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Preserving Vietnamese Culture and Language in Southern Louisiana: Altars as Symbols of Identity By Emma Tomingas-Hatch Maintaining Community as Newcomers: The Importance of Language and Religion
The Vietnamese make up a large portion of Louisiana's Asian population today, 44% in fact. They are also the largest immigrant or refugee group in the state. According to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette's Center for Cultural and Eco Tourism, 3,533 live in East Baton Rouge and nearly 850 live in the Vermillion Parish. Other Vietnamese populations are dispersed throughout the state. The largest is in New Orleans with 14,000. Other parishes with Vietnamese communities include Terrebonne, Plaquemines, Lafourche, Caddo, Rapides, Iberia, and St. Bernard. Initially it is jobs that drew the Vietnamese to Louisiana, many arrived as unskilled workers. However, according to the Center for Cultural and Eco Tourism most currently either own their own business or work for Vietnamese-owned operations. Maintaining Community as Newcomers: The Importance of Language and Religion Many Vietnamese people in Louisiana came to the United States as refugees. In 1954, the Geneva Agreement divided Vietnam into two parts: the North and South. The North was surrendered to the Communists. At this time, many Vietnamese people living in North Vietnam fled to South Vietnam in order to escape communism. Nearly twenty years later, in 1975, South Vietnam also fell to communism and many people were again forced to flee their homes. Some escaped on fishing boats and many of them came in groups to the United States. Many spent time in army and refugee camps, waiting for sponsors and safety. For many, their religious leaders played an important role in one or both of these flights. According to Joseph Doan, a Vietnamese man who is active in his Catholic community in Abbeville and has lived in Louisiana since 1975, their priests served as their leaders in escaping communism. A lot of the priests could speak English, and they knew where to go and what to do. They had contacts in the United States that provided help for the refugees. A lot of the refugees spent time in many other states before settling in Louisiana. They were drawn to Louisiana for two main reasons. The first was the employment opportunities in the fishing and shrimping industry. The men were able to find work as fishermen while the women could find employment in the seafood industry working in fish shops. These jobs are similar to the kind of work many of them would have done in their home country. Joseph Doan explains: The reason they are arriving in Abbeville because … there is a lot of work for fishermen. The man can work on a boat, go fishing, and the lady can stay at home and work in seafood business; crab picking, you know. They clean crabs and de-head the shrimp. The second reason the Vietnamese people found themselves in Louisiana was that Vietnamese communities were forming in the state. Many had a friend or a family member already living here. They went where they had contacts and help available to them. The weather in Louisiana is also comparable to the hot and humid climate in Vietnam. Trust and respect are very important in Vietnamese culture. In Vietnam the people live in groups as a family. "The doors are open," as Joseph Doan describes of the communal life in his home country. People share what they have and help out even when they cannot afford it. American culture focuses on the individual, while Vietnamese culture focuses on the community; many of the people interviewed described this difference as being one of the things that was the hardest to adjust to in the United States. The majority of the southern Louisiana Vietnamese population is from South or Central Vietnam. Some were originally from North Vietnam, but their families migrated south after 1954 when the North fell to communism. In fact, only one person interviewed by this writer even knew someone in south Louisiana from North Vietnam who did not come through South Vietnam. The three main dialects of the Vietnamese language are Northern, Central, and Southern. Thay Dao Quang, the Buddhist monk at Tam Bao Temple, explains that because of the political split in Vietnam, "Even the people that speak the North Vietnamese language in the United States, politically they consider themselves to belong to the South Vietnam government." He goes on to explain that for most Vietnamese immigrants the political strife of their home country is still very real to them in their everyday lives. He explains that most of the Vietnamese people in the United States do not accept the current Vietnamese flag. Instead they hold the flag for Southern Vietnam prior to 1975 as the symbol for their home country. The three main Vietnamese religious groups in Louisiana are Catholic, Buddhist, and a few Baptists. Their religion is something that unites their communities and plays a role in keeping their culture alive. Thay Dao Quang illustrates this point when he says explicitly that his hope for the Tam Bao Temple in Baton Rouge is that it brings the community together. Joseph Doan elaborates on the importance of community when he says: Asian people, they want to live in a group. They don't want to be scattered. When they are scattered out like that, they feel unsecured. First of all language is an issue. They don't know exactly the American culture, American custom, so they are scared to live spread out in the community. So they rather live close to each other so when they need something there is help. See in Vietnam, that's how they live. They live very close to each other, helping each other. The communal aspect of the Vietnamese religious communities in Louisiana plays a large role in the maintenance of their language and their culture. Religious institutions provide a community in which language and culture are top priorities. Thien Tran, the owner of Cathy's Nails in Lafayette, Louisiana, has lived in Louisiana since 1980. He attends the Vietnamese mass every Sunday at St. Jules Church in Lafayette. One of the things he enjoys the most about the services offered by St. Jules is the children's Vietnamese Sunday school. They help the youth practice their Vietnamese language skills and perform all of the Sunday school activities in Vietnamese. Thus, the children not only learn about their religion in Vietnamese, but also are given the chance to improve. Having a religious service in their native language also works for many of the elderly people who cannot speak English very well. This way they can understand the entire service and take part in all of the aspects of their religion in America. Joseph Doan explains that, in his experience, church serves the younger generations with a tangible link to their heritage. Many of them go specifically to learn their language and more about their culture. He says, "The younger people who want to learn Vietnamese language, they want to keep their culture, especially the language. … Wherever you go, I don't care what you do or where you go, you have to keep your roots." His emphasis on "roots" is an important one. People are going to religious services not only for spiritual guidance but also to maintain a link to their "roots." One of the ways to hold onto cultural roots is language. The Vietnamese communities in southern Louisiana engage in many different cultural activities, and as Joseph Doan pointed out, these are performed in their native language. Language is viewed as perhaps the most important facet of Vietnamese culture in the United States. The Vietnamese in southern Louisiana live in communities where Vietnamese is spoken; they attend religious ceremonies and activities where it is spoken, all in order to preserve their language and their culture. Joseph Doan emphasizes that "in order to preserve your culture, you have to learn the language. So that's the reason that we live in a community, to help out each other. When we do an activity together, either religious or just social, it's in our language so we can keep it up." Along with their separate religious celebrations both the Buddhist and the Catholic communities also observe specific Vietnamese holidays. One holiday in particular that both the Catholic and the Buddhist communities celebrate is the Lunar New Year, known as Tet. Both communities have similar traditions related to this event. They light fireworks, perform recitals, watch dragons dancing, and eat traditional New Year foods.
The most important aspect of the New Year, and other Vietnamese holidays, for community members is that partaking in these events provides another link to their heritage and works for the preservation of their culture. Children learn about their Vietnamese customs by participating in the celebration. Joseph Doan discusses the New Year celebration in the Vietnamese Catholic community in Abbeville and an important purpose that it serves. He says, "We celebrate every year here in Abbeville to let the children know the custom of Vietnam, the culture of Vietnam." The children in the community grow up constantly being exposed to their Vietnamese culture so they will be able to do the same thing for their children in the future. Next - Jade: A Cultural Symbol Emma Tomingas-Hatch, an independent researcher in Lafayette, Louisiana, received her Masters degree in Folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. This article was prepared as part of the New Populations Project in 2009. For more essays on the Vietnamese in Louisiana, see Offerings to Kings and Buddha: Vietnamese Ritual Activities at Chua Bo De: The Vietnamese Buddhist Community in New Orleans Area and Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, in the New Orleans Vietnamese Community. |
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