HONOR THY ANCESTORS

By Andy Vu

hen I was helping to plan an All-Souls Day eucharistic celebration this November, I found out the many different ways that people from different cultures honored their beloved dead. Some cultures favored certain rituals, which were considered illegitimate to others. In the celebration, there was a time when offerings were made by representative individuals from various cultures. Some offered food and fruit while others favored incense, candle and flower. Some individuals presented pictures of their beloved dead, but others would not think of doing such a thing. Some people in the committee preferred to have a votive mass only; that was, to celebrate a regular mass plus naming all the dead we would like to pray for. We, as members of the liturgical committee, decided to combine all these customs in the mass and it came out good.

As we can see, each culture has its own way to honor the dead. For young Vietnamese living in America, it may be difficult for us to understand what honoring the dead means and how it fits into our Catholic belief. After all, we don't see American Catholics have pictures of their dead on an altar like many Vietnamese families do. At first, it may seem to some of us that we are going against our Catholic belief by having an altar for our ancestors. Are we not only to worship God and no other? The idea of ancestor worship is an important one that I think all of us need to think about in order to better understand why we Vietnamese do what we do. And as we will find out, we Vietnamese Catholics only worship God, but we certainly give much honor to our ancestors.

In Vietnam as well as some Asian countries, ancestral worship, has been a long tradition and a very important part for the living, whether an individual, a family, a village, or a whole country. This practice became a long lasting controversial issue in Vietnam for the Catholic Church since the early sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. To many foreign missionaries, ancestral worship was a superstition and it needed to be banned. This prohibition provoked anger from political leaders and many common people and eventually played a major part in several hundred years of Christian persecution in Vietnam. Many other Vietnamese, although they accepted Christian faith, grieved for this practice because of their faithfulness to Christian teachings. Finally, in the middle of the twentieth century the Church realized that this was not a superstition but simply a veneration of the dead. The practice was "baptized" and became an essential part in the life of Vietnamese Catholics.

It may help us to understand some history of this controversy in our Vietnamese Catholic history. Because Chinese and Vietnamese Christians have generally shared the same root in the practice of ancestral veneration, I would like to first present some historical background of why this practice became a controversial issue and eventually the cause of persecution. Then, the practice eventually became part of Christian faith, which enriches my life as a Vietnamese Catholic.

When missionaries first came to China many hundred years ago, they considered ancestor worship as a practice of either superstition, demonic inspiration or idolatry. People, for fear of ancestor spirits who became deities or gods and dictated many bad effects on their lives, felt the need to worship them. Other missionaries, unlike the previous ones, believed that ancestors were not the objects of worship but evil demon. They argued that when people burned artificial money and offered food or fruit, they bribed the evil demons and hoped that their ancestors could rest in peace. Other missionaries, with less opposition, doubted the religious truth of this practice. All of them, however, condemned the offering of things to and bowing before pictures, tablets and graves and communicating with the dead as deities. To missionaries, therefore, people must worship or bow only to one God whom they were teaching and not another god or being.

This situation happened in Vietnam in the same manner. When Christianity was first introduced to the Vietnamese in the early seventeenth century, Alexandre de Rhodes and his fellow Jesuit missionaries gave a Christian meaning to some Vietnamese cultural, social and religious practices such as erecting a bamboo pole in New Year's eve in front of a church. However, Alexandre de Rhodes considered ancestral worship a superstition. But he did try to compromise some elements of this practice instead of ridiculing the people. He explained to the people that souls were not material beings and needed no food, drink or other material things. Understanding a great respect people had for the deceased, de Rhodes had alternative practices. He asked people to offer votive masses and prayers. In addition, instead of burning clothes, artificial houses, furniture and money to the dead, people could do charity to the living poor in the names of the dead. Therefore, the spirits of the dead could be free from any bondage and could rest in peace. Nevertheless, Christians were not allowed to join with any ritual relating to ancestral veneration.

The Vietnamese had a strong feeling of connection to the beloved deceased. We honor and keep relationship with a dead as long as we live. de Rhodes even acknowledged that "[T]here is perhaps no other nation on this inhabited earth that honors and venerates the souls and bodies of the dead more than the people of Tonkin."

