Eden Center welcomes the Year of the Dragon

Hundreds of people filled the parking lot and restaurants at the Eden Center in Seven Corners Feb. 10 to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Dragon.

There were lion dances, a dragon dance, firecrackers, a flag-raising ceremony, and welcoming remarks by Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Gerry Connolly. Many women wore traditional áo dài dresses, and people attached red cards with New Year’s wishes to tree branches.  

Performers included the Lac Long Quan Lion Dance Team and the Choy Wan Lion Dance Troupe.

Tet celebrations have been held at the Eden Center nearly every year since the shopping center opened 40 years ago, says Kevin Pham, president of the Vietnamese American Community of DC MD VA, the event organizer.

“No matter where we are, we are still Vietnamese,” Pham said. One goal of the event is “to teach children about the Vietnamese culture.”

The dragon is the highest-ranking of the Vietnamese zodiac symbols and represents the king, Pham said.

People born in the year of the dragon – which occurs every 12 years – are said to be talented, prosperous, straightforward, independent, opinionated, tactless, arrogant, and authoritative.

Here are more scenes from the New Year festival: