Vietnamese to Mark Tet at 3 Festivals

The celebrants will be watching lion dancing, lighting firecrackers, and sampling holiday delicacies in three different locations this year to ring in Tet Quy Dau, the beginning of the Vietnamese Year of the Rooster.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend any of the three Tet festivals scheduled over three successive weekends in Orange County.

In agrarian Vietnam, the Tet season could last as long as a month while farmers relaxed after the harvests. There is an old saying that January is the month of indulgence.

In Orange County, Vietnamese-Americans prepare special foods for the holidays. They visit friends and exchange gifts. Children get li xi , red envelopes that contain money. Buddhist temples are often packed with worshipers. Many Vietnamese, steeped in Confucian traditions, perform ceremonies to honor their ancestors.

The Tet festival is also a major part of the lunar new year.

The first Tet festival in Orange County will be at Golden West College on Jan. 16 and 17. The event, organized by the Union of the Vietnamese Student Assn. of Southern California, is in its 11th year.

The second, sponsored by the Assn. of Vietnamese Press and Media, U.S.A., will be at Santa Ana Stadium on Jan. 22, 23 and 24.

And the third, organized by the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, will be Jan. 29, 30 and 31 on a 10-acre lot behind the Asian Village mall in Little Saigon.