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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
Buddhist Home Altars and Ancestor Altars Catholic and Buddhist home ancestor altars are similar. Both are adorned with pictures of deceased family members, and both are located in a central part of the home. Usually the Catholic ancestor altar is directly underneath the main religious altar in the home. It is a little smaller than the main altar and adorned with pictures of deceased family members, there are usually candles and artificial flowers. The home altar documented for this project was a little different. With no room for it in its traditional space, the family dedicated a corner of the family room for the altar. There they hung pictures of family members that had passed.
When the anniversary of a family member's death occurs, a special ritual is held, the priest performs a special mass for the deceased and small offerings are made. At home, depending on the individual traditions of the family, candles and/or incense is lit and the entire family says a special prayer together. The prayer and specifically stating the family member's name throughout the prayer are important parts of the ritual; otherwise, it is believed that another soul is able to receive the prayer, and it would not get to the intended spirit. Candles are lit and fresh flowers, usually white or yellow carnations, are placed on the altar to honor the family member. Joseph Doan states that on the anniversary of his father's death, he always lights two candles and lets them burn the entire day. Similarly, Tony Bui, an altar attendant at St. Jules Church, lights the altar candles to honor his ancestors. Buddhist ancestor altars differ from the Catholic ones in many ways. The Buddhist altar is divided into in two parts. One side is reserved for male ancestors and the other for female ancestors. Like Catholic altars, they are traditionally adorned with pictures, holy water, candles, incense, flowers, and lights, also include offerings of food. Thay Dao Quang explains the significance of these objects on the ancestor altar at Tam Bao Temple: When you burn the incense you offer your virtue; your goodness, kindness compassion, to the Buddha or to your ancestors. If you pay attention, the incense gets shorter and shorter and shorter. When you look at the incense burning, you should remind yourself, life is shorter and shorter and shorter. So we have to treasure every moment we're still alive. The Holy Water in the small urn, it stands for morality, for your virtue, for your compassion, for your patience. Flowers symbolize the beauty of nature, the beauty of humans, but these decay. Same thing with human life. We look young, we look beautiful; but in the next fifty years, you will look different. It is a reminder that everything is changing moment by moment. We want to make the beauty last forever, but the reality is that everything is changing moment by moment. The lights symbolize wisdom. The candles and the lamp stand for wisdom. [In] Buddhist philosophy, we strongly believe that only wisdom can shine into the darkest places. … Your wisdom will stay with you from this life to the next life. The food stands for nutrition. Everyone needs nutrition. We offer nutrition to the ancestor and the way we treat them is as if they were still alive. That is how we show that we respect the people, even the ones that have died.
Many objects on the Buddhist ancestor altar serve as reminders of how fragile life is and how each moment should be cherished. The Buddhists also make offerings of food and drink to their ancestors on a regular basis. Ton Dinh, a parishioner of Tam Bao Temple is originally from Central Vietnam and has lived in Louisiana for 15 years. He describes his ancestor altar and the traditions that he follows since his wife passed away about a year ago his ancestor altar is dedicated primarily to her. It is next to his Buddhist altar in the family room of the home he shares with his young son in Baton Rouge. In the center is a photo of his wife, on both sides are pink flowers and in front are candles and incense. He built the altar himself. He explains that this is not necessarily typical and everyone does it differently: "I wanted to make something for my wife. I have money. I can buy everything but I don't want to do that. I wanted to make it for her." Next to the altar is a wooden plaque with golden Vietnamese writing. Ton translates it: "I can go anywhere in the world, and I would never find anyone like my wife."
Also on the altar is a CD recording of her funeral service and her Buddhist prayer beads are next to her picture on the altar. A candle in the shape of a coconut is from his wife's sister and there are also small glass bowls containing holy water. The bottom of the altar is hollow and inside is a box that contains some of his wife's personal belongings. Ton plans for his son to keep the box forever; and anytime his son has questions about his mother, they can go through the box together.
Whenever Ton cooks, he is always sure to make enough for his wife and if he has not cooked anything that day he usually puts fruit on her altar. He tries to keep the incense burning all day if possible. Every evening when he gets home from work, he and his son pray in front of the altars. Ton performs the ritual first and his son second. It is tradition to pray in front of the Buddhist altar first and then the ancestor altar second. For the ancestor altar, a stick of incense is lit. Ton holds it in his hands in a prayer position. He bows twice, once for the life his wife, or ancestors, lived; and once for her death. Then he puts the incense in the small bowl of sand at the front and center of the altar.
If he and his son get home at different times, then they often perform the ritual separately. Besides the evening tradition, Ton lights incense for Buddha every morning and as often as he can for his wife. He also explains that his son often prays in front of his mother's altar when he is upset or simply is in need of his mom. And he usually finds himself praying in front of his wife's altar multiple times throughout the day. The Buddhist altar is in the center of the far wall of Ton's living room. It is adorned with objects similar to those on the ancestor altar: flowers, holy water, incense, candles, and lamps. These objects have] the same symbolic meaning on both altars. In the center is a large statue of Buddha and on both sides of the statue are yellow flowers. Ton explains that yellow is the color of Buddha. For special occasions, Buddhists, like Catholics, usually replace the artificial flowers with real ones on both the ancestor and the religious altars, and light the candles. The small bowls of water symbolize life; everything needs water in order to live. In the front center of the Buddhist altar is a small bowl with burnt sticks of incense in the sand. Unlike his ancestor altar, Ton does not offer food on the Buddhist altar. On both altars he leaves the lamps on all the time. Ton lights a stick of incense and holds it between his hands as if praying, he then bows three times, once for the Buddha, once for the Dharma (the Buddhist doctrine), and once for the Sangha (the Buddhist community). The incense is then placed straight up in the sand.
Next - Altars in Businesses
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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