08 March 2010

Students and staff celebrating Vietnamese Lunar New Year at IPC

By Emu Izaki.

Beef salads in tamarin sauce

The Lunar New Year, or Tet in Vietnamese, is the most important holiday every year for Vietnamese people. Tet is an occasion for celebrations, festivities and family reunions. During Tet, Vietnamese people go to temples, visit relatives and friends, exchange wishes for health, luck and prosperity, pray for their ancestral blessings, and give lucky money to children and elderly people.

Tet Canh Dan (The year of the Tiger) at IPC

In the Vietnamese zodiac, 2010 is the year of the Tiger. The first day of the Lunar New Year fell on the Valentines Day, Sunday 14 February this year.

For the past several years, it has become a tradition at IPC that the Vietnamese students and staff members get together for a casual dinner in the Common Room of Hall 10 to celebrate Tet. This year, we had our Tet dinner party on the night of Saturday 13 February. The planning, however, started two weeks earlier with a meeting where we decided on the menu and tasks were allocated to everyone. Some were responsible for shopping and cooking food while others were in charge of decorations.

This year we had 6 yummy Tet dishes on the menu.

1. Vietnamese Sticky Rice Cake (Banh Chung)
2. Stewed Pork (Thit Kho Tau)
3. Fresh Fish Springrolls (Goi Cuon Ca)
4. Beef Salads in Tamarin Sauce (Bo Nhung Me)
5. Deep Fried Springrolls (Cha Gio)
6. Fruit Salad

We started cooking on Friday afternoon. Everybody had a pleasant time preparing food, sharing their stories, and making jokes. The atmosphere was great. More importantly, this helped everyone become closer and understand each other better. For many of us, this was the first Tet away from home. So friendship was much needed to relieve their homesickness. By 7pm on Saturday, everything was ready with food being plated on the tables, colourful decorations being hung up around the room, guests arriving and everyone having put on their nicest clothes. Dinner started and every one was very pleased with all the yummy dishes. We stayed on and enjoyed the rest of the evening together.

Tet Celebrations with the Vietnamese Embassy and Community in Wellington

On Sunday, a group of 18 IPC Vietnamese students and staff members went to join a function organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in Wellington. Attending this function were also Vietnamese people and students from not only Wellington but other parts of New Zealand as well. We had a fun time watching several performances on the stage. We ourselves contributed a singing performance. After an impressive Lion Dance performed by the Wellington ACM Church, everyone sang along the song “Happy New Year” to put an end to a pleasant evening and welcome the start of the year of the Tiger.

Overall, all the Vietnamese students and staff members at IPC had a very fun, cheerful New Years celebration.

May the year of the Tiger bring us and our family health, success and prosperity!

Vietnamese students, staff and guests sharing food

Students with new year decorations

Lovely company for the new year celebration

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