Tết Nguyên Đán (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) 2020
Photography by Tony Vũ
Chúc mừng năm mới!
On February 2, 2020, the Vietnam Heritage Center (VHC) celebrated yet another joyous Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) at the New-York Historical Society (NYHS) museum.
2020 represents the year of the Rat, the first of the zodiac animals.
Legend has it the Jade Emperor held a race among different animals to see which order they would appear in the calendar. Initially, the Ox was in the lead; however, the Rat, though small, used its wit and was able to hitch a ride on the Ox’s back. As they approached the finish line, the Rat jumped down and sprinted ahead of the Ox, winning the race and the privilege of being the first animal to start the zodiac calendar.
The Year of the Rat is generally considered to be a lucky year, representing new beginnings, wealth, and fertility. Those born in the Year of the Rat are usually intelligent, judicious and hardworking.
VHC hosted several family-friendly activities during its Lunar New Year celebration. Attendees played bầu cua cá cọp, a traditional Vietnamese “animal bingo” game, with gold coins and prizes. Attendees could also get their faces painted with bespoke designs created by makeup artist Brianna Chin. There was a fortunes table, where guests received a custom VHC fortune cookie with a Vietnamese proverb inside; alternatively, guests were able to send and receive anonymous handwritten well-wishes in bao lì xì (lucky red envelopes). An especially popular activity was the Tết card making table, where children used paper flowers, glitter glue and markers to create lucky cards for the new year.
VHC also offered traditional Vietnamese food for guests to sample, including popular dishes such as bánh tét, chả giò, and bánh gọi cuốn. Special thanks to Tuấn from Ăn Chơi for the food.
VHC would like to thank the following volunteers and performers for their time, dedication and hard work in making this event a success:
Volunteers
Thuy Pham, Vy Vy Huynh, Nam (George) Happens, Karolyn Le, Uyen Nguyen, Carmen Langer, David Hung, Tam Phuong, Binh Minh Lai, Binh Tien Lai, Thi Hai Do, Tuong Vy (Victoria) Ung, Joy Ling, Brianna Chin, San San Lin Lewis, Mai Nguyen, Maia Bix, Tina Pizzi, Huy Nguyen, Thanh Ha Vu, Mai Huynh, Kenny Blando, Tung Nguyen, Huyen Tran, Theresa Vu, Lena Wu, Trung (Thomas) Pentoney and his in-laws, Ngan Pham, Nicholas Huynh, Jack Wang, Hiep Vu, Paul Do, Brianna Chin, Hang Truong, Thu (Lily) Le, Huy Truong, Quynh Dang,
Performers
Bryan Wilson, Karolyn Le, Rebecca Nguyen, Mai Nguyen, Minh Phuong Nguyen, Huong Nguyen, Minh (Minnie) Nguyen, Joyce Chang, Savannah Wang, Dana Wu, Nguyen Tran, Chloe Pham, Vivi Tran, Thu (Lily) Le, Katelyn Kim, Tyler Chen, Minh Tran, Nicholas Huynh, and Shakil Delowar
Featured photos by Tony Vũ Photography.