Festivities Set for Viet Tet, Asian New Year

To the sound of hollow drum beats and wearing a monstrous dragon mask with a silken red mane, Michael Nguyen maneuvers through a routine that is a cross between a choreographed dance and ancient martial-arts movements.

His goal is twofold: to imbue the whiskered, good-luck beast with irresistible charm and to keep the centuries-old tradition of dragon dancing alive during Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year.

“The point of dragon dancing is to bring luck for the New Year. It makes people laugh, and it strikes awe and fear in some of the little kids. It’s fun,” said Nguyen, 17, who will perform with the Westminster-based Quang Linh Lion Dance Troupe in festivities this weekend in Little Saigon.

Like the Quang Linh Lion Dance Troupe, rehearsals are in the final stages throughout the region on the eve of a rich range of Asian new year celebrations, from the three-day Chinatown party starting Friday to usher in the Year of the Horse, to the annual Vietnam Tet Festival in Garden Grove.

The events are aimed to both celebrate and reflect traditions, according to Frances Nguyen. “I feel strongly about preserving the Vietnamese culture for my children’s generation,” said Nguyen. The 39-year-old will attend the festival with her two daughters, the trio wearing matching ao dais, traditional Vietnamese dresses.

Its theme titled “Legends of the Spring,” the three-day festival presented by the Union of Vietnamese Student Assn. at Garden Grove Park starts Friday, showcasing the debut of a chorus-singing contest. The lineup also has dragon and lion dances, firecracker demonstrations, children’s costume contests, live folk music, art exhibits, carnival rides, game booths and food.

“It’s very hard to keep up these cultural traditions,” said Nguyen Phuong Hung, , treasurer and coordinator of the Tet Parade Assn. The parade will roll down Bolsa Avenue in Westminster on Saturday with more than 50 entries--twice as many as last year--and dozens of South Vietnam’s former yellow-and-red-striped national flags.

Grand marshals--Westminster’s Mayor Margie L. Rice and famed Vietnamese songwriter Nguyen Hien--will lead a procession that includes dragon dancers, Buddhist monks and fire engines.

Ringing in the Asian New Year is traditionally not complete without advice on what fortunes may be revealed in the coming year. Hung, who reads tea leaves as easily as aphorisms in fortunes cookies, says blessings are mixed for people born within the Year of the Horse, which Vietnamese call “Nham Ngo.”

“It’s good for a man to be born in this year. He will be rich. It’s not so good for a woman born in this time. Most women born under this sign must be married at least twice,” said Hung, 56. “But since horses are known for running, the idea is that you have to seize the opportunities that are coming.”

Whether it’s watching dancing lions and dragons or exchanging little red envelopes of “lucky money,” festival organizers and participants hope the the events will help keep these cultural customs alive.