By Da Lin<\/p>\n
Many Asian Americans across the Bay Area are preparing to celebrate Lunar New Year on Feb. 17, ushering in the Year of the Horse.<\/p>\n
Festivities are taking place throughout the region this weekend, from San Francisco to Oakland to San Jose. In San Jose, thousands gathered for the annual T\u1ebft Festival, the Vietnamese community\u2019s largest Lunar New Year celebration. <\/p>\n
For many Asian Americans, Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year, often compared to Christmas. Instead of wrapped presents, children receive red envelopes symbolizing luck and prosperity. <\/p>\n
At the festival outside San Jose\u2019s Eastridge Center, families posed for photos with large golden horse displays, a nod to the Chinese zodiac sign associated with speed, freedom and success. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to get a little bit of the new year spirit in, so this is the perfect spot,\u201d said Chi Tran, a Milpitas resident who attended with his wife and their four-year-old son on Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n
The event featured live Vietnamese music, carnival rides, and a wide array of traditional Vietnamese food. Many parents said they attend to help their children stay connected to their cultural roots. <\/p>\n
Tran dressed his son in a traditional \u00e1o d\u00e0i for the occasion. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a traditional Vietnamese \u00e1o d\u00e0i. My son, he\u2019s got one. [My wife and I have] one on. Even though he\u2019s born here, we\u2019re trying to give him a little bit of Vietnamese tradition,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For Tran, the Year of the Horse carries special meaning. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Year of the Horse means lots of prosperity, lots of good things happening,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The festival is organized by the Vietnamese Catholic community of the Diocese of San Jose. Organizers estimated that 70,000 people attended last year and hope to surpass that number this year, despite rain in the forecast. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the biggest event for Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. The budget that we spent for this event is around $250,000,\u201d said Deacon Nhut Ho, a festival spokesman. <\/p>\n
According to U.S. Census data, San Jose is home to the largest Vietnamese population of any city outside Vietnam, with roughly 150,000 Vietnamese Americans. <\/p>\n
Not far from the festival, many families visited the Grand Century Mall in San Jose\u2019s Little Saigon neighborhood, shopping for groceries and decorations ahead of the holiday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re decorating. We\u2019ve spent a lot of time cleaning, making sure everything is nice,\u201d said Annie Nguyen-Barany, a Berkeley resident describing her family\u2019s preparations. <\/p>\n
Many families are also planning large reunion dinners to mark the new year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also like the red envelopes. And I also like meeting other Vietnamese families, [so I can practice] my Vietnamese,\u201d said Rumi Barany of Berkeley. <\/p>\n
For the Tran family and many others, Lunar New Year is both a celebration of tradition and a hopeful look ahead. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to wish everybody a Happy New Year. May 2026 bring you a lot of prosperity, peace, joy, love, and happiness,\u201d Tran said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Da Lin Many Asian Americans across the Bay Area are preparing to celebrate Lunar New Year on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-177452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}