The Daily Toreador - Student Newspaper of Texas Tech

Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Kerry Lentz

Members of the Texas Tech community gathered to discuss Vietnamese culture as part of a celebration of the Lunar New Year Friday at the Southwest Collection Library.

At the celebration, Ron Milam, a professor of history at Tech, talked about how the Lunar New Year, or "Tet" in Vietnamese, has a different connotation for the Vietnamese than it does for many Americans.

"We in America are still thinking about it as an offensive," Milam said in reference to the Tet Offensive, which was considered a turning point in the Vietnam War.

Milam said he served as an infantry adviser to the Montagnards, an ethnic group in Vietnam, in the Vietnam War.

He said he spent time talking with students in Vietnam, and believes, in the future, there may be Vietnamese graduate students at Tech studying the American side of the war.

As he concluded his welcome, Milam said to everyone in attendance at the celebration that it "is such a great thing we can celebrate in a non-war way," although the war is often what comes to mind for Americans.

Quan Ha, a 28-year-old doctoral student of English who spoke after Milam, said when the Vietnamese think about Tet, they do not think of war. They see a celebration of family and love. The Lunar New Year is a time for forgiveness and respect in their culture.

He also said, as a joke, it was the only time husbands could get intoxicated because their Vietnamese wives do not believe in cursing people on Tet.

Ha, who is from Da Lat, Vietnam, said Buddhists often place altars outside with food and paper money. For others, it is a time to visit ancestors' graves, visit the temple and return home to spend time with family and friends.

He said although Vietnam is not the most financially prosperous country, many families do not have to save up all year like they used to for special foods for the Tet celebrations, which are very important in their culture.

This year, Tet marks the welcoming of the Year of the Rat. According to the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco Web site, www.c-g-c.org previous Years of the Rat include: 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984 and 1996.

According to the Web site, people born in the Year of the Rat are known for their charm, and they work hard to achieve their goals. They are angered easily and love to gossip, but they usually are very successful.

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