tiểu luận phong tục đám ma ở việt nam

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF TOURISM
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5A ASSIGNMENT

FUNERALS CEREMONY

A3 K17
LÊ MINH THU
PHẠM TRÀ MY
ĐỖ THIÊN TRÂM
TÔ HOÀI THANH


HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF TOURSISM
---***---

5A ASSIGNMENT

FUNERALS CEREMONY

A3 K17
LÊ MINH THU
PHẠM TRÀ MY
ĐỖ THIÊN TRÂM
TÔ HOÀI THANH


ASSIGNMENT 5A

TRADITIONAL CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS: FUNERALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION (PHẠM TRÀ MY)
1. Rationale
2. Objectives of the study
3. Methodology
CHAPTER II. BODY
1. Background information of the funeral
2. History of the funeral
3. Preparations before the event
4. Rituals and activities
5. Special characteristics
6. Some changes
7. Advice for visitors attending the event.
(1,2,5: TÔ HOÀI THANH))
(3,7: ĐỖ THIÊN TRÂM)
(4: ĐỖ THIÊN TRÂM, PHẠM TRÀ MY)
(6: LÊ MINH THU)
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(LÊ MINH THU)
1. Conclusion
2. Recommendations
REFERENCES
APPENDIX


CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
A four-thousand-year culture with is a strength of Vietnamese tourism. One of its

decisive features is traditional ceremonies and festivals.
As a human being, the death is inevitable. For Vietnamese, beside all amazing festivals and
unforgettable ceremonies, funerals ceremony is considered a very important event. That's why
we want to introduce this spiritual ceremony to the guest so that they can understand more
about Vietnamese people. Traditional funeral with its meaningful rituals can make us proud of
our society. This assignment is about the traditional funeral of Kinh ethnic in the North of
Vietnam.

2. Objectives of the study
Working wholeheartedly for this assignment, our group would learn more about the
traditional values. We have a chance to practice useful skills such as collecting and analyzing
information, writing report and presentation. We will gain not only knowledge but also
experience. It will help us to be more confident when contacting with tourists.
3. Methodology
In order to do the traditional funeral assignment, we follow a procedure. Firstly, we
decide to focus at the North Kinh's funeral and search as much information as we can. The job
is divided into small parts which are shared equally to each member. Then, we analyze,
summarize and filter the information: history, rituals, changes… We write down all the main
point at first and then set the selected information. Working together, our group edits the raw
version. At the end, the final step is to practicing for the presentation. We also prepare for
questions that might be asked by the audience.


CHAPTER II. BODY
1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
“Funeral rites represent a traditional way of life to the Vietnamese people. They
are based on the concept of the indestructible soul and the close relationship between
members of the same blood line. By assuming this responsibility, generation after
generation retains the strong fabric of our society.” – Vietnamese writer Le Van Sieu
In Vietnamese, Funeral is called “Tang ma”. “Tang” means the sorrow when your

close relative is gone away. And “Ma” is the traditional Funeral ceremonies. So the Funeral
is the burying ceremony with honor with some rules of regret and funeral procession.
The Funeral is hold in the house which has dead. The dead body is place in the livingroom for two days before burying. Nowadays, the social are developed, the funerals can be
organized at Funeral home, where all the procedure are operated by the professional funeral
procession companies. Instead of the close relatives of the dead organize the procedure
themselves. This is the convenient the deceased's family, they are all too confuse and sorrow
to organize the Funeral for their beloved.
The Funeral is the way to express the spiritual and noble feelings such as honor, regret,
love and thankful to the dead, and at the same time express the loyalty of close relatives with
the dead man.
We can tell that Funeral is not only the farewell event to see off the dead to the death
world so that the dead will not be attached to the live world, but also the ceremony to pray
for protection from dead relatives.
2. HISTORY OF THE FUNERAL
History – From the ancient time, our people are influence by the Chinese rites, the funeral
should be celebrated from that framework, also had some differences. All of our offerings
based on "Thọ Mai Gia Lễ" (Hố Sỹ Tân-author) and "Gia Lễ Chỉ Nam". Although the
tradition ceremonies from the Lê dynasty are now obsoleted but have become deep rooted in
the people’s mind, so far are still popular from the South to the North.


