Annual Vietnamese Festival Celebrates the Stuff of Legends

Legend has it that Vietnam’s founding fathers, the mystical children of a dragon and a fairy, established the nation by the sea nearly 50 centuries ago.

Thousands of years later, halfway across the world, their descendants gathered in modern-day America on Sunday in memory of their first leader, King Hung Vuong, whose dynasty lasted for 3,000 years, as well as in celebration of national pride.

Holding his 5-year-old daughter, Kim, on his shoulders, Peter Nguyen of Westminster pointed out the dragon dancers as they spun by in a whirl of color during the opening ceremony Sunday.

“She was born in America, but I want her to know something about Vietnam,” he said. “Today, I am very proud to be Vietnamese.”

Held at the Donald Wash Memorial Auditorium, the daylong Vietnamese National Day event was the first time the international gathering has been held in Orange County. Historically, the event has been celebrated as founding fathers’ day.

But 12 years ago, a Vietnamese group proposed expanding the holiday to include a celebration of national pride as well. In Vietnam, the government celebrates Sept. 2, the day the Communists officially took power, as the national holiday. But for overseas Vietnamese, exiles of the war, there was no common day for national celebration analogous to a July 4 holiday here.

“All countries have a day that celebrates their nation. We thought there’s no other day that’s more appropriate for all Vietnamese, whether they live in Vietnam or around the world,” said organizer Diem Do.

That first year in 1986, Vietnamese National Day was held in Paris. Since then, a different location around the world has been chosen to host the celebration, including Sydney, Australia; Tokyo; Toronto, Canada; and Washington, D.C. The event was especially welcomed this year in Orange County, home to the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam.

“We come to celebrate the richness of our past, but also it’s a day to ask, ‘What have we done to uphold the traditions of our nation?’ ” Do said.

One of the sponsors of the celebration, the National United Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, an anti-Communist group, also has established an annual art and literary award to celebrate the works of Vietnamese artists and writers.

It was a day to revel in the Southeast Asian nation’s lengthy history, which spans 5,000 years. Not much recorded history survived from the first 3,000 years, but legends and heroes galore have flourished in the storytelling tradition.

What little Hieu Duong, 14, of Westminster knows about his heritage comes from stories told by his mother.

“I know some great legends and stories. I feel closer to the culture today. I wish I knew more,” said Hieu, who performed Vietnamese martial arts as part of the show.

Dressed in a blue brocade ao dai, a traditional outfit, Son Hung Dang, 38, of Fountain Valley was nostalgic for his homeland. An actor whose film “Firecracker” won an award at the recent Newport Beach International Film Festival, Dang said: “I have lived in America for 23 years, but it’s very good to get to celebrate my homeland and remember the ancestors.”