The Vietnamese community celebrated happiness and good luck for the coming year with a traditional festive New Year’s celebration Saturday.

“New Year is a time when families gather together, like Christmas or Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s basically our biggest holiday,” said Tri Tran, vice president of the Vietnamese Student Association. “It is a cultural event to bring together the Vietnamese community of Ames.”

The Vietnamese New Year’s Celebration, organized by VSA, was held in the Collegiate United Methodist Church, 2622 W. Lincoln Way, from 6 p.m. until midnight. The traditional New Year was celebrated Feb. 5, a different date than the Chinese New Year.

The Ames celebration linked past traditions with modern entertainment for Vietnamese Americans with an incense ceremony, dragon dance, variety show and dinner.

“I had Tet [the Vietnamese New Year] explained to me as America’s New Year, Christmas and Fourth of July rolled into one,” said Rafeal Rodriguez, director of Minority Student Affairs. “This is a celebration of the beginning of the new year and a way to remember those that came before us and those that cannot be here today.”

The church basement had several red decorations to create “the year of the dragon” festival in Ames. The color red is used because it means good luck, said VSA President Suong Phan.

The dragon dance, performed by several male VSA members, was one of the many traditional events of the night. The dancers wore large dragon and lion head coverings with silk cloth tails. They performed to loud rhythmic drum and cymbal music that told a story through dance.

“Tet provides a community’s glimpse of Vietnamese traditions,” Rodriguez said. “Events like this are the perfect opportunity to observe traditions and cultures that were left behind in Vietnam.”

After the dragon dance, a variety show consisting of dancing, singing and acting organized by the VSA members was performed. One traditional Vietnamese dance, Doan Xuan, involved women moving slowly with baskets as props.

“The traditional dance allows people to learn about our history,” said Phan, sophomore in marketing.

Many of the VSA female members wore traditional silk outfits called “ao dai” for the event and show. “The traditional female attire was sewn by either the students themselves or their families,” Rodriguez said.

After dinner, the Vietnamese tradition of giving out lucky money to small children was observed. The money is usually given by parents to the children to wish them a happy and lucky year.

“If you don’t get lucky money, you will have bad luck all year,” Phan said.

VSA sent out invitations to more than 500 people, “but there’s always more than that there because people bring their friends or family with them,” said Tran, freshman in mathematics.

The New Year’s Celebration was supported by several area restaurants and the parents of VSA members. Phan was pleased with the diverse audience at the celebration.

“We hope to get better support next year and get more people involved,” Phan said.