90/Panorama of Events/Report From California U. S. A

<Southern California> The Tet Festival, in celebration of the Lunar New Year, is an event in the Au Lacese tradition that takes place every year. Festivities surrounding this occasion usually attract many thousands of visitors each year in Southern California, particularly in Orange County, where a large Au Lacese community resides. People of all ages come and celebrate the Lunar New Year while enjoying visits to a wide variety of interesting booths.

Once again, the Suma Ching Hai International Association was invited to participate in this year's Tet Festival at two major locations: Golden West College and Bolsa Grande High School. Our presence at Golden West College was mainly for the purpose of displaying and distributing Master's books, tapes, magazines, pictures and posters. The following weekend, however, we moved to the other location in the City of Garden Grove. At that venue, besides a booth that displayed Master's literature and tapes, we were able to acquire another one to promote vegetarian food.

On the opening day of the festival, our booth visibly stood out from the other booths, as hundreds of visitors beat a path there to try the uniquely prepared and delicious vegetarian delicacies. The mouth watering food samples were artistically displayed, catching the attention of passersby. Many of the vegetarian food enthusiasts were young in age and constituted a majority of our booth's patrons. Some people were so thrilled with the food that they even spread the word to curious onlookers and passersby. Apparently, these people could not dampen their curiosity and resist the temptation, and ended up standing in the order line themselves.

On the following day, the sky suddenly turned cloudy and it ended up raining heavily throughout the day, with the enthusiastic crowd suddenly turning into a beautiful display of umbrellas of all kinds and colors. Somehow, our booth was still very busy and full of people standing outside in the rain enjoying their hot vegetarian food, as if nothing had happened. Our neighboring exhibitors who also sold food (not vegetarian) were so amused and motivated by the unusual scene they had witnessed for days, that they later ordered some of our food to try for themselves. They even asked to have some of the extra pairs of rubber gloves that we had, which we happily gave them so that they could serve their customers more hygienically.

When the rain finally stopped on the third day of the event, our booth was even busier in serving more people. Supplies kept running out, as fellow initiates had a hard time keeping up with the increasing demand for delicious vegetarian food. What a joyful experience, indeed, for a few lucky fellow initiates who devoted their time and hard work to serving the public! Thanks to Master for a Happy Tet.