Not only at the death of a parent, a family would have a magnificent ritual and funeral for the dead but for a long time afterward. Anniversaries, or le gio, in the first week, first hundredth days, first year, second year and third year were very important occasions when all the members of the family must get together to perform complicated rites to honor the dead. The dead was said to be present and to have needs just as those living. People offered the dead food and drink and burned to the dead artificial cloth, house, furniture and money. The souls of their ancestors, to their belief, could freely come and go as they wanted. Therefore they could take things that the living had burned to them. They believed that spirits of ancestors was still present with, cared for, granted them their request or harmed them depending on how they treated dead.

The prohibition of ancestral worship intensified the barrier to conversion because converts had to endure much suffering. The prohibition even tore apart the fabric of Vietnamese cultural and societal structures. People did not want to abandon their long-time traditional practice for many reasons. If they accepted Christianity, it was understood that they had to reject their ancestors and their living relatives who did not want to join Christianity. Family, therefore, was often divided. An individual would no more be a member or even became an enemy of his/ her own family. Converts would grieve because they could not attend their parents' funeral in traditional rites. Christians were condemned as "outcasts" because they rejected traditional values and ways. They no longer belonged to a village or a community in which they could join normal and daily activities unless the whole community converted to Christianity.

The clash began when political leaders had some conflicts with missionaries regarding the complicated political situations and the different ideas about ancestral veneration. When the lord Nguyen Phuoc Nguyen felt that he did not politically and materially benefit much from missionaries, he blamed the "new religion" and its practices. One of his reasons was that the new religion did not value people's ways and traditions, included the ancestor worship. The lord condemned Christians for not being interested in paying respect to the souls of their departed relatives and having no gratitude toward their parents. In fact, he accused the new religion of teaching people to get rid of their fathers, mothers and ancestors. Many lords and kings after Lord Nguyen gave similar accusations against missionaries and Christians. In addition they said that missionaries and Christians sided with colonial empires that would like to control the country. The hatred continued to increase as time went by. Political leaders, therefore, began a persecution that lasted for three centuries. As a result, thousands of thousand Christians were persecuted, among whom were the one-hundred-seventeen martyrs whom Pope John Paul II canonized in 1988.

Despite the long period of persecution and many other obstacles, Christianity had flourished and the practice of ancestral veneration was approved by the Church at last. The Second Vatican Council brought in a fresh view of spiritual life for the universal church and one of its recommendations was to value the local people's religions. A document from the Vatican Council entitled Lumen Gentium says:

[W]hatever good is found in the minds and hearts of men and women or in the rites and customs of people, these elements not only are preserved from destruction, but are purified, raised up, and perfected for the glory of God, the confusion of the devil and the happiness of humanity.

The Vietnamese tradition of ancestral veneration, therefore, has been enriching the life of the local church in its particular ways. Vietnamese Catholics, in fact, have integrated this practice in liturgy, funeral and many other rituals of the church. The inculturation of "local religion" and the Catholicism is the answer of why Vietnamese Catholics differ from other cultures in celebrating our faith.

Ancestral veneration, which was the cause of division in family in the past, is now a source of a reunion of an extended family. At an anniversary of the dead, all members, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren must come back to their fatherland to pay respect and pray for the dead. Members of extended family may make up for their wrongdoing against one another and against the dead in this occasion. This is not only the time for the younger generations to acknowledge some legends of the dead but also to have a connection with their other ancestors. The elder in the family will give brief biography of the dead and how he/ she had helped building up the family, the community and the local church. He may also talk about the relationship between the dead and other deceased members and between the dead and the younger generations. The anniversary of the dead is also an opportunity for those who live far away from home to come back and pray at their ancestors' graves. Besides those stories of the virtuous life of the dead, the younger generations also value what they have benefited from the dead. You may find some fruit trees around a house tied with white bands. It means that the dead had planted those trees and now children can have fruit from them. Children are, therefore, reminded to honor their ancestors for giving them their present lives materially and spiritually. These rituals serve another implicit purpose as well, that is, people should live uprightly as models for the young. They, therefore, earn the younger generations' respect even when they are still alive.

Keeping all memories of the dead is very essential to Vietnamese Catholics. Although we don't celebrate our loved ones' birthdays, we will never forget the anniversaries of their death. After my father died, his picture was added to my family's ancestral altar on which pictures of my grandparents had been placed. In the first few weeks, my relatives and neighbors came to pray with my family every night. The first hundred-day anniversary was marked with special rituals. In my parish church, a special memorial mass was said to pray for my father in the morning. There was a little side-altar in the church where my father's picture was placed. In the front of the altar were a plate of fruit and a vase of flower. As the mass started, my mom, my siblings and I went up to bow and place incense sticks at my father's little altar. After the mass the priest then blessed my father's newly-built tomb. Dinner was the time for all members of my extended family and this was the only time I could meet with many relatives whom I had not seen for many years. In the evening of the same day, many neighbors came to pray for our father with us. I was blessed because I could be there with my family and joined with all the traditional rituals to honor my father and pray for him.

