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Traditions and superstitions in Cholon during Tet

Category :Ads Publication, VietNam
Date :11 February 2013
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On New Year’s Eve, the Vietnamese remain in their home, just before the transition to the new year to welcome the ancestors through prayer. On the altar they have put fruits, including watermelon and traditional cakes such as banh Chung, symbolizing Earth with its square shape.

After this rite, some people choose go right away to the pagoda to pray to their own deities at the pagodas. I have chosen to go Cholon, Saigon’s Chinatown, the liveliest and most popular area to observe these traditions.

In the Inlen Gallery Boutique

The origin of Cholon is back to the late eighteenth century when fleeing the massacres perpetrated by his troops Tay-Son, the Chinese community regrouped in the current place of Cholon, to 11 km from the center of Saigon to which it is connected by the arroyo. At that time the Mekong Delta was a “new” territory and in the fertile region, Cholon soon became the capital of the rice making the harbor of Saigon the gate throughout South East Asia, from South China and Hong Kong to Singapore.

There were then five congregations mainly in Cholon, those of Guangdong, Chaozhou, Fujian, Hainan and Hakka who built a temple each in typical Chinese style dating mostly from 1850: Quan Am Pagoda, Temple Nghia An Hoi Quang – Chua Ong Temple Phuoc An Hoi Quang Thien Hau Temple, which worship Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist deities altogether.

The early hours (that is to say after midnight) of the Tet, there is an atmosphere of indescribable fervor where everybody rushes to burn incense to fulfill its duties and rituals to pray for a prosperous year. I have noticed a lot of young people from the public, evidence that the religious spirit affects all generations.

Here is a photo series of still life and reportage for the New Year 2013 to feel the special atmosphere of the first 24 hours of the Year of the Snake, both calm and rough.