Lunar New Year Tet Festival Celebrates Vietnamese Heritage

KPBS Midday Edition I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. To celebrate the lunar new year San Diego's Vietnamese immunity celebrating the annual Tet Festival last week and there was a celebration at QUALCOMM Stadium starting this Friday the community's longest running Tet Festival organized by the Vietnamese youth alliance takes place in Mira Mesa for three days. The Festival ushers in the year of the goat and marks two notable anniversaries for the community. I would like to welcome my guests, Alexander Nguyen with the American Vietnamese youth alliance or VAYA welcome to the program. Thank you for having us. Tim Nguyen president of the Asian Pacific American coalition. Welcome. Thank you for having us. Alex one of those anniversaries I mentioned is how long this Tet Festival has taken place in San Diego this is the Festival's tenth year how did it get started? It started with a group of students who wanted to create a huge festival for the Vietnamese community and in 2004 when VAYA was formed the students looked at college credits and students a look at the Orange County Festival which has been going on for 30 years and what -- wanted something similar in San Diego that is how the Festival got its start. In 2000 for the group formed in 2006 the first festival was at welcome Stadium. And Tet is considered the largest celebration of the year for Vietnamese community. Why is it so significant Alex? Tet is significant because it is a brand-new year and it is Christmas, New Year's all rolled into one. The youth have lucky money and there is games and festivals and for adults it is a chance to reunite the family, a family gathering of sorts also a time to worship the ancestors the traditional Tet celebration in Vietnam. How big a San Diego's Vietnamese community? As of the 2013 numbers about 50,000 people. That compares to 2000 census, 40,000, so we have grown a little bit but by no means the fastest growing group in Diego. Sure. I will ask you a minute what people can do and see at the Tet Festival but first I want to get Tim and the conversation what is your involvement in the organization. We foster and build with various organizations including VAYA in addition to the Vietnamese committee which includes Korean, Chinese, Indian and Filipino community. Sort of an outreach to all of the Pacific Rim people who are here in San Diego? Exactly we help strengthen partnerships to business communities as well as help market the events as well. What are some of the things to see and do at this year's Tet Festival? Alex? One of the things important for this year is we build a replica of the first vote that traveled to Australia starting the waive of the boat people this is an exact replica of the boat that Monday in Australia in 1976 and also we have a lot of historical replicas such as the Temple of the kings which is the first dynastic dynasty in Vietnam and a lot of other temples of -- very specific to region such as the central and northern and southern region. Is Africa took a lot to put together? A did. The festival itself is about nine months of planning and as soon as we close the festival we've got to regroup and start planning for next year's festival. It is a year-round project. How many people are you expecting? Respecting between 20,000 to 30,000 people and since we are an open air Festival and is also free it is hard to get an exact number so we go on estimates. I think that I read that the Tet Festival used to be in Balboa Park is a break? That's correct we've had in QUALCOMM Stadium the we moved to Balboa Park in 2008 and we have stayed there stayed there for a good number of years. In 2012 we moved to Mira Mesa. The reason we moved is because of construction in Balboa Park getting ready for the Centennial and so we had to move. We originally had planned on moving there for just the one year then the community welcomed us and we had such support , outreach and support from the community we decided to stay. Part of the reason we state is also during the whole time there was redistricting and Mira Mesa became part of District six which is labeled as the Asian district. APAC is part of that and so was VAYA also part of the coalition that helped formed district six is the Asian district. How does this Tet Festival, Tim, serve as an outreach to all members of the community? Yes, I think the Tet Festival signifies the collaboration, the diversity the only the Asian community but San Diego overall. The Vietnamese community is part of San Diego history. Is the immigrants that arrived here in city Heights the gateway to many communities. And then in the last couple decades they have migrated north to Linda Vista and now in the Mira Mesa area. This particular Tet Festival also marks a somber anniversary. The 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon when the US airlifted the last Americans and many South Vietnamese allies out of Saigon as North near cash North Vietnamese forces to the city. How will you be marking that at this Tet Festival? We will market with the opening ceremony remembering everything else that is happen and also throughout the cultural Village. We have the replica of the first boat that landed in Australia starting the waive of immigrants coming to the West. With that , that is how we are marking it and also throughout the festival we have this magazine that tells us about the lives of Vietnamese Americans and throughout the festival talks and everything like that, that is why we have the cultural Village. That is where the information is going to be coming out and of course throughout the missed Vietnam pageant will mark this by talking about how it happened and everything else. Will be talking about how it happened because there are an awful lot of young Vietnamese Americans in San Diego. Who don't really know a lot about that, it was every? That's correct for the most part Tim can talk more about this because he has experimented more than I do but for the most part a