BOOM! Went the drum. The crowd fell instantly silent as the deep wave of vibration reverberated around the room. A drummer, dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing stood alone in front of the crowd.

WTAMU’s Vietnamese Student Association hosted the Full Moon Festival on Sept. 21 at Baptist Student Ministries. Traditionally the festival was a celebration of the harvest season. Today, however, the festival is about celebrating cultural tradition with friends and family.

“Just like Americans share their culture, we wanted to share ours too,” Linh Vu, junior accounting major, said. A fashion show of men and women’s traditional clothes from different regions within Vietnam were modeled. Several styles of festival dances, with some involving fans, were performed.

Guest were served a more modern take on Vietnamese cuisine. They were served seasoned shredded chicken, white rice, rice crackers, and Mooncake, a traditional desert. A drum started to play that silenced the crowd. To the beats of the drum Vietnamese students dressed as a lion and a man started dancing.

Through interpretive dancing they told the story of a lion that came from the sea. After terrorizing a village a mysterious man came to tame the lion and send it into the mountains. But the story says that whenever the village had a celebration, the lion would come to celebrate with them. “The lion dance was really cool!’ Bruce Zhang, freshman general business, said.