Rituals

The Vietnamese people love to celebrate. Every occasion whether solemn or festive there is lots of noise. Mourners wail, monks chant through an amplified microphone, wedding singers blast away, karaoke is on every street corner.

This past week we have been part of them all.

Two doors down a woman of only 49 years passed away. There were three days of ushering her through the death process with much recorded and amplified chanting. Bruce and I irreverently joked that she probably would pass just to get away from the cacophony.

This ritual was practised because death was near but the days were not favourable. These were not lucky days to die so the chanting was to prolong her life. Should she die on an unlucky day however, the chanting and vigil would help her soul have an easier time getting to heaven.

We knew that she had died three days ago when the funeral began. Music, chanting, gonging, drumming and the clacking of clackers went on almost 24 hours a day, beginning at 4am.

Quyen came over so that we could pay our respects and make a small donation towards the expenses of the very elaborate funeral. We were greeted, as were all mounters as they entered the gate, with a loud boom on a drum like this one.

Guests arrived every few minutes late into the night and the thundering noise shook our bed. This morning the funeral precession was announced to neighbourhood at 4am. The mourners followed the hearse through the streets to the cemetery where they will say their last goodbyes. We do not know yet if her soul left her body on a lucky day or not. I am sure that the neighbours will let us know.


Mid-Autumn Festival had also been bubbling to a climax on Full Moon night, Sunday. This traditional celebration has left its roots of being thankful for the harvest into some kind of madness. Supposedly it is for the children who drum and dragon dance. In the cities there are very elaborate displays, but we like the neighbourhood variety. Teams purchase the costumes, rig up their drums on a cart and roam the village streets, dancing and drumming. Like our Hallowe'en treats are expected and money is preferred (so that they can pay for the costume which they have purchased at the market.

These guys marched right into the garden of the restaurant where we were having dinner. The proprietress shooed them away with a discretely offered money note.

Down town Hoi An becomes one huge traffic jam with everyone crowding into the town centre for dragon dancing, games and musical performances. We avoid the mayhem but I do miss that lanterns and floating candles. The candles are meant to float your wishes down the river and out into the universe. We can do this though just about any day of the week.

Next Saturday we journey to Da Nang for the wedding of an old colleague. There will surely be some stories as it will take place in a gigantic wedding hall and there will likely be about 500 people eating, drinking beer and sweating..at least we will be!