Nhan Nguyen |
There's a greater significance to the new year than mere gluttony and revelry. The new year is a time for families to get together, honor their ancestors and mend their ways - not too different from the way followers of the solar calendar ring in the solar new year.
On the other hand, one thing youths love about the lunar new year is money given to them in little red envelopes to express wishes for good luck and prosperity, known as red money. As you can tell, red is a color you will see a lot of for the next few days.
For me, this new year represents many important events: Hong Kong will be returned to China, I'll graduate and join the rat race (gasp!). I'm an Ox, you see, and hope to make the most of my year. (And knowing that the cycle for each animal symbol occurs only every 12 years, you'll be able to tell I've been in college a little longer than I had planned!)
As an Ox, my personality should more or less follow these lines: I should be a fairly quiet person, industrious (hence the Ox designation), idealistic, stubborn and contemplative. That's funny - I'm all of the above! Strangely enough, I share these characteristics with other famous Oxen, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Richard Nixon, Adolf Hit ... um, I'll stop the list here.
The happy new year is known as Tet to the Vietnamese, though the name brings up bitter memories of the 1968 Tet Offensive for many Americans. Well, one of the aims of the lunar new year is to leave past mistakes behind. Now would be a great time for Vietnamese and Americans to look forward to a bright future, where wars are waged from a unified front against common enemies like poverty, poor education and racism.
One coincidence I've always felt significant is that the lunar new year usually occurs in February, as does Black History Month. In the span of this month, two races who have traditionally been at odds with each other celebrate their respective milestones. It would also be a good time to put down the ignorance of racism, which I have seen exhibited by members of both groups.
If you have a problem with Asians or blacks in general - or any group, for that matter - then you haven't made the effort or given that group a fair shake as people probably more human than you.
Many will ask why I'm bringing up such unpleasant topics at a time when we're supposed to celebrate. I bring them up so we can resolve our ignorant biases and move ahead to celebrate together as people, not colors.
Nguyen is a senior RTV major.