The Vietnamese New Year is a joyous holiday, with celebrations taking place over three days. The first day of the celebration is usually spent only with immediate family. The second day is spent with close friends, and the last day of the New Year celebration is spent with more distant friends. Vietnamese persons from around the world often travel home for the holiday to spend it with family.
Those who cannot go back to Vietnam for the holiday find creative ways to bring Vietnam to where they are. Sister Yen Le, LHC, hosted a Vietnamese New Year celebration at Villa Assumpta here in the Atlantic-Midwest Province to share her cultural festivities with our Sisters, with whom she is living in community while earning her PhD. In preparation, she taught a group of dedicated helpers how to make spring rolls. The Sisters took their task seriously, rolling 300 of them over the course of an afternoon. Council members happily offered to taste test the final product. They proclaimed them delicious!
The spring rolls were served as part of a Vietnamese New Year’s dinner held on Thursday afternoon. The dinner followed a Mass of celebration, held in English but with Vietnamese influences.