lot of Vietnamese Americans grew up in the United States he went to school in the United States don't have that connection to the fall of Saigon because it is so far removed from them. Part of that is because US history books for high schoolers stop usually around World War II. And there is a lot more that happened after World War II that would be covered in college but in high school curriculum is usually where US history stops. They are not learning about their history at all. Tim, you feel you've seen that young Vietnamese Americans have gaps in their historical knowledge about their country, the country of their origin and here? Correct also previously there was a generation gap but more recently you see groups like the Vietnamese youth alliance working and engaging other youth to come on board. Now these is you connect with each other. They have the same cultural American media culture as well as language. And being part and putting on the Tet Festival brings engagement back to the community. This Tet Festival's thing is the spring of nostalgia. Tell us about that Alex? We chose the theme for the reason because it is the tenth anniversary of the Tet Festival in San Diego the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the 45th anniversary of the massacre of the bloodiest battle in Vietnam where about 4000 civilians perished. That is why we call it nostalgia because it is just memories and also not just good memories but also bittersweet memories, good and bad we call it spring nostalgia it encompasses everything. Let me ask you about that. Some people might find it hard to understand how in any year celebration a Tet Festival which is so much about family, so much about joy, and so much about food and music and celebration that this somber event would be remembered there and yet as you are describing it it is very meaningful to have that as part of the celebration. The reason why it is meaningful is also the massacre happened on Tet in 1969 weather was a piece cord -- piece accord cease-fire for the operations which the North Vietnamese broke this cease-fire which is why it caught the South Vietnamese by surprise so many people died parish and you can really celebrate that especially with the South Vietnamese without remembering this because so many lives were affected especially people who have connections to the city. You I understand were born in Vietnam. And you come here as a very young child? Yes, I did which which is why I have a bit of a bridge between for two cultures however I grew up very much an American because as I said I grew up went to school here graduated from college here so there is not a lot of connection to Vietnam in that sense but also what I learned about Vietnam is through books and learning researching myself and to the involvement of the Tet Festival when I came back to San Diego after college. I joined the Tet Festival because of my expertise in producing shows. That is where I started learning more about the culture , trying to put on the shows for us trying to make things meaningful. And that is what is great about this Festival is for use the to be involved such as high school kids and college kids , by doing this they learned about it. Is that part of the actual goal of the Vietnamese American youth alliance of your organization? Education? That is the goal. Our overall emphasis is empowering youth your civic duties such as events like this. By empowering them so they can do things like this they also learn about their culture and also learn about being part of the community because from what I see growing up here in San Diego is a lot if you cannot as involved physically as they could especially with Asian youth and Tim can probably attest to this is that there seems to be a disconnect between political involvement in the Asian youth and to this event and to many other events they can get more involved because by doing this you have to play with so many players, the cities, permits approved, talk to City Council and everything else to make things work. They can understand how important the political process and the importance of having your voice heard because Tet Festival would not happen if it weren't through the help of the city, city Council, the help the help of special events department trying to help make this event successful. So Tim the Tet Festival is actually a vital part of the community and having the community have reached a higher profile within the city of San Diego? Absolutely in addition to the Tet Festival we work with other organizational event such as the Asian cultural Festival and San Diego markets including more recently launched or have expanded into district six in San Diego. I will ask you a question Alex you probably always get from people like me. What does the year of the goat mean? The year of the goat is a good question. It is funny because the people born in the year of the goat are said to be homebodies the like to stay at home, they are also artistic and don't like change but they are also very peaceful. Which is as you look at the goat you don't see any of that. (laughter) I guess you have to look a long time. You are also, in addition to this other wonderful stuff that is going to be at the chapter Festival you have a goat petting zoo before the year of the goat? Correct the start of a chance in 2012 when we when we started the festival and Mira Mesa that somebody, a community member, Mira Mesa is also part of the society to help rehabilitate snakes so we said can I bring some snacks out there and it got a lot of people interested. The next year which is the year of the horse we are horse and now it's a petting zoo. That is great the tenth annual Tet Festival is this weekend February 20, 21 starts on Friday runs through Sunday at Mira Mesa committee Park it is free and open to the public I have been speaking with Alexander Nguyen with the Vietnamese-American youth alliance and Tim Nguyen Board President of the Asia-Pacific American coalition thank you both very much. Thank you are having as.

