In honor of the year of the rooster, the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) celebrated the Lunar New Year, also known as Tết, on Friday, Feb. 10.
According to worldandtrust.org, Tết is a “festival celebrating purity and renewal in time for the arrival of spring,” and the rooster represents “confidence and determination.”
The celebration’s performances began with a traditional fan dance, followed by an introduction and the walking of honored guests.
“I really liked how they expressed themselves with the flowers and dancing; I really loved it,” said Fredy Gomez, a freshman English major from Coclé, Panama, who went to the celebration.
Gertrude Kumi, a sophomore psychology major from Ghana, Africa, said that she enjoyed the duet about love by two Vietnamese students, Trung Vuong and Nhu Tran.
“My favorite part was the song duet and the dance,” Kumi said. “I liked the food, too, so that was a plus.”
Halfway through the performances, there was a dinner buffet featuring traditional Vietnamese dishes. The buffet included spring rolls, sticky rice cake, lemongrass chicken, stewed beef and chicken fried in coconut juice.
“Something interesting about Troy is that you get to know a lot of international students,” Gomez said. “Knowing my people from Vietnam, it’s really amazing about the culture, and watching this, it’s so wonderful.”
Ngan Nguyen, a freshman marketing major from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, performed in the traditional fan dance and the executive board dance.
“I loved being up there because we worked very hard, and maybe sometimes we had some trouble, but I think it was good,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said that she had been in performances in the past, but never ones like she had done for the New Year celebration.
“I already danced for three years, but this was the first time I danced this kind of dance because I always danced hip-hop,” she said. “I never danced like this.”
The remainder of the event included a graduation speech, a game show for Vietnamese students and non-Vietnamese students and a dance performance from the VSA executive board.
Tuan Vinh Tuan, a freshman computer science major from Hanoi, Vietnam, performed twice, and he said that this was the first time he was involved.
“I was really nervous,” Tuan said. “We practiced every day for the last month, but still there were a lot of things that could go wrong, but they didn’t go wrong tonight.”
Tuan was featured in the VSA executive board dance and the final dance of the evening.
“The performance went smoothly enough that all of us could be happy with the results,” Tuan said. “I hope all of you guys (students and faculty) enjoyed the show.”
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