Some legends, anecdotes
When a person died, placed an oil lamp on the top of his head, placed banana and a large
knife on the dead body, in case of the dead turned to a Demon. From ancient time, people said
if a black cat jump over the dead body, the dead will stand up, become a demon and chase
living people. Place the knife to prevent evil to disturb. According to scientist, people place
the knife near the dead body to absorb the yin chi from the dead. Today, in addition to a knife,
people burn coal under the bed, cover dead person’s face with a white handkerchief. The
eldest son or daughter take a shirt the deceased has worn in life and wave it in the air and call
upon the soul of the dead to return to the body.

When the dead body is enveloped with white cloth, the relatives have to cover the
dead’s face with a white handkerchief in order not to let the dead feel sad when seeing
his/her close relatives.
Since the King Hung dynasty, there was a custom to divide the possession for the dead.
Nowadays, in the coffin, Vietnamese people still put into the coffin the dead’s stuffs as
clothes, mirror, comb, etc… and in the dead anniversary every year, they burn paper clothes,
gold, money, etc… for the deceased with the meaning: hope for the dead to “live” happily in
the afterlife.
After the burial, they put a bowl of rice, an egg and a pair of chopsticks (put on the
bowl of rice), and a handful of tinder above the grave. This custom means to praise: the
handful of tinder represents for the world’s chaos, in the chaos, the taiji will be formed
(represents by a bowl of rice), the Yin-yang will be formed from taiji (represents by a pair of
chopsticks), Yin-yang represents for the live (an egg). The whole things to praise for the
dead will soon be reborn.
3. PREPARATIONS BEFORE THE EVENT
According to custom, when the parent has died, the children do not, as yet, accept the
idea of the death. They place the body on a mat on the floor in an effort to “bring it back to
life” according to the saying “Being born from the earth, one must return back to the earth”.
The next rite in this tradition is for the eldest son or daughter to take a shirt the deceased has


worn in life and to wave it in the air and call upon the soul of the dead to return the body.
They often say “Ba hồn bảy vía ông” or “Ba hồn chin vía bà”.
Before the rituals are happened, the body is washed and dressed which symbolizes
washing off the dust of the terrestrial world; hair is combed and nails are clipped. The death
body is cleaned with alcohol or clean water.
Each member in the family and closed neighbors will have different work to prepare.
One visit a temple nearby or already was chosen before to invite a monk to chant prayers, ask
for good hours and day. Another take care of coffin, car, trumpet team… Other confirms the
burying or burning place, set up the house to welcome guests. Kids are told not to play game.

The family also has to prepare clothing for the funeral. Looking at the clothing, we can
identify who is son/daughter, son/daughter in law, grandchildren, great grandchildren…
During the period of mourning, descendants wears special mourning clothing. The deceased
person’s sons, daughters and daughters in law had to wear coarse gauze turbans and tunics,
and hats made of straw or of dry banana fiber. The deceased person’s grandchildren and
relatives also had to wear mourning turbans. Grandchildren and relatives wears white cloth
around their head, great grandchildren wear yellow one.
4. RITUALS AND ACTIVITIES
First of all, chopstick is laid between the teeth, and a pinch of rice and three coins are
dropped in the mouth of the dead person. It called “Lễ ngậm hàm”. The coin is for the dead to
bribe the ghosts when go through 18 gate of hell or to indicate that the deceased has left this
world without want or hunger.
The eldest son and the eldest son’s of the eldest son are the first one to close the eyes for the
dead, whether the death’s eyes are closed.
Lễ khâm liệm và nhập quan: The body is enveloped with white cloth (khâm liệm) and put
into the coffin (nhập quan). Before that, the coffin is spread out with rice, tea to absorb the
water out of the corpse. Relatives who age is incompatible with the dead must stay away in the
time of put the corpse into the coffin, to prevent from harm later (according to an ancient
custom, the dead could capture them.)


According to the tradition, son will standing on the left, daughter on the right of the dead. The
corpse is put on the cloth, and is placed gently into the coffin. To finish, they fold the fabric on
top, bottom, left then right. Following the procedure is applied paint on coffin lid bar and
closed tight.
Coffin is placed in the middle of the house. When putting the coffin in place, head of the dead
is head to the front, also when carrying the coffin.
Lễ thành phục: Finally, the funeral ceremony (lễ thành phục) is officially performed.
Buddhist family invites the monk to chant and begin the ceremony.
Many family often invite trumpet team to play at funeral, called “Đội kèn giải”. They

