'We have to hold onto that': Lunar New Year, a time for celebration for Savannah's Asian community

A pile of bánh tét, rolls of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, might’ve stood 200 rolls high prior to the pandemic. This year, only about 40 of the treats were prepared. But that doesn’t mean the holiday feeling is lost, said Christiana Phan, 22, who’s been attending the church since she was a kid.

“Last Sunday, everybody stayed after church and just made a whole bunch of those (bánh tét).” said Phan, whose father is Pastor Truc Thuong Phan, “They roll them, wrap them … it’s like this big event.”

Phan recalls how they would visit family and friends at their homes and feast on an abundance of homemade dishes.

“We used to do a lot more of that when our congregation was bigger. Over the past few years because of COVID and the community being really strained…” said Phan, taking a pause, “...we’ve had to up security and we stream online, so it’s been a bit smaller.”

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

Dealing with the rise in Asian hate

Phan was referring to another deadly wave: a rise in attacks against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic that in several cases killed or severely injured elders across the country.

In addition to fears about infection, Phan said the church had to brace for possible violence and installed extra locks on their doors. The past few years have been trying for the community at large, she said.

But the confluence of hardship also facilitated a reflection on her cultural identity.

“We did a lot of adaptation; we did a lot of survival. Lots of people came here in the 1990s and their kids were born here so we were kind of just put here,” said Phan.

The Vietnamese community in Savannah isn’t as bustling as in larger metropolitan cities. Pastor Truc Phan estimates that there are about 800 Vietnamese in the Savannah area, most of whom have a refugee background rather than one of immigration.

The church was formed in the '90s and served as a home away from home for refugees who came to Savannah for asylum after the Vietnam War. As the Vietnamese congregation grew, they "inherited" the Thunderbolt Baptist Church, which used to be a majority English-speaking congregation, said Phan.

“A lot of people here today might not come often but they know this is where they can talk with other Vietnamese people,” said Phan.

A dual identity

Ngoc Quang Doan, a longtime member of the church, was one of the refugees who sought asylum in Savannah in 1992. Doan said he and his family “found freedom” in the U.S. Everything was “big” and “new” he recalls.

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

For his children, growing up in an area without a lot of other Asian kids created an identity crisis.

Lydia, Doan’s 16-year-old daughter, said she’s one of four Asian students in her high school. But she’s the only one who’s not a foreign exchange student.

“I grew up trying to change myself,” said Lydia.

Theo, Doan’s son, a college sophomore, agreed emphatically after his sister described “hating being Asian”.

“I used to be so ashamed,” said Theo.

The only time his culture seemed to be acknowledged was when it was the butt of a joke – when his food was being made fun of or when he was called a racial slur.

“I remember my turning point … when a classmate called me" an Asian racial slur, said Theo.

That was in middle school. He realized he couldn’t blend in, and, at that point, he didn’t want to. “I realized I shouldn’t abandon my culture,” he said.

For Lydia, that realization was more recent – brought about when a shooter killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian decent, at Atlanta-area spas last March. The murders reverberated across the Asian American community as people debated whether it was another targeted hate crime.

Lydia said that compelled her to shed light on the race-fueled hate that was going on, and set out to do a story for her school newspaper.

“(But) when I went to go interview people about it, nobody knew. They were like ‘What are you talking about?’,” she recalled.

When her efforts to raise awareness were met with denial and censure from classmates, that became her turning point.

“Racism was always so casual, I thought, ‘Oh this is funny, I should laugh,’ but then I realized … people are getting hurt,” said Lydia. “I needed to stand up for myself … and not try to change for other people.”

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News

Lunar New Year traditions

In Vietnam and other Asian countries that celebrate the holiday, Lunar New Year festivities last for days, sometimes more than a week. Schools and businesses shut down to formally celebrate.

While that isn’t the case for communities celebrating abroad, the sentiment is the same. It’s a time for friends and family to congregate around food. Trays of succulent pig, rice noodles, egg rolls and marinated tofu make up the new year's spread at the Baptist church. Save for a box of fried chicken, all the dishes are homemade.

Kids and single adults are given a red envelope that contains “lucky money”, an allowance that’s meant to wish the receiver good luck into the new year.

For Lydia, Theo and Phan, second-generation Vietnamese Americans, it’s also a time to reconnect with the country their parents came from.

“This gives us a reason to stay in touch with our culture,” said Lydia, “We’ve never experienced a true Lunar New Year in an Asian country, but I think this is enough to keep us still going.”

All three hope to be able to one day experience the new year in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Phan said the church continues to build back their community. In the age of COVID, she said the focus has shifted to meeting the needs of those who can’t make it to their in-person services. The congregation just started having meals together again, a central part of their fellowship.

“It’s hard to put into words,” said Phan, “it (celebrating Lunar New Year) makes me realize that being Asian isn’t just this abstract concept. It’s not just people asking me ‘what are you’ and me saying ‘I’m Vietnamese’. It’s not even me just understanding Vietnamese when my parents speak it. It’s a whole other cultural world that’s outside of my own that I’m also in, and we have to hold onto that.”

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: 'We have to hold onto that': Lunar New Year, a time for celebration for Savannah's Asian community