Ancestor worship was introduced into Vietnam by theChinese during their long occupation of the country that began 200years before the birth of Christ. Since then, it has been fullyabsorbed into the Vietnamese consciousness and, with Confucianism,underpins the country’s religion and social fabric.

Ancestorworship is not only the adhesive that binds the Vietnamese together,but also one of the most difficult concepts for people from Anglo-Saxonor European origins to understand. It has been said that the Vietnamesebelieve in the dead, while the Occidentals believe only in death.

Thebasis of ancestor worship seems to stem from two principle ideas: (1)that "those who have gone before" have a continual and beneficentinterest in the affairs of the living; and (2) more widespread,uneasiness, fear of the dead, with practices to placate them. The laterideas more often serve as a form of dispensing emotions than of worship.

How do Vietnamese people worship their ancestors?
The practice of ancestor worship is relatively straightforward. Nearly every house, office, and business in Vietnamhas a small altar which is used to commune with ancestors. Incensesticks are burned frequently. Offerings are made – fruit, sweets, andgifts. The latter items are paper replicas of dollar notes (‘ghostmoney’), motorbikes, cars, houses and so on. After worship, the papergifts are burnt so that the spirits of the gifts can ascend to heavenfor the ancestors to use.

Inthe past, the income from a plot of land was used to maintain the altarand arrange the rituals, but this tradition has now faded away.However, the custom that the eldest son will arrange the ceremonial andinherit the family house upon the death of his parents is stillgenerally observed.

Anothertraditional element is the placing of wooden tablets on the altar foreach of the ancestors over recent generations. This is less rigorouslyobserved today, and tablets are often replaced by photographs. Somepagodas house commemorative tablets for ancestors on behalf of regularworshipers.

When do Vietnamese people worship their ancestors?
Worshiping takes place regularly on particular days, such as festivals,new and full moon days, the death day of the ancestor, and so on. Onimportant occasions, such as moving house, starting a new business orthe birth of a child, and whenever a member of the family needsguidance or a favour, the ancestors are consulted.

Aproliferation of small fires of burning paper in the streets of townsand cities means that it is a festival or moon day. One paper fire islikely to be an event affecting a single family.

Why do Vietnamese people worship their ancestors?
For the Vietnamese, ancestor worship is not related to ghosts,spiritualism or even the supernatural in the Western sense. It is noteven a ‘belief’ in the sense that it is open to question by the‘believers’. The Vietnamese accept as a fact that their ancestorscontinue to live in another realm, and that it is the duty of theliving to meet their needs. In return, the ancestors give advice andbring good fortune.

Devoteesof Buddhism believe in previous existences, and seek to correctprevious bad deeds to reach enlightenment. Ancestor worship isfundamentally different. For the Vietnamese, death, and the ritual andpractice of ancestor worship, constitutes the transfer of power fromthe tangible life to the intangible. Existence is a continuumstretching through birth, a life spent in tangible form on Earth,followed by death and a spirit existence in another realm for a furthertwo or three generations.

Who are the heroic ancestors
By virtue of their worthy deeds, heroic ancestors, such as Tran HungDao and the Trung sisters, continue to exist and be worshiped intemples for many generations beyond the two or three of ordinary folk.Their rectitude is a model to guide the behavior of the living.

What about ‘bad’ ancestors?
All ancestors are worthy of respect and reverence, regardless of theirbehavior as living beings. However, the misdeeds of a wicked familyancestor will be visited upon his or her children and grandchildren inthe form of bad luck. This is a powerful influence upon the behavior ofthe living, influencing them to behave well and do good deeds in thepresent, thereby endowing their living and unborn children with goodluck in the future.

How does ancestor worship affect daily life in Vietnam?
The effect of ancestor worship upon Vietnamese society is profound. There are three main concepts:
- regarding life as a small part of an infinitely greater whole embracing the entire race
- a belief that the past and present exist simultaneously
- a certitude that each individual’s behaviour in life has a directimpact upon the quality of the lives of his or her children andgrandchildren
Taken together, these convictions extend the conceptof the family far beyond the sense in which the term is used in theWest. A Vietnamese person is never ‘alone’ – his or her ‘family’ isalways present.

What is the future of ancestor worship in Vietnam?
Whether ancestor worship will continue to be strong as the influence ofscientific rationalism and social change accelerates, is an openquestion. In the past, the majority of individual family members livedwithin close geographical proximity. The turmoil in the years beforeand after the defeat of the US forces led to an exodus of hundreds ofthousands of Vietnamese people.

Morerecently, economic migration and travel to far countries to study orwork have created a growing Diaspora. Only time will determine whetherthe strength of the beliefs that have sustained the Vietnamese familyunit over many centuries and created a unique national community willwithstand the pressures of globalisation and expanding moderntechnology.