A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
I forgot to mention when I wrote about our Trip to the Countryside that I noticed an emerging trend in burial customs. There are quite a few above-ground tombs in Vietnam. Most are Catholic, if I understand correctly, as Buddhists cremate their dead relatives. They are generally not large family tombs as you might see in American cemeteries, but rather more like the stone sarcophogus you might find inside one of those family tombs. So they're somewhat reminiscient a twin bed, really, but coffin-shaped with a large carved stone headboard. And they're not located in cemeteries for the most part -- they are clustered in pairs and trios all across the countryside. I even saw a few of them atop a tiny raised island in the middle of a rice paddy, which seemed a seriously odd place to plant your relatives permanently. Totally in the way, for one thing, though I guess it gives you a decent place to picnic during the workday.

The new trend I spotted is that at many of the roadside tomb stores (surprisingly common, actually) they are now selling tombs with roofs. A pillar rose from each corner of the stone casket, and a sloped roof, complete with scallopped red tile shingles and decorative accents, would be placed on top.

A roof on a stone casket would seem to me to be the very definition of superfluous. What could possibly be the point of it? I can only assume that my picnicking theory is correct, and folks in the rice paddies want to get out of the sun for a few minutes at noontime. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to picture anyone perching on Grandma's last resting place munching on bananas and rice. I've yet to see one of these newfangled roofed tombs in actual use -- I guess I'll have to wait to see if there is any lunching involved.

© 2002 Katy Warren




posted by Katy at 1:28 AM