KPBS Midday Edition I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. To celebrate the lunar new year San Diego's Vietnamese immunity celebrating the annual Tet Festival last week and there was a celebration at QUALCOMM Stadium starting this Friday the community's longest running Tet Festival organized by the Vietnamese youth alliance takes place in Mira Mesa for three days. The Festival ushers in the year of the goat and marks two notable anniversaries for the community. I would like to welcome my guests, Alexander Nguyen with the American Vietnamese youth alliance or VAYA welcome to the program. Thank you for having us. Tim Nguyen president of the Asian Pacific American coalition. Welcome. Thank you for having us. Alex one of those anniversaries I mentioned is how long this Tet Festival has taken place in San Diego this is the Festival's tenth year how did it get started? It started with a group of students who wanted to create a huge festival for the Vietnamese community and in 2004 when VAYA was formed the students looked at college credits and students a look at the Orange County Festival which has been going on for 30 years and what -- wanted something similar in San Diego that is how the Festival got its start. In 2000 for the group formed in 2006 the first festival was at welcome Stadium. And Tet is considered the largest celebration of the year for Vietnamese community. Why is it so significant Alex? Tet is significant because it is a brand-new year and it is Christmas, New Year's all rolled into one. The youth have lucky money and there is games and festivals and for adults it is a chance to reunite the family, a family gathering of sorts also a time to worship the ancestors the traditional Tet celebration in Vietnam. How big a San Diego's Vietnamese community? As of the 2013 numbers about 50,000 people. That compares to 2000 census, 40,000, so we have grown a little bit but by no means the fastest growing group in Diego. Sure. I will ask you a minute what people can do and see at the Tet Festival but first I want to get Tim and the conversation what is your involvement in the organization. We foster and build with various organizations including VAYA in addition to the Vietnamese committee which includes Korean, Chinese, Indian and Filipino community. Sort of an outreach to all of the Pacific Rim people who are here in San Diego? Exactly we help strengthen partnerships to business communities as well as help market the events as well. What are some of the things to see and do at this year's Tet Festival? Alex? One of the things important for this year is we build a replica of the first vote that traveled to Australia starting the waive of the boat people this is an exact replica of the boat that Monday in Australia in 1976 and also we have a lot of historical replicas such as the Temple of the kings which is the first dynastic dynasty in Vietnam and a lot of other temples of -- very specific to region such as the central and northern and southern region. Is Africa took a lot to put together? A did. The festival itself is about nine months of planning and as soon as we close the festival we've got to regroup and start planning for next year's festival. It is a year-round project. How many people are you expecting? Respecting between 20,000 to 30,000 people and since we are an open air Festival and is also free it is hard to get an exact number so we go on estimates. I think that I read that the Tet Festival used to be in Balboa Park is a break? That's correct we've had in QUALCOMM Stadium the we moved to Balboa Park in 2008 and we have stayed there stayed there for a good number of years. In 2012 we moved to Mira Mesa. The reason we moved is because of construction in Balboa Park getting ready for the Centennial and so we had to move. We originally had planned on moving there for just the one year then the community welcomed us and we had such support , outreach and support from the community we decided to stay. Part of the reason we state is also during the whole time there was redistricting and Mira Mesa became part of District six which is labeled as the Asian district. APAC is part of that and so was VAYA also part of the coalition that helped formed district six is the Asian district. How does this Tet Festival, Tim, serve as an outreach to all members of the community? Yes, I think the Tet Festival signifies the collaboration, the diversity the only the Asian community but San Diego overall. The Vietnamese community is part of San Diego history. Is the immigrants that arrived here in city Heights the gateway to many communities. And then in the last couple decades they have migrated north to Linda Vista and now in the Mira Mesa area. This particular Tet Festival also marks a somber anniversary. The 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon when the US airlifted the last Americans and many South Vietnamese allies out of Saigon as North near cash North Vietnamese forces to the city. How will you be marking that at this Tet Festival? We will market with the opening ceremony remembering everything else that is happen and also throughout the cultural Village. We have the replica of the first boat that landed in Australia starting the waive of immigrants coming to the West. With that , that is how we are marking it and also throughout the festival we have this magazine that tells us about the lives of Vietnamese Americans and throughout the festival talks and everything like that, that is why we have the cultural Village. That is where the information is going to be coming out and of course throughout the missed Vietnam pageant will mark this by talking about how it happened and everything else. Will be talking about how it happened because there are an awful lot of young Vietnamese Americans in San Diego. Who don't really know a lot about that, it was every? That's correct for the most part Tim can talk more about this because he has experimented more than I do but for the most part a lot of Vietnamese Americans