It’s officially Tết season this month and many establishments, such as the University of California, Los Angeles, celebrate this cultural event. Tết, or Lunar New Year, celebrates the new year based on the Vietnamese calendar in hopes of bringing good fortune for the upcoming year and leaving past troubles behind. This year, the UCLA Vietnamese Language & Culture Club’s (VNLC) theme for their annual Tết festival was the Season of Love which was held on February 3.
“This event was made possible not only from the efforts of the performers, volunteers, and organizers but also the audience and the energy they brought,” said Hy Ly, a member of the dance group for the traditional fan dance.
The festival’s activities included lantern painting, calligraphy, nail art, palm reading, and traditional games from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. While attendees had the opportunity to participate in these lively activities, they also enjoyed a variety of delicious entrees such as egg rolls, fried rice, stir-fried noodles, shrimp spring rolls, vegetarian spring rolls, sticky rice cake, and sweet gourd sticky rice.
Tiffany Tang, an attendee of the festival who came to support her friends said, “The food was good! So good that most of it ran out by the time I got there… but I really liked munching on the noodles!”
Then, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., performances covered the final half of the festival. Traditional performances such as a hat dance, fan dance, and lion dance were all showcased. Some other original touches in the performance session included an áo dài, a traditional Vietnamese dress, a fashion show, and an acapella performance performed by special feature AweChords, a diverse musical group at UCLA. Co-cultural Directors Niki Nguyen and Linh Tran hosted the entire show while laughing with the audience at the humorous parts of the show, which made for a light-hearted mood.
“My favorite experience was probably seeing everything come together at the end and teaching the fan dance! Parking lot practices will always hold a special place in my heart,” said Co-cultural Director of VNLC Niki Nguyen
“I thought that the videos of us from our first practice to the final performance were incredible, seeing our work from start to finish,” said Phihan Tran, a participant in the dance ensemble for the traditional hat dance.
VNLC’s Tết Festival allowed Vietnamese UCLA students to reconnect with their culture, especially those who could not celebrate Tết with their family members or loved ones. Those who invited friends who don’t come from a Vietnamese background could learn about Vietnamese customs and appreciate their special way of celebrating the new year.
