The Leatherby Libraries is pleased to present a new semester-long display celebrating Vietnamese culture and tradition.

Vietnamese Lunar New Year, known as Tết (short for Tết Nguyên Đán) was February 10th, 2024. Tết is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture, as it introduces the arrival of spring and encourages families to come together and pray for luck, prosperity, and health in the new year. This joyous celebration consists of many traditions, such as visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year, indulging in elaborate feasts, and receiving red envelopes containing xí lí which is lucky money symbolizing good luck in the new year.

Vietnamese Culture Display

The Leatherby Libraries has curated a collection of books that showcase the culture of Vietnam as well as the experiences of Vietnamese Americans. This display includes publications such as Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham, which is a graphic memoir that depicts the author’s personal journey of immigrating from Vietnam to the United States. In Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies: History, Community, and Memory, Linda Ho Peché, Alex-Thai Dinh Vo, and Tuong Vu discuss the large number of Vietnam refugees that resettled in the United States and then they explore the forming of the Vietnamese American cultural and civic engagement. These books provide a glimpse into the culture of Vietnam and how Vietnamese Americans have preserved their traditional culture.

This display was created in collaboration with the Vietnamese Student Association. To learn more about the Vietnamese Student Association, check out their website and Instagram @chapmanvsa!

Check out this display’s complete bibliography on the Chapman Digital Commons here. This display will be up until the end of May.

This display was curated by Leatherby Libraries student employees Isabella Piechota ’25, Arianna Tillman ’25, and Kalea Brown ’26.