On some days streets of Hue, Vietnam are painted yellow - vendors emerge here and there, selling mostly yellow chrysanthemums. Tables with fruits and sweets appear in front of houses and shops.
For a long time, I thought this phenomenon, commonly known as offerings to ancestors, happened during traditional celebrations but I didn't know what celebration and when (and this guess was partly right). Finally, I started asking about this tradition in the homestay where I am now (Melody Riverside Homestay ❤️).
And I've learned much. I even came up with a funny phrase after this talk in the homestay: What do the Vietnamese and the werewolves have in common? Both of them exactly know when the next full moon will happen. 😄
Yeah, it turns out that Hue Vietnamese make offerings to the passed away on the full moon and new moon, i.e. twice a month.
Thus, this is the most common reason for those colorful tables to appear in streets.
Cúng Rằm Altars (Tables) with Offerings
First, I would like to explain something to travelers in Vietnam. There are two types of permanent altars all travelers immediately see in Vietnam:
- indoor altars (often made of wood), can be found in houses, hotels, restaurants, etc;
- street altars (often made of concrete).
Both types are dedicated to deities. Vietnamese put fruits and sweets on these altars but never joss paper (fake money). Only deceased people need this type of offering.
To address and treat the deceased, Hue Vietnamese set up special temporary cúng rằm tables twice a month on a full moon and a new moon. There are other days when Vietnamese offer treats to the dead: Tet and, probably, some other celebrations, and personal dates.
Visiting cemeteries in Hue is on my list. I will probably learn much there.
I'd like to stress here that I am an expert in Vietnamese culture but a traveler who tries to understand what's happening around me. It sounds insane but neither Google search nor Gemini are helpful when it comes to details of Vietnamese culture. Therefore, I consider my attempts may be useful not only for me.
Moon on October 16, 2024
I was told that these full moon altars are dedicated to all deceased a person cares about, not only ancestors but other relatives too as well as friends and just good people.
On October 16, I had a walk around Hue City to photograph this colorful tradition; sharing.
In the image above, you see three cung ram tables in front of shops. They look synchronized but, from what I saw, people make offerings any time of the day.
Normally the offerings consist of flowers (usually yellow mums), sweets, fruits, and joss paper.
Joss paper symbolizes money; it is burned at the end of the ritual (I'll show it below).
There can be rarer gifts on cung ram tables that sometimes have a personal connection to a certain passed-away person. In the image above, you can see a betel leaf and fruit. I don't remember when I saw a person chewing betel last time, it's so rare nowadays. So, probably, the betel is meant for someone old, someone's grandfather or grandmother.
As you see there is full freedom when it comes to choosing fruits.
In this post, you'll see pomegranates, pears, apples, longans, syzygiums, persimmons, a dragon fruit, mandarins, grapes, guavas, mangos, bananas.
Flowers are usually yellow but not always:
Cung ram table of a plumbing store. They chose purple.
If you want to know "why mostly yellow", read my post-question on subreddit Vietnam (a great place to learn about this country!):
And here you can see some other flowers, orange ones belonging to this billiards club.
If you know the name of it, please, share in the comment section below.
Joss paper sometimes looks like American 100-dollar notes. Thus, Benjamin Franklin (the guy on the 100-dollar notes) is an integral part of this communication with another world.
And it might be that this portrait painted by Joseph Duplessis (1725–1802) is the most frequently burned artwork in human history.
Candles, cone-shaped incense, and pieces of burning wood (sandalwood? look at the image #1) are less common components.
The Ritual
I showed you the tables but what's next?
The next is a short prayer addressing the deceased:
Raising incense sticks to the forehead level, praying silently. Then, they put the sticks on the table and let them burn.
I don't know how long the offerings are supposed to be on the table. But this is what I read on Reddit:
The ancestors get a chance while the incense burns. After that it "fine if you're not gonna eat it
Thus, incense sticks aren't part of offerings but rather a tool to communicate with another world, I suppose.
Another popular comment from the same post on Reddit:
My mom always said that the ancestors eat the sprititual part and bless the food in the process
I was told the same in the homestay: people eat the food from the cúng rằm tables after the ritual ends.
As for flowers, they are thrown away; you can see them on the ground and in trash cans, etc.
These unexpected bouquets here and there add another portion of charm to the atmosphere of Cúng Rằm.
Burning joss paper is the final stage.
Fire in the middle of crowded streets attracts foreigners' attention.
It doesn't matter whether you believe in an afterlife, fire has a hypothetical effect on everyone.
Colorful dessert from the table is scattered in the image above, that's not by chance:
That's a part of the Cúng Rằm ritual in Hue. Like a bright footprint of the magic that happened recently.
Cúng Rằm and Vietnamese Christianity
Not all Vietnamese follow this tradition. Millions of Vietnamese Christians (as well as non-religious people and atheists) don't make full moon offerings. I was told in the homestay that only Buddhists take part in Cúng Rằm. At least, this works in Hue.
Of course, the ritual doesn't look Buddhist but rather a part of Vietnamese folk religion. However, religions in Asia often don't oppose each other and can intertwine. Christianity is the newest element here but who said you can't make offerings to Jesus Christ on the full moon? He lived and died, if you like him, you can send him candies and some money. Sounds like a joke but... I can't see a contradiction. And I don't think that the Bible can say anything against sending some love to Jesus Christ either.
I guess someone just left these yellow mums to Jesus after the ritual ended so (probably) nobody made a cúng rằm specially for Jesus. At the same time, I saw how Vietnamese Christians pray to Mother Mary: they are raising incense sticks at the forehead level. So, you can consider they connect to Mother Mary's spirit as it is prescribed by the Vietnamese tradition. Thus, Vietnamese folk religion has already started to weave into Catholicism, and who knows how far this process will go in a century or two.
Let me end the story on this intriguing detail... Hope you enjoyed the post, hope you'll share thoughts in the comment section.
More stories from Southeast Asia will follow! Check out my previous posts on my personal Travelfeed or Worldmappin map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on October 16, 2024, in Hue, Vietnam.