet and then clean the soil. He wraps them with sand or rice husk until they bud. Several days later, he takes off the outside cover and soaks them in rainwater which is changed every day to keep the bulbs white.
When the stems start to grow, Duyen uses a knife to stickle the bulbs. “Ways to take care of narcissus now differ from ways in the past”, he said.
“Today customers chose only tall flower stems because they think the branches are strong while in the past people selected bulbs with many shoots.”
About ensuring that the flower blooms right on New Year’s Eve, he said it was easy to hurry the flower into blossoming but very difficult to slow it.
“I don’t think I can make it bloom on New Year’s this year. I can make it to bloom on the first day of the lunar New Year but can’t make it to bloom right on New Year’s Eve”.
The petals must be slowed with egg white or papaya sap to prevent the flowers from blooming although they can continue to grow.
It is said that decades ago, when people set off firecrackers (now illegal), their sound shook and tore fragile egg films covering the flowers. The sound of the last biggest firecracker made flowers bloom and spread their fragrance.
