“When I entered, the first thing I did was to find out where the children were living, and I was surprised to see that there are many games and activities in this hall for children and adults. It’s been a long time. I just got to play chess once more and found someone to play chess with me,” said Mr. Nam.
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Quy Mao Tet Festival was more crowded than expected and succeeded beyond the expectations of the UGVF leadership. Despite having to increase more tables, many diners still might not find a seat. According to Mr. Vuong Huu Nhan, President of UGVF, the organizers have made some adjustments to the festival’s form compared to previous years, focusing on Tet markets instead of cultural performances.
“We want to attract more people, not only the Vietnamese community but also French friends, because there are many people who are very interested in Vietnamese food and culture. There are many food stalls, handicrafts, pants. traditional clothes, folk games for children, and we succeeded,” said Mr. Nhan. “People come here only to eat and drink for a short time, then spend the rest of the time to meet and talk.”
Not only is the place to celebrate Spring, the Lunar New Year festival is also an opportunity for Vietnamese and French organizations to introduce activities. The entire space of the second floor of the hall is a place to display images of some major associations in France, including the Vietnam Student Association, the Franco-Vietnamese Friendship Association, the Vietnam Business Association in France, or the specializes in supporting Vietnamese dioxin victims “Collectifs Dioxine”. In addition, an exhibition on the Paris Agreement with the theme “A community towards the country” was also held.
The Spring Festival ended with a dance program at 21:30. The money collected from ticket sales to participate in games at Children’s Village will be organized “Back to the source” to contribute to the fund for the construction and upgrading of a number of schools in Kien Giang province.