As mentioned earlier, by the early 1960s the government for the most part had succeeded in bringing all aspects of religious and ritual life under their control. However, as Malarney points out, “while many people were willing to implement reforms that made rites simpler or more egalitarian, they were unwilling to allow the state and its officials to dictate how they and their families should conduct important family rituals.”[1] We see various acts of resistance during this period, including the continued existence of informal Buddhist associations despite the government’s attempts at disbanding or co-opting them. During the pre-revolutionary period in northern Vietnam, many communities were host to lay Buddhist groups primarily composed of older women (hoi chub a). “These groups usually met at temples to chant and conduct rites, although in many communities they also assembled at people’s homes to chant during funeral rites.”[2] As these lay groups were non-state sanctioned social organizations, by the mid-1950s many of these groups ended their public activities and became private organizations that met clandestinely in people’s homes to perform these rites.
What is particularly interesting about these groups is that the membership usually comprised female relatives of local officials. These officials were oftentimes reluctant to publicly criticize or interfere with the women’s activities, particularly if the relations were elders. Malarney points out two possible reasons for such acquiescence: officials did not want to cross their female kin and they recognized the critical importance of funeral rites for families, “and they held that it was better to allow people to conduct their rites as the felt most comfortable, provided of course that it remained in the privacy of their homes.”[3] This dichotomy between state rhetoric and societal practices represents the inability for the state to formally and completely impose their will on the people—an unspoken dialogue emerged between the state and people about what would be tolerated and what would not.
Since 1986 Vietnam has seen a resurgence of religious and ritual activity. This has occurred because following doi moi (“renovation”) the central government began to relax their control over cultural affairs. What has become evident is that these cultural and ritual activities are not identical to pre-revolutionary practices, but rather a blending of pre-revolutionary practices with those practices that were encouraged during reform campaigns beginning in the 1950s for northern Vietnam and after 1975 in southern Vietnam.[4] What became clear following the resurgence of life-cycle rituals was that women, particularly elderly women, were the defenders and keepers of these traditions. As was discussed above, women were the foci of resistance during the 1950s until renovation and when the public atmosphere became more welcoming, it was these same women that made the push to bring about changes.
Female religious groups began to take on very public roles, such as chanting at funerals, and increasingly pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable by the state—causing the state to increase the kinds and numbers of activities that would be tolerated. Malarney identified two reasons why women were able to play such an active role in the re-appropriation of religion and rituals by the people: (1) “many women had not renounced their religious practices during the reform years, thus when new possibilities emerged, they were able to bring out publicly that which they had privately retained for years” and (2) because CPV membership was male dominated, many women did not have the same political liabilities as men.[5] If a male party member openly advocated unsanctioned religious or ritual practice they could be censured or lose opportunities for political advancement, whereas women typically were not as involved and therefore the party had few effective sanctions that could be applied.
Changes that were encouraged during the revolutionary campaigns that have remained following renovation include, the adoption of Western-style dress for wedding ceremonies; many of the ceremonies have retained an egalitarian character; and the virtual disappearance of arranged marriages, underage marriages, and polygamy. Other changes that have occurred since renovation include the increasing size and expense of feasts—as incomes and conspicuous consumption have increased so have the sizes of celebratory feasts, to the point where guests can be expected to contribute financially to the feast.
Another important change in life-cycle rituals since 1986 are the rites dedicated to the war dead. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed during the wars against France, the U.S., China, and Cambodia—man of those bodies were either lost or buried on the front lines and never returned home. In the late 1940s, the DRV established different programs to honor those that died serving their country, including family assistance, commemorative monuments, special cemeteries, and the National War Veterans and Invalids Day. While the efforts of the state are appreciated by the population, family members of the deceased have created their own private commemorative rites and have gone to such measures as attempting to locate the remains and bring them home for final funeral rites. It should be noted only those that fought for the Communists are officially recognized by the state for commemoration while those who fought against the Communists are not recognized by the state and those rites must be performed in private.
[1] Shaun Kingsley Malarney, “Return to the Past? Dynamics of Contemporary Religious and Ritual Transformations,” in Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society, Hy Van Luong, ed., pp. 225-256, Singapore: ISEAS; Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 232.
[2] Ibid, 232.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Shaun Kingsley Malarney, Culture, Ritual and Revolution in Vietnam, London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, p. 2.
[5] Shaun Kingsley Malarney, “Return to the Past? Dynamics of Contemporary Religious and Ritual Transformations,” in Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society, Hy Van Luong, ed., pp. 225-256, Singapore: ISEAS; Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 235.
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