By Anna Roederer, WKU Herald
WKU’s Vietnamese and American students alike navigate the food line within the Baptist Campus Ministry on Saturday, Feb. 1. as they celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. The celebration theme was Vietnam’s Got Multi-Talent Competition and Entertainment. All guests were divided into four teams and participated in challenges to gain a firsthand perspective of Vietnamese holiday traditions. (Demetrius Freeman/ HERALD)
Armed with banana leaves, rice, beans and raw meat, four teams faced off in a cooking challenge on Saturday night.
The friendly competition was a part of WKU’s Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, known as Tet, at the Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM).
Sophomore Alberto Do talked about the importance of family and food with the celebration.
“My favorite part is the food,” Do said.
An integral dish to Tet is “banh chung,” a sticky rice cake. Banh chung is mainly comprised of rice, beans and meat wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked. This dish is linked to Vietnamese folklore and is shaped to represent the earth and sky.
Although sticky rice cake is an important aspect of Tet, sophomore Tinh “Andy” Ha said that the weeklong celebration is comprised of many traditions.
“Tet is the most important time of the year,” said Ha. “It is like a holiday.”
During this time, Ha said that there is a lot of cooking, family and friends visit each other’s homes, kids receive lucky money, fireworks go off, and cherry blossoms and mai flowers are everywhere.
Do said that he misses the lucky money the most of all of the traditions associated with Tet.
“It is a chance for us to make a profit,” he said.
While the celebration hosted by VSA is not as grand as the weeklong holiday in Vietnam, it provides a good opportunity for Vietnamese students to ward off any feelings of homesickness that might be present due to being so far from home during this important time of year.
“It is good for us because we are 12,000 miles away from home, and it brings back a lot of memories,” Ha said.
Senior Uyen Tran, VSA president, also acknowledged that this can be a difficult time for Vietnamese students who are so far away from their families.
Read the full article by Anna Roederer from WKU Herald.
