Fluttering Flags, Firecrackers Bring East and West to Tet

As flags of the United States and the former Republic of Vietnam snapped side-by-side in the breeze at Golden West College on Saturday, a beaming Loni Nguyen spoke only of celebration.

It was the first day of a two-day festival celebrating Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year, and despite the week’s political controversy, Nguyen, like thousands of others streaming about the decorated campus athletic field, was here to celebrate.

“This is a time for everyone to come and enjoy themselves,” said Nguyen, 23, a student at Coastline Community College and a member of the Vietnamese student association that staged Saturday’s festivities. “We’ve been up all night preparing for this . . . because it’s fun.”

Politics and President Clinton’s controversial decision to lift the embargo against Vietnam last week were mentioned in passing by an array of speakers. A plane passed over the carnival-like festivities towing a banner that read:”Human Rights--Freedom for Vietnam.” Protests were occurring several miles away in Little Saigon.

But for most of the crowd, including Westminster City Councilman Tony Lam, Tet is a time to party, not pontificate. Lam, the first Vietnamese American elected to public office in the United States, was stopped by well-wishers everywhere he went.

“I am very emotional today,” said Lam after speaking to the crowd. “It is fantastic to see the Vietnamese community still pulling together and putting on a show like this. It helps to maintain our cultural heritage and at the same time to mesh our culture with America.”

Lam said he plans to enjoy himself perhaps all the way through Thursday, which is actually the start of the Year of the Dog.

“The farmers in Vietnam, sometimes they celebrate Tet for a month,” he said with a laugh.

Golden West College officials said about 50,000 people attended the Tet festivities last year and predicted that as many as 70,000 might come this year, the fifth year the college has hosted the event. It is the only ethnic festival held in Huntington Beach, said Wendy D. Weber, Golden West College’s director of public relations.

Amid the carnival rides and booths, the crowd was a mixture of races and colors. But the atmosphere, the traditional ao dai dresses, the smells and the voices were unmistakably Asian.

Vietnamese music blared from loudspeakers at various booths near two boisterous volleyball games. Skewered chicken, beef and meatballs sizzled on makeshift outdoor grills, while hawkers offered visitors dried squid, papaya, egg roll and the sweet juice of sugar cane squeezed to order and poured over ice.

Hung Huynh, 17, an Explorer Scout and senior at Garden Grove High School, spoke of the meaning of Tet as his fellow Scouts handed out bags of steamed peanuts. Tet is a time for renewal and a fresh start, Huynh said.

“In our part of the world, the new year means we clean out the whole house and wash all the clothes. Everything is new,” he said.

An old Tet custom has the oldest child run out the back door and then knock on the front door, allowing his parents to let him in, Huynh said. “It brings good luck,” he said.

Yes, Huynh said, he is concerned about what is going on in Vietnam, but he supports the lifting of the embargo and wants more exchange with his native country.

“It is a step forward. We have to start somewhere,” he said.

The Tet festival continues at Golden West College today from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.