A traditional house of the ethnic Vietnamese peasant class is normally divided into three to five rooms of varying size. The main room is the central one in which the ancestor shelf holds the place of honour with a display of candlesticks, incense, scrolls, tapestries, burners, and a shrine which contains the ancestral tablets. These sacred tablets contain the names of ancestors through the fourth generation to whom devotion is encouraged and expected. Ancestral spirits are regarded as always present to witness happenings in the family. Most Vietnamese, regardless of what other religious faith is professed, are devotees of ancestor veneration, which has grown out of the Confucian teachings instilled in Vietnam by the Chinese occupation of over 1,000 years. Exceptions to veneration of ancestors are the animistic tribespeople, who fear spirits but do not worship ancestral spirits, and the Protestants who represent a small part of the Vietnamese population, The Vietnamese Roman Catholic Church permits ancestor veneration as a cultural expression of the commandment to honour thy father and mother.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:53:38 +0000
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