Vietnamese New Year Event

 

去看看越南人的新年團慶，跟華人的，是有一些不同。

我認得..桔，還有冬瓜條，其它就不知是什麼。
Mandarin oranges represent Luck.

我有問小女孩的媽媽，讓我拍照。

Cute girl

The altar is non-denominational, as religious leaders from several denominations helped lead the event, which was held in the gymnasium of a Catholic high school.  The gold flag with red stripes is the old flag of South Vietnam.

儀式開始~大家起立播唱美國國歌。

接着播唱越南國歌，一半時播放中斷，男司儀臨急應變，自己領導大家清唱。

Flag Ceremony & National Anthems

我猜這是像華人的民間傳統的祭拜。
我問了一位越南朋友，她說是老子（道教）的祭拜儀式。
果然沒猜錯。
Traditional ceremony for the New Year.

A local kung fu school preparing for the lion dance.

 舞獅。

No New Year's celebration is complete without a Lion Dance.

跪拜

The lions paying their respects before beginning to dance.

我以爲這是財神。
越南朋友說是，灶神。
A guy made up as the Kitchen God. Not a Santa Claus.

大人物派黄包
Lucky Money Giveaway. There were not enough kids for all the yellow packets, so the adults started lining up, too.

Later, everyone enjoyed a buffet. 

兒童玩棋
Chess. Each player pays 1 ticket to play. The winner of each game gets 20 tickets, but there is a 15 minute time limit on each game.  They had both western chess and Chinese chess (xiangqi), but it looked like no one tried playing xiangqi.

倉鼠進洞

Hamster roulette. Players place their tickets on top of the little houses. When the hamster is released in the middle, whichever house it runs into wins, and the players with a ticket on that house win more tickets.  

給小孩賭？

Game or gambling? Each game requires the player to pay in tickets.  In this game, the person representing the house shakes a container with three dice, and the winning player wins another ticket.

Game prizes. Players can redeem the tickets they won for prizes.