This post continues a short series about marriage traditions and my own adaptation of them for my wedding years ago. In the first and second post, I identified a few defining characteristics of Vietnamese marriage patterns and explain how those characteristics are reflected in the marriage ritual, namely, the engagement ceremony and wedding ceremony. This […]
This post continues a short series about marriage traditions and my own adaptation of them for my wedding years ago. In this post and the previous, I identify a few defining characteristics of Vietnamese marriage patterns and relate them to Vietnamese history and culture more broadly. The last post discussed patrilocal residence, bride price, and
2. WHEN HISTORIANS GET MARRIED: WHAT IS TRADITION ANYWAYS? (PART 2) Read More »
Wedding season is just around the corner in the US, and every wedding season makes me think of my own wedding years ago. I wanted my wedding to reflect Vietnamese tradition, but as a historian, I knew that there was no such thing as a single, timeless tradition and that practices change over time in
1. WHEN HISTORIANS GET MARRIED: WHAT IS TRADITION ANYWAYS? (PART 1) Read More »
Chúc mừng năm mới! Happy New Year! In the first part of this two-part post, I described the practice of making an offering to the Kitchen God a week before Lunar New Year and how I learned the ritual from my parents. As I prepared for the holiday this year, I thought back to a
SENDING OFF THE KITCHEN GOD (Part 2) Read More »
Happy New Year! Chúc mừng năm mới! A week ago, I made an offering to the Kitchen God on my stove top. The ritual is typically performed on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, a week before new year’s eve according to the traditional lunar calendar. I cleaned the stove, placed three apples
SENDING OFF THE KITCHEN GOD (Part 1) Read More »
I am marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War in 1975 with an irregular series that reflects on the war’s end and its aftermath. This third second post is about Phan Thúy Hà’s Don’t Mention My Name, which serves as a foil to Phan Nhật Nam’s Stories Along the Road. Phan Thúy Ha’s Don’t
I am marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War in 1975 with an irregular series that reflects on the war’s end and its aftermath. This third second post is about Phan Thúy Hà’s Don’t Mention My Name, which serves as a foil to Phan Nhật Nam’s Stories Along the Road. Phan Thúy Ha’s Don’t
I am marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War in 1975 with an irregular series that reflects on the war’s end and its aftermath. This is my second post, and it builds on my first one about Phan Nhật Nam’s Stories Along the Road, a book that reflects the long arc of recent Vietnamese
Today is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975. I wanted to mark the occasion with an irregular series that reflect on the war’s end and its aftermath. My very first post in the series is about Phan Nhật Nam’s Stories Along the Road, a book that reflects
Happy New Year! Chúc mừng năm mới! Another year, another holiday song… Phạm Đình Chương’s “A Celebratory Glass of Wine” was one of my favorite holiday songs for the Lunar New Year when I was a kid. It was the last song on Tiếng Tơ Đồng Xuân (The Silken Strings of Spring), a Tết album