Yellow in Vietnam is not decoration.
It is an inheritance.
It is the color of ripe rice fields bending toward harvest,
of ancestral altars warmed by candlelight,
of imperial robes once reserved for those entrusted with the land and its people.
Yellow carries prosperity, yes—but a quiet prosperity,
earned through patience, season, and care.
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This yellow belongs to the earth.
It holds harmony and warmth,
a belief that color can shape the energy of a place,
can steady a home, can bless what lives within its walls.
In towns like Hội An, yellow meets the sun daily.
Mixed with lime, it reflects heat, cools the body,
and ages with grace—deepening rather than fading,
becoming softer, older, more itself with time and rain.
At the beginning of the year comes Tết,
the moment when yellow brightens everywhere.
Spring arrives.
Golden dragons move through the streets,
sending away lingering spirits,
while ancestors return—
drawn home by remembrance.
During Tết, families gather at the altar.
They light incense.
They speak names.
They remember.
image from Dreamstime
Yellow, then, is not only the color of celebration.
It is the color of continuity—
of those who came before
and those who will carry the light forward.
These hues of yellow—earth-worn, ceremonial, and enduring—live on in my gallery work, where color, lineage, and handwork meet.
Please visit my website!
xoxo
Leslie
