‘We are grateful for what we have experienced during the past year and the blessings that the new year will bring us: prosperity, good health, good fortune.’ - Father Tri Truong, pastor
CHARLOTTE — It was past 10 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9, and the parking lot of St. Joseph Vietnamese Church was packed with cars. Hundreds of parishioners had come to ring in Têt, the Asian Lunar New Year.
Festivities began at 11 p.m. with the celebration of a Vigil Mass offered by Father Tri Truong, pastor, assisted by Deacon Quang Nguyen.
“Tonight, when we find ourselves between the current year (Year of the Rabbit) and the new year (Year of the Dragon), for the Vietnamese in particular it is a sacred time, very spiritual,” Father Truong said. “We are grateful for what we have experienced during the past year and the blessings that the new year will bring us: prosperity, good health, good fortune.”
“Therefore, tonight, Holy Mass has two purposes: to give thanks and to offer the new year to God,” he said.
For Catholics, celebrating Têt as a Church community is very important, he noted.
“Here we unite, we connect. (And) more than that, we are in communion. The Church is part of Catholic life. Any important event is celebrated in the Church, because all the good that comes to us comes from God Himself.”
He stressed that Lunar New Year celebrations are not pagan traditions, but simply reflect the fact that Asian countries measured years by cycles of the moon in ancient times.
“In the Asian tradition they used the lunar calendar until the western calendar was brought to Asia,” he said. “In Vietnamese culture, we still look at the lunar year as the time to celebrate the new year.”
In Vietnamese tradition, 2024 is known as the Year of the Dragon, signifying talent, strength, nobility, luck and success.
Mass ended a few minutes before midnight, leaving just enough time for parishioners to do a brief countdown before fireworks erupted to announce the start of the new year.
Due to the late hour, the fireworks display was kept brief out of respect for nearby neighbors, Father Truong added, “but we have kept all the elements with which we normally celebrate the new year in Vietnam.”
The night’s celebration was highlighted by a performance by the parish’s renowned Hidden Dragon Lion Dance team, comprised of youth from the parish, whose colorful and acrobatic presentation imitated the movements of four lions.
The lions danced and swayed to the beat of drums, stretching open their oversized mouths as people young and old laughed with delight and handed over little red envelopes that symbolized luck and good fortune.
Father Truong and Deacon Nguyen had handed out the red envelopes, brought in for the occasion from Vietnam. Tucked inside each one was a dollar bill and an inspirational Bible quote for the year ahead.
At the end of the celebration, a young parishioner on behalf of the entire community presented Father Truong with a bouquet of flowers as gratitude for his pastoral leadership over the past year.
Jenny Nguyen was among the hundreds on hand for the festivities at St. Joseph. She had driven in from Savannah, Georgia, to attend the Mass and celebrate Têt with her parents.
“It’s a special time to come back and celebrate with family and all the friends from the parish I grew up in,” Nguyen said. “For me, it is very important to be in an atmosphere of hope for what the new year will bring us.”
— César Hurtado