will play mourning music when rice-offering, when people come to share the sorrow with the
family.
Distant relatives, neighborhoods, friends or colleagues of the dead come to the house, pray for
the salvation of the dead’s soul, go around the coffin to see the dead again and console the
family. The sons on the left side and daughters on the right side of the death’s coffin will bow
back when the visitor took bow in front of the coffin. If the visitor bow three times (they will
come to the funeral procession (lễ đưa tang), the family bow back one. Visitor bow four times
(they can’t come to the funeral procession), the family bow back two. If the visitor is younger
then the family bow representative, a younger in family will be called to bow back. Guest of
which person, that person will bow back. And the sons will bow back the male visitors; the
daughter will do the same with the females.
Lễ động quan, di quan: The date and time for the funeral procession (lễ đưa tang) is
carefully selected. On this day, the coffin carriers play an important role when carrying the
coffin.


When the coffin is carried out of the house door, few items in the house should be break (such
as a pot) to scare the evil spirits to go out from house. Relatives, friends, and descendants take
part in the funeral procession to accompany the dead to the burial ground. Votive papers are
dropped along the way. At the grave site, the coffin is buried and covered.

After the funeral: After three days of mourning, the family visited the tomb (mở cửa mả),
again or worshiped the opening of the grave.
After 49 days (Lễ chung thất), the family stopped bringing rice for the dead to the altar. And
finally, after 100 days, the family celebrated “tốt khóc”, or the end of the tears.
5. SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS
The Vietnamese funeral has many special features. There are good and positive things
that need to be kept and develop. There are also some negative changes need to avoid.

In some places, family has a funeral tend to organize an intimate dinner, but it should
be restrict for their relatives and neighbors who have helped. Nowadays, it’s becoming
popular and being an event for a drinking party. Many people argue that doing this to bring
joyfulness for the deceased, also sharing the suffering with family, but in actual, it cause
offensiveness and bring more troubles. Also in Southern, many families invited to funeral
some transgender people to help fun. They sing, and usually starts late at night. Neighbors
will be annoyed by loud music and unsuitable songs all night long.
When meeting a funeral in the street, people will take off their hat or helmet and go in slow
speed to show their sympathy. People in cars won’t honk.
It is also shown the community characteristic in the funeral: a family has a funeral,
everyone feels sad and confuse, everything can’t be fully discharged, neighbor will always
be there to help, to fulfill things. This is a lofty and beautiful, good deep, to present the
kindness of neighborhood.
6. SOME CHANGES
Funeral is important custom in countries. Nowadays, people don’t have time to hold a
traditional mourning ceremony; they often follow new rituals which are shorten and
simplified. In the past, family’s members must dress untidily and look emaciated to show that
they are orphaned when father/mother is gone. In mourning ceremony, they wear winkle
clothes to mourn for the death and show that they don’t want to be pretty, happy, joyful and so
on because of the death. They even do not comb hair. However, after being criticized, there is
no more. In present, the deceased person’s family members wear a white turban or a black
mourning band.
In the past, the dead body must be buried. Recent years, due to affection of foreign
custom many people chose burning before burying to save time, money and protect
environment. There are almost only people live in countryside want to bury in traditional way.
People often are buried in the land surrounding house such as garden, backyard and field.
They consider that buried near family, they could “watch” descendants carefully in after world
and make it convenient for descendants take care of grave afterward. Most people living in
cities would rather burn than bury the corpse. In this way, they can bring a little of bone-ash to

nearby pagoda and home in order to worship. The rest of bone-ash is put in a pot and burry
instead of coffin. The process of bury rite is the same but with burning corpse there is not rite
of moving corpse to another place (bốc mộ) afterward. This changing is a improve thought and
has many benefits for society.
Funeral form is various because of different culture, location and region. It expressed
the respect, gratitude of living people for the dead. In general, funeral is covered by mourning
air of loss. However, lately the air of funeral in some big cities is no different from a festival.
It takes much time (a whole week while a funeral is just allowed to be held in 4 days) and
money to be held and irritates neighbours and evil influences to environment. Beside tradition
rites in funeral, the deceased family of dead person add some “art” performances, “live show”
in process of funeral to please visitors and the dead.

These performances include circus, singing, dancing with inappropriate custom and music
(from classical to modern songs, cai luong…) In funerals, deceased family holds playing
cards, drinking through night that offends neighbors. To explain for this “new culture” of
funeral, some people think that the bigger funeral the healthier family is, they want to show off
and be different. Because of thought, many funeral services are born especially cry service,
music service, make-up for the death service.
Nowadays, many family is lack knowledge of organizing right funeral but has plenty money,
therefore they often buy package service for funeral from funeral organization team. For
positive view, this performance reduces sadness of living people and helps the dead rest in
pleasure and solves employment issue for jobless people. However, plenty of performances
make funeral ceremony loss inherent solemn air. Not only wasting money but also having bad
affects to social security and environment.


