Short for Tet Nguyen Dan which means the Feast of the First Day, the Tet Holiday is the most important Vietnamese Holiday of the year. It celebrates the beginning of the Lunar New Year which usually falls at the end of January or beginning of February. The main Vietnamese-American event during Tet are the festivals where a variety of activities, foods and performances are offered. They may include Vietnamese folk dancing, beauty/talent pageants, martial arts exhibitions, dragon dancing, fire crackers, drumming and Vietnamese entertainers. They may also include more American activities such as amusement park games. The festivals usually last the weekend of the lunar New Year Day and is both a time for Vietnamese to reaffirm their culture as well as reach out to the surrounding community.
There are two Tet Festivals offered in the Santa Clara Valley:
Tet Festival
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds
Coalition of Nationalist Vietnamese Organizations of Northern California
Tet Festival
Mission College
Vietnamese American Community Council of Northern California
Mary Gottschalks, "Tet Traditions: Miss Vietnam Pageant's Focus is to Give Youth a Clearer Cultural Concept," San Jose Mercury News, Sunday, 19 February, 1995, Morning Final Ed., Living Sec., p. 3H.
Melody Petersen, "Sunshine, A Good Sign at Tet Festival," San Jose Mercury News, Monday, 30 January, 1995, Morning Final Ed., Front Sec., p. 1A.
De Tran, "2 Tet Events to Offer Celebrators a Choice," San Jose Mercury News, Friday, 20 January, 1995, Morning Final Ed., Local Sec., p. 1B
Erin Kimura
