CHUC MUNG NAM MOI

TO THE VIETNAMESE Catholic community in the Albany Diocese, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" means, "Happy New Year!" The community celebrated Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, with a special Mass and meal last weekend at Sacred Heart parish in Albany.

Top, Joseph and Jonathan D'Alonzo hold up banners as Jordan Nguyen and Ryan Hoang play with paper puppets.

Bottom, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger receives the offertory gifts from Khai Nguyen and Kim Tran and Hung Tran and Tien Vu lead the procession into Mass in traditional costume.

After the Mass, people were given prayer scrolls, members of the Vietnamese Apostolate performed songs and Revs. Quy Vo and Lihn Hoang, OFM, gave out "lucky money" to the children. The gift of a small amount of money, known as "li xi" in Vietnamese, symbolizes good luck for the children in the new year.

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