Bowling Green State University’s (BGSU) Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) is hosting its Essence of Spring event, celebrating the Lunar New Year.

The Essence of Spring event will feature traditions such as passing out lucky money in red envelopes symbolizing good luck and health for the new year, traditional Vietnamese food, cultural games and photobooths to take pictures in.

Que Truong, a third-year Tourism Hospitality and Event Management student and the president of VSA, mentions the significance of the event for the members involved in VSA.

“This is a really special event for us because we are Vietnamese, and celebrating far away from the family is also something that makes us not really miss our home, so that’s why we are doing the Essence of Spring event,” said Truong.

With the planning of the event beginning in October, the Essence of Spring event took months to bring to life.

“Material order and talking to the school for support [took a long time]. We also have to work with each other a lot to figure out what we want to do. Performances; we practice a lot and talk among our Vietnamese community for anybody who wants to perform or wants to help,” said Truong.

VSA is an organization at BGSU, welcoming all students to join, with a particular focus on inviting Vietnamese students in the community to come together and form a close-knit community.

Thu Om, a third-year Psychology student and the vice-president of VSA, says VSA is not only promoting the culture, although a major part of the work of VSA, but also promoting a sense of community.

“For us international students, it’s very important to have a sense of community and have a sense of home,” said Om. “That’s what we’re hoping to deliver with both our events and our food. To help people understand the nature of our culture as well.”

The Essence of Spring event is free of charge and open to anyone wanting to attend. The event will take place Feb. 13, in the Bowen Thompson Student Union from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.