BRATTLEBORO — The Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT) presents Lunar New Year of China, Korea, and Vietnam on Sunday, Feb. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m., at 118 Elliot Street in downtown Brattleboro (across from the fire station).
This potluck is the 14th annual celebration of its kind in southeastern Vermont. Participants can dance with the dragon, do group calligraphy, join in a Korean tug-of-war, make a paper lantern, fold origami, and sing a New Year's song from East Asia. Visitors don't have to be Asian or know anything about Asia to participate.
Participants will usher in the year of the Red Fire Monkey, said to be a year of change and innovation where risk-taking will be rewarded. A 30-foot Vietnamese dragon will dance with celebrants. It will arrive around 2:15 p.m., and the parade down Main Street is said to bring luck for the coming year.
According to Chinese folklore, this enormous marionette, requiring at least nine people to hold, is forever chasing the “heavenly pearl” in its pursuit of wisdom.
Seth Harter, Director of Asian Studies at Marlboro College, brought this dragon puppet back from the village of an accomplished Vietnamese craftsman. During the rest of the year, the dragon “lives” in the Marlboro College cafeteria.