Tet festival celebrates the beauty of Vietnam
The seventh annual Tet in Seattle leaps into Seattle Center this weekend with the Year of the Goat. This year's theme for the celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year is "A Walk Through Vietnam," which will highlight the beautiful landscapes of Vietnam and its rich history and culture.
The festival features music workshops, photo exhibits, martial arts, lion dances, arts and crafts for kids, a Vietnamese Opera program and, new this year, cooking demonstrations and a pingpong tournament.
"A Walk Through Vietnam" is highlighted by a gallery of Vietnamese landscape pictures and paintings, featuring some of the country's landmarks and picturesque scenery.
"We would like to share with the rest of the community our memories of what Vietnam used to be, and what it is today," explains exhibit coordinator Quy Nguyen. "We want to educate non-members of the Vietnamese community, and to educate the young Vietnamese who came here when they were young. It's not a country full of land mines. It's a beautiful country."
Nguyen says some of the antique paintings on display were brought by exiles from Vietnam in the 1970s. A few of them are many centuries old, from the Le Dynasty (1428-1527).
The gallery will include photos and paintings of the first university in Vietnam, built in 1072, as well as Vietnamese kings and their temples, including King Hung Temple. Hung Vuong founded what would become Vietnam in 2879 B.C.
The Tet Festival begins tonight with a cabaret-style concert at 7:30 at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., with singer Bach Yen and pianist Jules Tambicannou of France. Yen is considered among the great multilingual artists of modern and traditional song. "It's always been one of the favorites of the older generation," Nguyen says of the Friday night cabaret. "You can sit there with a glass of wine. It's almost like watching Frank Sinatra and Connie Francis sing."
Festivities at Seattle Center House and Fisher Pavilion get going at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, with a lion dance and ribbon cutting.
The children's program features children from the community and the Vietnamese Language School. Some children wear the traditional dress, Áo Dài, while others dress in Áo Tu Than (Northern dress) or Áo Bà Ba (Southern dress). These three costumes are seen together in a folk dance about the three regions of Vietnam.
Children's arts and crafts will include making a yellow blossom, "hoa mai," the floral symbol of Vietnam.
The knowledge bowl will test 20 teams' knowledge of Vietnamese history, geography, customs and traditions, as well as world history, geography and science.
The cooking demonstration will show you how to make a perfect Vietnamese spring roll, a "goi cuon."
The schedule
Today: Traditional music workshop with Tran Quang Hai and Bach Yen (at Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave. E.), 4:30-5:30 p.m.; "An Evening with Bach Yen," 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Tomorrow: Lion dance and opening ceremony, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; children's dance and performance program, 12:30-2 p.m.; pingpong tournament, 12:30-5:30 p.m.; Kids-n-Tet arts and crafts, 12:30-5:30 p.m.; cooking demonstration, 2-2:30 p.m.; Vietnamese movie "Chances Are," 2-4 p.m.; Vovinam Martial Arts, 2:30-3:30 p.m.; traditional music program with Tran Quan Hai and Bach Yen, 4-5:30 p.m.; festival ball, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Sunday: Knowledge Bowl, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Kids-n-Tet arts and crafts, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; pingpong tournament, 12:30-3 p.m.; Vietnamese Opera music program, 12:30-2 p.m.; movie "Chances Are," 1-3 p.m.; traditional music workshop, 2-3 p.m.; cooking demonstration 3-3:30 p.m.; lion dance, 3- 3:30 p.m.; theme program, 3:30-6:30 p.m.; fashion show, 5-5:30 p.m.
Also tomorrow, Families with Children from China Northwest sponsors Chinese New Year at Meany Middle School on Capitol Hill from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $5.
Stage performances include a Panda Institute children's sing-along, Melodie Xie's children's dance performance, a book reading of "The White Swan Express" by co-authors Jean Davies Okimoto and Elaine M. Aoki, and the lion dance performed by the Chinese Girl's Drill Team.
By Doree Armstrong - The Seattle Post Intelligencer - January 24, 2003.
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