In mid-November, the Consulate General of Vietnam in Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia, together with the Vietnamese Students Association in Australia, organized an event to celebrate the traditional New Year for overseas Vietnamese, international students, and workers working here.
The event, themed Xuan Que Huong (Vietnamese spring festival), took place in Perth City, with the participation of representatives and consulates from countries in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha, Consul General of Vietnam in Perth, said that this activity aims to introduce cultural beauty and promote traditional Vietnamese values in the land of kangaroos.
The program includes exchange activities and experiences of Vietnamese culture such as asking for calligraphy from the scholar, dancing with conical hats and ao dai, making traditional cakes, to he, and enjoying solo performances of traditional musical instruments. The program space recreates the familiar traditional Tet holiday, with peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, marigolds, banh chung pots, and red parallel sentences.
The President of the Vietnamese Women's Association in Perth said that the program with traditional dance performances, expressed national pride through the ao dai and conical hats with Vietnamese characteristics.
Tea master Ngo Thi Thanh Tam and the Vietnamese Consulate in Western Australia have connected with bakers and calligraphers to bring traditional flavors of Tet in Perth.
"I feel happy to spread the unique traditional cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people to overseas Vietnamese, the local community and international friends," Ms. Thanh Tam expressed.
Not only the Vietnamese community living in Australia, but also local people and international friends are excited to participate and experience Vietnamese Tet culture.
The program organizers shared the reason why overseas Vietnamese “celebrate Tet early” because spring in Perth usually falls in September every year, often lasting for the last three months of the year. The weather at this time makes overseas Vietnamese people miss the warm Tet of their homeland.
