克利夫兰及周边地区消息

浦瑛開講:傳統節日 漸受關注

  ICC-WIN Program celebrating the Asian New Year and its customs
by Attorney Joseph Meissner
　

   A great program on the annual Asian New Year Festival was held on Saturday February 11 at the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Parma, Ohio. This was sponsored by the ICC-WIN organization (Intercultural Community Council and Worldwide Intercultural Network) under its president, Ken Kovach.
   We had three great presenters under Moderator Kovach's leadership. They were Jason Chao from the Chinese Community, Ms. Gia Hoa Ryan from the Vietnamese Community, and Attorney Joseph Meissner from the Friendship Foundation of American-Vietnamese.
President Kovach had developed an outstanding Power point presentation about this Asian festival. "It covers," he summarizes, "(1) the history of the Celebration, (2) customs, (3) foods, and (4) greetings for the Asian and Vietnamese New Year's." Mr. Kovach offered this almost unknown fact. "By the way, for Chinese this is the year of the RABBIT; for the Vietnamese, this is the year of the CAT." The presenters at this event gave various explanations for this difference. (Mr. Kovach's highly educational Power Point presentation can be obtained from him by sending requests to ICC-WIN.)
   Jason Chao explained how this festival is meant to celebrate the reunion of families. People will travel across the globe in order to return to their original homes and once again see their parents and all the relatives. It is a time for great rejoicing which includes so many special foods such as a special sticky rice and various cakes. "This is a time for rest and enjoyment," he declared. "no work is to be done such as sweeping the floor and cleaning the house. All of this is to be accomplished before the New Year." He also detailed how parents present special red envelopes to the children, filled with new currency.

   Ms. Ryan, wearing a beautiful Ao Dai or Vietnamese long gown with a design in front showing the outline of the country of Viet Nam, continued expanding upon Jason's comments. "That is right about the currency or li xi custom," she began. She showed the bright red envelopes in which the new money is hidden. The Vietnamese also have interesting customs for this period which can last ten days. On the very first day, the home welcomes some special guest who must be the first one to cross the threshold in the New Year. The family believes that such a special person will bring the household good luck and prosperity throughout the upcoming year.
   She also recounted how the Vietnamese have their own special Tet foods. One of these is "Ban chung" which is a special square rice cake. Inside the center can be all sorts of goodies, like pork or sweet bean paste. There is a companion round rice cake. Some think the square cake symbolizes males while the round one symbolizes females.
   Gia Ho stressed how the family is the whole center of this Tet season and attendance serves to strengthen the bonds of love and friendship which may have been weakened by long periods of separation.
   She also discussed the many special treats of fruits and candy and sweets which are part of the celebration. She had brought a nice selection of these in a large ceramic tray. She had long strings of coconut candy, the tiny spicy ginger candies, and small sesame seed cookies. She passed these around for people to sample and enjoy.
   Finally she emphasized how the Tet Season brings the family together and children learn about the culture of Vietnam while honoring their own older relatives. Both she and Jason discussed how the New Year was a time for ending old feuds and rebuilding friendships among all.
   Attorney Joseph Meissner, who served in Vietnam war and has returned to that beautiful country some 35 times on humanitarian missions with the Friendship Foundation of American-Vietnamese which was founded in 1993 by Ms. Ryan, offered a serious note to the discussions. "These holidays celebrations have often crossed over into history as important occasions," he began. "Some of these include the famous truce at Christmas in WW I when German and Allied soldiers stopped their fighting and sang Christmas Carols to each other, played soccer together, and even exchanges gifts such as tobacco and food.
   He then explained how holiday seasons have actually been used as a camouflage to fool enemy forces. "The Germans used the holiday season as a cover for the Battle of the Bulge in which they sought to break out of Allied encirclement. One of the most serious of such efforts was the Tet Offensive in 1968. There had been an unwritten custom that both sides during the annual Tet period would refrain from offensive military actions and allow many of their troops to go home to their families to enjoy reunions. In 1968, there Communists even urged the South Vietnamese government to allow even more troops time off. The Communists used this time in order to smuggle their weapons and soldiers into many civilian areas and cities. Then on the night of January 31 and day of February 1 they launched devastating surprise attacks all over Vietnam. They hoped to provoke a general uprising among the people against the government. But South Vietnamese soldiers although surprised by Communist treachery and the first day of the fighting, returned to their units and rallied. Although there were 10,000 friendly casualties, the Communists lost over 40,000 of their troops. Also the Southern VC forces were decimated since the North Communists sent them into the battle first. 75% of the casualties were southern Communist soldiers. Finally, there was no general uprising since while many South Vietnamese may not have liked the war, they did not want to live under Communist rule.
   Then Meissner summed up. "Up to this time many Allied leaders believed that the were winning the war. But the Tet Offensive although a tremendous Communist defeat, because of the surprise and devastation, people came to believe that the war was a stalemate and Allied leaders looked to negotiations. Why is this events relevant today? Remember at Christmas last year, the Russians proposed a truce. The Ukrainians leery of Russian trickery did not go along with that. Perhaps they took a lesson from the 1968 Communist strategy of misusing a holiday season.
   Moderator Ken Kovach concluded this event. He thanked the three presenters, and called for a round of applause from the audience. "This successful event will be followed by more such ICC-Win activities," he promised. "I invite all of you to attend, enjoy and learn as we celebrate all of our great cultures and traditions. "Happy New Year," " Chuc Mung Nam Moi" which translates in Vietnamese as "Happy New Year," and "Gong hei fat choy" (恭喜發財), which is Cantonese Chinese for "Wishing you happiness and prosperity."
   "See you again," Kovach thanked all for attending.