Vietnamese Australians disappointed the cat is missing from Sydney's Lunar New Year celebrations
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As tens of thousands prepare to welcome the Year of the Rabbit at Lunar New Year festivals around Australia, a different animal will take centre stage for Vietnamese people in 2023.
While the 12 Vietnamese zodiac animals largely match the Chinese signs, there is one big difference in the fourth animal.
Instead of a rabbit, it is a cat.
"The Year of the Cat is always a good year," said Kim Vo, a volunteer with the Viet Culture Quintessence Group in Bankstown in Sydney's south-west.
"The cat is very friendly to the family, but also the cat is very helpful for the family because they catch mice and rats, which are very harmful to the agricultural crop in the paddy field."
One theory is that this usefulness is why the cat was chosen to be included in the Vietnamese zodiac over the rabbit.
Another possible explanation is that the Chinese words for rabbit and cat are similar in sound, leading to a substitution by mistake.
Mr Vo, who was born in the Year of the Dragon, said the year of the cat was a good time to be born.
"People who are born in the Year of the Cat are very smart, have ambition, have good luck and are confident."
Although many Sydneysiders have connections to Vietnam, prominent venues and most Sydney councils only feature the rabbit and make no mention of the cat in promotional material for Lunar New Year celebrations.
In Sydney it was more like the "missing Year of the Cat", said Thang Ngo, former Fairfield City councillor and food writer.
Mr Ngo pointed to the City of Sydney's promotional material, which has a rabbit illustration at its centre surrounded by images of other animals, but no cat.
"It means that the Vietnamese community is invisible and it actually does hurt," he told ABC Radio Sydney presenter Simon Marnie.
According to the latest census, 258,000 Australian residents were born in Vietnam, while 334,785 have Vietnamese ancestry.
In Greater Sydney alone, 93,778 people were born in Vietnam and 117,000 speak Vietnamese at home in New South Wales.
The City of Sydney event, which was first held in Chinatown in Haymarket in 1996, was known as Chinese New Year Festival up until 2019.
It took years of lobbying to have the name changed to Sydney's Lunar New Year Festival to include more cultures and communities, despite opposition from some in the Chinese community.
Mr Ngo also took aim at Star Casino's promotions, which make no mention of the Year of the Cat, despite running regular free bus services to Cabramatta where a third of residents have Vietnamese ancestry.
"If our money is good enough for The Star, then I think they'll find the money for an extra illustration," he said.
Councils in Sydney's south-west that have large numbers of Vietnamese residents have used illustrations of both a rabbit and cat to advertise their celebrations.
Bankstown's Lunar New Year festival on Saturday will include a giant inflatable cat and many performances from the Vietnamese community, while Fairfield City Council has a Hello Kitty meet-and-greet activity as part of its celebration on February 4.
Kim Vo helps organise a cultural stall at the Bankstown event to celebrate the New Year, known as Tet in Vietnamese. This includes a traditional five-fruit tray (Mâm ngũ quả), symbolising prosperity and good luck, as a sacrifice to ancestors.
Mayor Khal Asfour says the council embraces all cultures that live in the city of Canterbury-Bankstown.
"Most Lunar celebrations are focused on the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, but we have a large Vietnamese community here, who we work with when organising our annual Lunar festivities," he said.
Mr Ngo called on other councils and brands celebrating Lunar New Year to add the cat.
"The point of inclusion is you can have more, not less and by just excluding groups, you're effectively wanting to do less rather than more and that's really not a good sign for harmony," he said.
The City of Sydney and Star Casino have been approached for comment.
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