Tet--a Celebration of Love and Respect : Vietnamese Observances Getting Under Way

Buddhist temples are setting up chairs to prepare for late night services today.

Little Saigon stores are doing booming business selling red money envelopes to be given out Saturday.

And people are leaving grocery stores loaded with fruits and fresh flowers to display on altars for the coming week.

For the Vietnamese people, Saturday will mark the beginning of the new year, or Tet--a time to show love and respect for one another through wishes and gifts.

In Orange County, it will be both a private and public celebration for about 80,000 Vietnamese residents.

One Westminster school celebrated Tet early on Thursday with activities for its 450 students including dancing, traditional foods, songs and games.

While many Vietnamese people prepare for private family celebrations by decorating their homes with peach blossom branches or paintings of Vietnamese mythology, festival organizers are busy erecting carnival rides and colorful booths to welcome the more than 200,000 expected to attend three Tet festivals--scheduled in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and Westminster this weekend and the next.

“We want the younger people to know it’s their time to start learning about their culture,” said Katie Chau, an organizer with the Union of Vietnamese Student Assns. of Southern California, sponsor of the event at Golden West College.

The group, made up of mostly high school and college students and graduates, has been working on the festival since September. Storms forced the group to move the festival to this weekend, and organizers expect a turnout of about 60,000.

The celebrations this weekend will be followed by one organized by the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce Jan. 29 through 31 in the heart of Little Saigon.

“Tet is a time for reunion and a time to get together, to celebrate something new and to wish each other success in the future--I think the more we have, the better,” said Thuong Nguyen, a member of the chamber.

All festivals will open with a dragon dance, or mua lan , to ring in the Year of the Rooster. They will also feature Vietnamese music, martial arts, chess and volleyball tournaments, traditional dress contests and various Vietnamese delicacies.

On Thursday, more than 450 students at Fay Fryberger Elementary School in Westminster celebrated Tet with games, dancing, Asian foods and music.

In an activity room decorated with crayon-colored dragons and construction paper lamps, dozens of students lined up to taste authentic cuisine, including rice cakes, while others threw dice in a traditional Vietnamese game.

“It’s special for the Vietnamese. It’s nice for other people to know” about the holiday, said Linda Nhan, 10. She said the added benefit is that “you get to eat egg rolls and make stuff and look at different types of paintings.”

Nearby, students also gathered to make small coin-saving banks, shaped like roosters to commemorate the new Year of the Rooster, with glass jars and colored paper.

Activities included learning the “flower blossom dance” and performing it to the tune of gong and drum music, and meeting two Vietnamese artists who displayed and talked about their silk paintings. Five boys also performed a “dragon dance.” Under a long yellow costume, three boys danced as two others kept a beat going on a large red drum and a small metal gong.

More than one-third of the Westminster School District’s students are of Asian descent. The celebration marked the sixth year that the school has offered special activities observing Tet, school officials said.

The Vietnamese New Year celebration, which begins at the first new moon after the sun enters the Aquarius period, is based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The first day of Tet falls annually between Jan. 21 and Feb. 19.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, one of 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac is assigned to each year. The animals--which also include the dog, wild boar, rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep and monkey--have both negative and positive qualities.

The rooster, believed to be the incarnation of the sun god because it crows in the morning, is known for the following traits: vivacious, resourceful, conservative, adventurous but also pompous, short-sighted and impractical.

“The Year of the Rooster, hopefully, means the beginning of improvements in the economy,” said Dr. Co Long Pham, the Vietnamese chamber’s president. “It’s a time to start again, and a year of hope and chance.”

Pham said the primary goal of the chamber’s festival is to attract patrons to the Little Saigon commercial district, an area along Bolsa Avenue in Westminster and Garden Grove.

But Pham also hopes that people of all ethnic backgrounds will come out to experience Tet, a celebration immersed with customs.

The dance of the dragon--one of four mystical animals in the Vietnamese culture--and the sounds of firecrackers are used to ward away evil spirits and bring luck for the new year.

The peach blossom branch, chosen because of its rich pink and red colors, is a special Tet symbol of luck. The blossom symbolizes the two gods in past legends who watched over and protected ancestors from evil spirits. During Tet, people offer these branches to each other, as well as red envelopes of money, or li xi , to children for luck.

The first person who steps foot in another’s house on the first day of the new year is believed to be the one who will bring good or bad luck throughout the year. People often invite a lucky person to do the honors.

Also a religious and solemn occasion for most, many people will spend the eve of the new year at Buddhist temples or home altars offering food dishes to their ancestors to share in their fortune.

Tet Festivals Orange County’s Vietnamese community will celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, with three festivals featuring lion-dancing, firecrackers and traditional delicacies.

Friday through Sunday: Friday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Santa Ana Stadium. Saturday and Sunday: Starts at 10 a.m. both days; ends 11 p.m. Saturday, 9 p.m. Sunday; Golden West College, Huntington Beach. Jan. 29-31: Friday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; 10-acre lot behind Asian Village shopping center, Westminster. What Is Tet? Major holiday: Tet is like Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year all rolled into one. People visit families and friends, indulge in drink and traditional delicacies. Children get li xi , “good luck” money contained in little red envelopes.

1993, Year of the Rooster: Those born under the zodiac sign of the rooster are vivacious, resourceful, conservative, adventurous, but also pompous, shortsighted and impractical.

12 Chinese zodiac animals: Rat, buffalo, tiger, cat (or rabbit), dragon, snake, horse, goat (or ram), monkey, rooster, dog, pig (or boar). Lunar calendar: Tet, same as the Chinese New Year, is based on the lunar calendar. The date is fixed according to the arrival of the new moon in the Far East.