grew up in the United States he went to school in the United States don't have that connection to the fall of Saigon because it is so far removed from them. Part of that is because US history books for high schoolers stop usually around World War II. And there is a lot more that happened after World War II that would be covered in college but in high school curriculum is usually where US history stops. They are not learning about their history at all. Tim, you feel you've seen that young Vietnamese Americans have gaps in their historical knowledge about their country, the country of their origin and here? Correct also previously there was a generation gap but more recently you see groups like the Vietnamese youth alliance working and engaging other youth to come on board. Now these is you connect with each other. They have the same cultural American media culture as well as language. And being part and putting on the Tet Festival brings engagement back to the community. This Tet Festival's thing is the spring of nostalgia. Tell us about that Alex? We chose the theme for the reason because it is the tenth anniversary of the Tet Festival in San Diego the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the 45th anniversary of the massacre of the bloodiest battle in Vietnam where about 4000 civilians perished. That is why we call it nostalgia because it is just memories and also not just good memories but also bittersweet memories, good and bad we call it spring nostalgia it encompasses everything. Let me ask you about that. Some people might find it hard to understand how in any year celebration a Tet Festival which is so much about family, so much about joy, and so much about food and music and celebration that this somber event would be remembered there and yet as you are describing it it is very meaningful to have that as part of the celebration. The reason why it is meaningful is also the massacre happened on Tet in 1969 weather was a piece cord -- piece accord cease-fire for the operations which the North Vietnamese broke this cease-fire which is why it caught the South Vietnamese by surprise so many people died parish and you can really celebrate that especially with the South Vietnamese without remembering this because so many lives were affected especially people who have connections to the city. You I understand were born in Vietnam. And you come here as a very young child? Yes, I did which which is why I have a bit of a bridge between for two cultures however I grew up very much an American because as I said I grew up went to school here graduated from college here so there is not a lot of connection to Vietnam in that sense but also what I learned about Vietnam is through books and learning researching myself and to the involvement of the Tet Festival when I came back to San Diego after college. I joined the Tet Festival because of my expertise in producing shows. That is where I started learning more about the culture , trying to put on the shows for us trying to make things meaningful. And that is what is great about this Festival is for use the to be involved such as high school kids and college kids , by doing this they learned about it. Is that part of the actual goal of the Vietnamese American youth alliance of your organization? Education? That is the goal. Our overall emphasis is empowering youth your civic duties such as events like this. By empowering them so they can do things like this they also learn about their culture and also learn about being part of the community because from what I see growing up here in San Diego is a lot if you cannot as involved physically as they could especially with Asian youth and Tim can probably attest to this is that there seems to be a disconnect between political involvement in the Asian youth and to this event and to many other events they can get more involved because by doing this you have to play with so many players, the cities, permits approved, talk to City Council and everything else to make things work. They can understand how important the political process and the importance of having your voice heard because Tet Festival would not happen if it weren't through the help of the city, city Council, the help the help of special events department trying to help make this event successful. So Tim the Tet Festival is actually a vital part of the community and having the community have reached a higher profile within the city of San Diego? Absolutely in addition to the Tet Festival we work with other organizational event such as the Asian cultural Festival and San Diego markets including more recently launched or have expanded into district six in San Diego. I will ask you a question Alex you probably always get from people like me. What does the year of the goat mean? The year of the goat is a good question. It is funny because the people born in the year of the goat are said to be homebodies the like to stay at home, they are also artistic and don't like change but they are also very peaceful. Which is as you look at the goat you don't see any of that. (laughter) I guess you have to look a long time. You are also, in addition to this other wonderful stuff that is going to be at the chapter Festival you have a goat petting zoo before the year of the goat? Correct the start of a chance in 2012 when we when we started the festival and Mira Mesa that somebody, a community member, Mira Mesa is also part of the society to help rehabilitate snakes so we said can I bring some snacks out there and it got a lot of people interested. The next year which is the year of the horse we are horse and now it's a petting zoo. That is great the tenth annual Tet Festival is this weekend February 20, 21 starts on Friday runs through Sunday at Mira Mesa committee Park it is free and open to the public I have been speaking with Alexander Nguyen with the Vietnamese-American youth alliance and Tim Nguyen Board President of the Asia-Pacific American coalition thank you both very much. Thank you are having as.