It will be a night of reunions as the Vietnamese community in Tauranga celebrates the Lunar New Year for the first time together.
“We just have fun,” organiser Landi Morrison said.
The party will be held at Waters Edge at Tauranga Memorial Park this Sunday from 6pm to midnight. So far, 100 out of 120 tickets available have been sold, Morrison said.
Lunar New Year is the Vietnamese community’s biggest celebration, and family would travel home for the holiday, Morrison said.
There had been an attempt to host a similar event in 2022, but Covid spoiled the party and cancelled the event, she said.
“This time, we put everything together. Hopefully, we will meet each other, see what we do here, how we live here, and see if we need anything or if we can support each other.”
Organisers of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year event.
Lunar New Year is the Vietnamese community’s biggest celebration, and family would travel home for the holiday in the Southeast Asian country.
“We work all year. We save all the money but spend a lot on food, clothes, decorations, and flowers during the Lunar New Year,” said Morrison.
“Food, particularly sticky rice, mixed with mung beans and pork, is essential to the celebration and is formed into different shapes. In the north, it is Bánh chưng [square], and in the south, it is Bánh tét [cylindrical].
“Quite often, the whole family will stay up and cook it together on a big fire overnight.”
In Vietnam the community would also spend a lot of money on particular flowers that only blossom during the Lunar New Year; the first of which is the yellow, hoa mai, and pink hoa dao, Morrison said.
“There’s quite a lot of effort put into it to ensure that the flower does not open before the New Year for luck.”
One of the organisers, of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year event Cathy Thao.
Morrison said children attending Tauranga’s celebration will wear new clothes and greet elders with the customary Chúc Mừng Năm Mới ‘Happy New Year!’, and then they will receive “Li Xi, lucky money”.
Tauranga’s Vietnamese Lunar New Year party is January 26, from 6pm to midnight at Waters Edge, Tauranga Memorial Park. Tickets are $30 per adult and Under-10s gain free entry. For tickets, see: