Community of Chinese descent parade for spring festival in HCMC

The Guan Yu spirit festival saw people parading the streets around Chinatown in HCMC on Thursday.

The Nghia An Clubhouse worships Guan Yu, a character from the Three Kingdoms period. Every year, the club house has two major festivals, the Lantern Festival and the Guan Yu spirit festival, which fall on the 13th day of the first lunar month and the 24th of the sixth lunar month.

Tran Vu, head of the club house, said the festival was held in small scales in previous years, without any parade. But over the last two years, there have been street parades to celebrate traditional festivals by the Hoa community, people of Chinese ancestry, in HCMC.

The activities are part of the celebrations of the Lantern Festival of 2024, which happens in the first lunar month of the year to wish for blessings.

Starting at 8 a.m., the parade went through several streets, beginning and ending on Nguyen Trai in District 5.

They carried with them the statue of Guan Yu over a 5 km distance. The statue is a meter tall and aged back hundreds of years.

Vu said the parade is to wish for people's blessings.

Lion dance groups danced for three minutes ouside the On Lang Clubhouse on Lao Tu Street.

The parade often passes by pagodas and clubhouses of the Hoa people to foster connection and community.

Young people dressed up as a herd of horses under Guan Yu.

People also dressed up as various characters in the parade.

In her traditional Hoa dress, Huong Lan participated in the parade for the second year in a row.

"I am glad to be a part of the parade, helping people understand more about the traditions of the Hoa people," the 27-year-old said.

People brought incenses to pray as the parade goes by.

Police forces and militia members were dispatched to re-route traffic and make room for the parade.

Nhu Loan (R), 56, recorded a video of the parade.

"For the Hoa people, Guan Yu is considered a saint. After the parade, I will go to a club house to light incense for him, wishing for luck in the new year," she said.

People touched figures of lions and gods in the parade to wish for health and luck.

At 9:30 a.m., the Guan Yu statue was carried back to the Nghia An clubhouse.

People gathered around and light incense near the statue.

The Nghia An clubhouse, also known as the Ong Pagoda, was built in the 19th century.

There are around 750,000 Hoa people living in Vietnam, with 500,000 in HCMC, according to data from 2019. The Hoa people in HCMC mostly reside in districts 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11.