February 2002

Dear friends, chúc mừng năm mới!

Do you know that the Vietnamese youth always get an extra advantage over the American youth during this season? I’m talking about all the big celebrations that we get since November until now. First, it was Thanksgiving in November, then Christmas in December, New Year in January and now, Tết in February! Boy, you haven’t even had enough time to get bored with your Christmas presents yet and already you’re about to receive lots of lì-xì money. I call this the "Viet-advantage"! American kids don’t get this extra bonus. It’s one more reason to be thankful that you are Vietnamese! Personally, I am very proud to be Vietnamese and I’m very grateful for many beautiful Vietnamese traditions. Particularly, I’m glad we have the tradition of Chúc Tết - it means to visit relatives & friends and offer them many good wishes for the New Year. If you really think about it, chúc Tết is a very thoughtful and caring act that we share with our loved ones. It’s a chance for us to shift our attention away from ourselves and to focus on others by wishing them good things. Chúc Tết is also an act of honor and respect that we give to our parents and grandparents - it’s a way to express our love and gratitude for them. So, dear friends, when we go "chúc Tết" someone this year, may I suggest that we all put more thoughts into what we really wish for them and say a little prayer for that person too. It’s a nice thing to "wish" for something, but it’s far better to pray for something. You see, when we wish for something, we leave the outcome to chance, but when we pray for something, we leave the outcome to God! So, choose your wish, or rather, your prayer, wisely my friends.

There are some important reminders for the month of February. This year, the 3-days New Year celebration fall on the 12^th, 13^th, and 14^th. Please make a note that Ash Wednesday also falls on the 13^th. Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten Season of the Church. This means that on Wednesday the 13^th, Catholics are called to fast and abstain from meat. So, remember to put the bánh chưng in the refrigerator and save it for the 14^th. Lent means that we make the inner journey of re-examining ourselves, repent from past sins, and resolve to walk closer with the Lord. May our Blessed Mother prepare our heart and soul during this Lenten Season so that we may follow her and reflect on Jesus’ journey to Cross.

I pray that God will bring you His Peace, Joy and Wisdom throughout the Year of the Horse. With God’s Grace, may you "run a good race" and reach your dream.

Peace in Jesus,

Tess Nguyen

*smile, Jesus loves you!

According to the Lunar Calendar which has been popular in Vietnam and China, Tuesday February 12 ushers in a New Year, the Year of the Horse (one of the twelve symbolic animals on the Chinese Zodiac).

For Chinese and Vietnamese people, New Year Festival, called syn nyan (tân niên) in Chinese, and Tết in Vietnamese, is THE celebration of every year with plenty of meaning and affrmative value. This Oriental Festival is indeed equivalent to the American Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentine, Easter, Memoria Day and All Souls Commemoration rolled together into one holiday or rather, HOLY DAY. Imagine that unspeakable combination of all celebrations and you will not be surprised by the devotion, fervor, intensity, even ecstasy with which customs and rituals are religiously observed during this annual festival.

Moreover, TẾT is a collective celebration of birthday for all of us. On New Year’s Day, we all gain one more year: Happy Birthday to all of you!

The Oriental New Year celebration has a long history which may be traced back to the Mesopotamian and Babylonian times. In the old time, the festival normally lasted twelve or ten days whereas in Vietnam today the popular (non-official) celebration still takes on three days. The Catholic Vietnamese calendar published in the United States still dedicates three first days to the New Year’s celebration with a specific intention for each day.

Analytically, the TẾT festival consists of tree meaningful elements: the so-called "elimination of the past," meaning the purification process; the re-generation of time and life or the renewal process; and thirdly, the re-establishing of harmony or the celebration of relationships.

The purification process may be expressed by the cleansing of the the house (quite similar to spring cleaning in the United States), the payment of debts, the reconciliation with the ancestors, and the farewell ceremony to the spirit of the hearth (Thần Táo) (equivalent to the guardian angel of the individual family) who is believed to ascend to the Heavenly Emperor to file his annual report on the life and work of that family.

Central to the festival is the celebration of relationships between humans and humans (there are five basic ones from ancient traditions: parents and offsprings, husband and wife, ruler and subject, brothers and sisters, friends and friends), between humans and the Creator, and also between humans and nature or all creation. This celebration implies family reunion, visits to parents, relatives and ritual to honor the ancestral spirits, copious meals for sharing and "communion," well wishes, gift exchange, and good luck rituals, etc.

These three principal components of the New Year Festival accompanied by a rich symbolism seem to point out the three outstanding characteristics of the South-East Asian culture, namely,

1. A humanistic emphasis

2. A cosmic tendency

3. A transcendental aspiration

On this occasion, the edifying words of Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth century abbess, visionary artist and holy woman, may be served as food for thought: