The Vietnamese community came out to the Fisherman's Hall on Jan. 25 to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year, more commonly known as TET.
"TET is the occasion for Vietnamese to express their respect and remembrance for their ancestors as well as welcoming the New Year with their beloved family members. Every family will get together to have big meals, decorate TET trees and eat TET food and to welcome the New Year instead of a religious cause," explained Hung La.
"People consider what they do on the dawn of TET will determine their fate for the whole year, hence people always smile and behave as nice as they can in the hope for a better year. As well, gifts are exchanged between family members and friends and relatives, while children receive lucky money kept in red envelope."
Along with a Lion Dance and Lucky Money from TD Bank, the evening included a large spread of traditional Vietnamese cuisine and activities like a tug of war for different age groups, karaoke and a dance at the end.
The evening ended with a surplus of $2,221. $2,021 of that was donated to the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital while the remaining $200 was donated to the Che Linh Sao Do leprosy Hospital in Vietnam