Lunar New Year

As some of you may or may not know, I am Vietnamese. Today, February 19, marks the first day of the lunar new year; in other words, Happy New Year! Along with the Chinese, the Vietnamese celebrate this wonderful day with hopes of prosperity, good luck, happiness, and peace. This holiday is full of meaning and it is quite festive too (just as much as the Holidays and New Years (Jan. 1st) combined). Instead of the typical evergreen Christmas tree, the Vietnamese commonly have yellow/pink cherry blossoms. We hang little gold and red ornaments on the tree as well as “li xi”, red envelopes that have lucky money! Throughout the house, we continue to decorate with red posters that have calligraphy. Outside in the Asian store areas (on Broadway Ave.) , lion dances are held as well. Years before, the city allowed all the stores to do firecrackers right outside their stores. I still remember when my family took me to see this; it was so amazing and cultural!

As we now enter into a new year, the Year of the Goat, I wish all of you a memorable and wonderful year. I hope you get to spend a lot of time with the people you love and most importantly, I wish you great success and happiness in whatever you choose to do.