YORK, Pa. — People across the state are ringing in the Lunar New Year with celebrations, culture and traditions.
Viet Thai Café, a Vietnamese and Thai fusion restaurant, is celebrating Tết. Tết is short for Tết Nguyên Đán, which celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar.
“It’s all about getting together with family, starting over and starting a New Year,” said Frankie Nguyen, co-owner of Viet Thai Café.
The Tết festival is celebrated around the same time as the Chinese New Year. The Lunar celebrations take place in South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
“The Vietnamese celebrate a lot of the things the Chinese celebrate, New Year being one of them,” said Nguyen. “The traditions are a little different—we eat different foods and do different things, but we celebrate around the same time.”
Some similarities are the dragons representing good luck, strength and health. Red envelopes—another shared tradition—are given to close family and friends to symbolize prosperity and happiness in the new year.
A few differences are the food. Bánh tét is a traditional food normally made for the Lunar New Year. Bánh tét is a Vietnamese savory glutinous rice cake with pork belly and mung beans.
“It takes a couple of days because the meat has to be marinated for about 48 hours,” said Jenny DiMarcello, co-owner of Viet Thai Café. “The sticky rice should be rinsed and soaked overnight, as well as the mung bean, and after it’s rinsed and soaked, the mung bean has to be steamed.”
Nguyen and DiMarcello say they were taught how to make bánh tét by their parents and spent their teenage years learning how to make the traditional dish.
“We bring our families together and we keep the tradition of handing out the envelopes and teaching them about the way we celebrate the New Year and teaching them about the food,” said Nguyen.