7. ADVICE FOR VISITORS ATTENDING THE FUNERAL
When go to a funeral, visitors have to express devotion to the dead, sympathetic with
the deceased’s family. It’s impolite if visitors laugh and joke during the funeral. Visitors

who attended a funeral usually wear white or dark color clothes and bring sympathy flower.
Remember do not wear colorful clothing, unsuitable for a funeral, offend others people.
Visitors sometimes attached with an envelope contain money to help the unfortunate family
cover the cost of the funeral. A funeral has many things to prepare so it’s appreciated if the
visitors can give a hand.
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
1. Conclusion
In Vietnam, funeral is an important culture that is preserved through many
generations. When a person is gone, the eldest man of the house in deceased family have
obligation to held funeral to express homage. All misery rites of funeral have a long history.
Until now they still remain but with different religion, people, location there are different rites
in funeral. However, all funerals basically have the same process as the origin. Funeral
represents the typical Vietnamese culture, lifestyle and conceptions. It expresses the great
connection of same-blood people, even living or death they still are in heart of the living. With
Vietnamese, death is not “no more”, it just the “loss” of body, not the soul. The dead still exist
in different forms. So that the funeral ceremony holds many humanitarian meaning: treasuring
people life so it is need to hold big ceremony for the death; mourning over close member in
family when they are gone; express the community through helping and visiting neighbor’s
family when they have deceased person and especially it express spiritual life of Vietnamese,
the humanity and moral conception.
In present, the high speed of modernization, urbanization makes people have less space
and time for sharing. It has great affect to organization of funeral ceremony that is seen clearly
through the establishment of funeral services. The adding “show” into funeral for money
purpose makes loss the highly valuable traditional meaning of funeral ceremony. Although,
many misery rituals of the ceremony are faded or lost by time, modern knowledge, living


condition but whatever we do, we should at least keep the solemn and the homage to the
deceased people to maintain “final piety” that is one of Vietnamese greatest virtues.
Time fade many traditional value, funeral is not the exception. Some changes are good

and suitable with life condition in modern time and some is not good. The important thing is
we have to aware of these issues and solve them before losing control of changes and loss all
precious value that our forefather preserved in centuries. It is needed to establish an agent to
control company supply funeral service to control if those services are suitable with traditional
value.
2. Recommendation
As an assignment about most important Vietnamese cultures, it relates to traditional
ceremonies and festivals as wedding, funerals, celebration for longevity, death anniversary and
so on. Those are all familiar to us but we do not clearly know about process, or the meaning of
rites.
As 3rd year students, English assignment is familiar with all tourism students of Hanoi
Open University. Therefore, working in a group is not the issue with us. Everyone familiars to
discuss, share the work for the best result. However, this is the first assignment after a long
summer holiday, the speed of working is not good as we used to. And translation a traditional
ceremony with many religious words, Vietnamese ancient words is really difficult for us to
deal with when we do not clearly understand them in Vietnamese. We hope that in 5 th English
course we acknowledge plenty of vocabulary related to culture, tradition to increase translating
ability afterward.
Although, we have some difficulties while doing this assignment, all members in our
group spent much time and try their best to complete the hand-down. Besides that, this
working helped us accumulate a great deal of knowledge. In spite of some mistakes, we hope
the teachers will feel pleasure and see our trying in this assignment. We also want to receive a
lot of comments and advice from the teachers in order to work better in next assignments.
Thanks for reading our assignment.


REFERENCES
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APPENDIX

Hà Nhì Ethnic Funeral
Hà Nhì ethnic group have about 12,500 inhabitants settling in the provinces of Lai
Chau. The Ha Nhi is one of the groups who have a traditional funeral.

Different region has some change in funeral customs, but common practices have prevail such
as when a person dies, the partition making of the bedroom of the dead body is dismantled, as
well as the altar to the ancestors. The body is placed on a bed in the kitchen. Good day and
good hours must be chosen for burial. To decide the position of burial, an egg is tossed in the
air. The egg then hit the ground and breaks at the position where the grave will be placed.
Around the grave, stones are piled up without building a funeral house or a protective fence.



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