Ancestral veneration in a wedding ceremony is very cultural as well as very religious. When a new couple begins a banquet (to a bride, before leaving her house) they must pay honor to their ancestors. I witnessed several Vietnamese's weddings in Vietnam and in America and perceived some deep meanings from this ritual. The complicated ritual included the reciting of written prayers, singing songs in praying for ancestors and giving thanks to God for the lives of the ancestors. The couple would light candles and pay respect to their ancestors. Holding incense sticks in their hands, the couple bowed in front of their ancestral altar several times before placing those incense sticks in a vase. It was a sign that from that day on, a new member would accept the other spouse's ancestors as his/ her own and promised to pray for and honor them. Therefore, a new relationship was established between the ancestors and the new member. Moreover, if a man were the oldest one in the (extended) family, the couple then had the responsibility to organize all rituals on anniversaries in memory of the deceased ancestors. In other word, they had a duty to make the ancestors "alive" in the family

We Vietnamese Catholics, owe our faith to many foreign missionaries and Vietnamese pioneers who were persecuted for the good news. As I mentioned earlier, thousands of people had died for their belief and for our faith. We cannot repay them enough but we can value our faith and honor them by having their names as our patrons. Parish after parish and community after community adopt Vietnamese martyrs as their patrons. Three out of four communities in my parish took their patron saints and inscribed these saints' names in front of the local churches. Each year, each community has a whole day or a whole weekend to show gratitude and to honor those saints. A long procession through the village is the normal practice in which people of every age participate. Not only the celebration takes place on that one day or one weekend but people also spend a significant amount of time in preparation physically and spiritually. They come together to decorate inside and outside the church. The focal activities, which lead them to the celebration, are retreat, reconciliation and sharing. Children are very excited about having a competition of knowledge about those patrons' lives and legends. When I was in the competition, I was an expert in memorizing many stories about saints not only because I appreciated their lives but also because of gifts that I would be rewarded.

I also had opportunities to attend some great celebrations in honor of our martyrs. In a Vietnamese Thanksgiving mass last week at St. Thomas of Canterbury in Chicago, a group of youth performed a drama about the life and death of St. Ana Le Thanh, the only Vietnamese female martyr. I was moved not because of the play only but also the thought of how brave all our martyrs were at that difficult time. In November of 1989, a Vietnamese Catholic Convention was held in southern California. One of its activities was a large gathering at a stadium to celebrate the first anniversary of the canonization of our one-hundred-seventeen Vietnamese martyrs. The several-hour-long celebration included several parts. First, representatives of many Vietnamese Catholic organizations made up a colorful procession followed by a movable altar where a big painting of Vietnamese martyrs and some of their relics were placed. Second, a combination of ten choirs of more than four hundred singers sung songs in praise and honor of the martyrs. Finally, two local bishops, along with many Vietnamese priests, religious members, seminarians and faithful Catholics celebrated the mass. The celebration had a great impact on me and many other youths. I was not only proud of our "ancestors," but also appreciated and promised to carry on their virtues.

The practice of ancestral veneration fits exactly some teachings of the church. Two appropriate teachings that I now would like to relate as I conclude my writing are the communion of the saints and the honor of our parent. If the dead unites with God in heaven, they always pray and intercede for us. If they are still making up for their weaknesses, we, in our Vietnamese ways, can offer our good deeds in their names. As we reunite during the anniversaries of the dead, besides the votive masses with the particular rituals mentioned above, we reconcile with one another and remind ourselves of how we should live. I am sure that all cultures have their own ways of honoring their parents and their ancestors. The belief that the spirit of the dead is always with the living is very strong to the Vietnamese. I never forget the powerful feeling I had long after my father passed away that "he" was still in the house and knew what I was doing. Every time I had a fruit that he liked, I put on the plate in front of his altar. The offering of the fruit did not mean that my father needed something to eat. Rather, the ritual reminded me of my relationship with him. It also served the second purpose in which I should honor and value the other living members in my family, mom, uncles and aunts and to care for them.