For implicit the past 2 decades, the Westminster Tet Parade has been an lawsuit to observe the Lunar New Year successful Little Saigon.
This twelvemonth was nary antithetic arsenic the 2025 parade celebrated the Year of the Snake.
The Vietnamese New Year, oregon Tet, celebrates the archetypal days of the lunar calendar and marks the opening of outpouring successful bluish Vietnam. Tet is often considered a clip for caller beginnings, household reunions, and honoring ancestors.
For many, it’s a infinitesimal to link with their culture.
Phan Ha appreciates the accidental to observe Lunar New Year successful the United States, having moved to Westminster, Calif. from Vietnam 2 years ago.
The colorful festivities, fortunate wealth successful reddish envelopes and watching lion dances, which are accepted practices for the Lunar New Year, springiness Ha a consciousness of comfort.
“It’s truly similar we don’t person to miss excessively much, due to the fact that we really tin observe present successful the United States,” said Ha.
Not lone is the Tet Parade a solemnisation of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday, it besides holds important meaning for the Vietnamese-American assemblage arsenic a mode to retrieve the experiences of their ancestors during the Vietnam war.
As the 50-year day since the autumn of Saigon approaches successful April 2025, Chuyen Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese reserve officer, expresses the value of participating successful the parade arsenic a mode to grant the sacrifices of those who fought for Vietnam’s freedom, democracy, and independence.
“After 50 years leaving our country, this is simply a bully accidental to punctual radical that we were the radical who fought and died for the country,” said Chuyen Van Nguyen.
“We are what’s near from those 20 unspeakable years of war, and we wanted the radical to cognize we are inactive present and hopefully they don’t hide those who person already died for freedom, ideology and independency for South Vietnam.”
The Westminster Tet Parade besides showcases the vibrant Vietnamese-American assemblage of Orange County centered successful Little Saigon.
Xuan Bui, a Vietnamese-American whose lad is successful the parade arsenic a portion of the McGarvin Intermediate School, highlighted the value of wearing her taste attire and visiting temples to question blessings and wage respects to ancestors.
“With my kids, we formal up successful our ao dai, spell to the temples, and we sojourn each temple arsenic overmuch arsenic we tin to get the blessings,” said Bui. “[We] airy incense, commune to our ancestors, wage our respects, stitchery together, and springiness offerings, hoping to person a bully twelvemonth [and] bully fortune.”
With hundreds attending each year, galore from antithetic parts of the region and beyond, the gathering is simply a assemblage matter successful the Vietnamese community, adds Nguyen.
“This is an accidental for families and relatives scattered passim the country, passim the world, to stitchery together.”