Saturday, February 5, 2011

Year of the Cat

Lunar New Year, or Tet, is a big deal in my family.  I love the fact that we maintain the tradition of dressing up in Vietnamese outfits, praying to our ancestors, speeches (my family loves speeches), and wishes of good health and success...not so much because I believe in the supernatural, but because it's a regular reminder of our Vietnamese heritage, even though we are very much a blended family now.


My cousin Aimee and Sophie

Grace, Remy and my dad.  One of these people looks like she doesn't quite belong.

It was so nice that my cousins traveled home from college for this event. Lookin' good girls!

My dad praying to our ancestors with Grace.

My mom and Remy, my niece.

This is our makeshift altar and the offerings of food and drinks for our ancestors.

My grandma and some of her great grandkids.  She's a lucky woman!

Grace doesn't think much of lucky red envelopes.

Sophie and I relaxing in our sweats at the end of the night.
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3 comments:

  1. MichouFebruary 5, 2011 at 11:27 PM

    It's the year if the rabbit. I don't think that there is even a year of the cat.

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  2. yummynomnomsFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:51 PM

    you look SKINNY in that last picture :D

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  3. DarrenFebruary 10, 2011 at 12:15 PM

    @michou - According to wikipedia: In the Vietnamese zodiac, the cat replaces the "rabbit" in the Chinese zodiac. Thus, a child born in the Chinese year of the rabbit was also born in the Vietnamese year of the cat (mèo/mão). The Vietnamese zodiac uses the same animals as the Chinese zodiac for the remaining 11 years, though the "ox" or "cow" of the Chinese zodiac is usually considered to be a water buffalo (sửu/trâu) in the Vietnamese zodiac.

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