RAVENSWOOD — A landmark Buddhist temple in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood will celebrate the Year of the Goat this Sunday - Vietnamese-style.
The Truc Lam Temple at 1521 W. Wilson Ave. celebrates Tết, or the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It will be an opportunity to visit inside the colorful, eye-catching Buddhist temple at the corner of Ashland and Wilson Avenues, run by a small but vibrant, Asian-American group in Chicago.
A conference on Vietnamese ethnicity will open the celebration, featuring traditional music and a dance performance by the Truc Lam Buddhist Youth Group.
A forum on Vietnamese medicine and meditative techniques will follow at 11:30 a.m.
There will be traditional food and games throughout the day, including a raffle for a 50-inch LED TV. The festival is free and open to the public.
Tết celebrations began Wednesday when the temple celebrated New Year's Eve with traditional food, a vegetarian dinner, the unveiling of an oil painting of Buddhist culture, karaoke, and a lion dance. Celebrations continued the next day with New Year religious ceremonies, and forums on business and medicine.
Truc Lam Temple is well-known in the neighborhood for temple renovations years ago and several open festivals, including a famous icon's visit in 2011, the Jade Buddha.
The temple runs a Sunday school for children ages 6 to 17, but welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to attend. Lessons include Vietnamese language, culture, and religious studies in Mahayana Buddhism.
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