Vietnam 7 - Blessing our Hoi An house



 Tet is almost here and Hoi An is crazy



There are flowers lining the sidewalks as people purchase these for their homes.  As well it seems kumquat trees are popular and showing up on sidewalks and in front of houses.





Our house is a new build, and we are the first people to live here.  Our landlords are Buddhists, as are many, if not most, Vietnamese.  This week we were thrilled to watch our home being blessed. 
Our landlords set up a table in front of the house, in the small courtyard so not right on the sidewalk.  It was laden with a variety of foods, only some of which we recognized.  There was meat (pork), prepared and stuffed bitter melon, a Tet rice cake, platter of fruit etc.  There was also incense being burned in two ways – one was the classic sticks that we are all familiar with and the other was in a bowl.


There was also a large red and gold paper structure at the front of the table.



Additionally, they restocked and straightened up the small shrine area in our kitchen including adding fresh flowers.



The landlord himself prayed at what, by this time, was an altar while the incense smoked around him.  His wife stayed with us, sitting in the living area.  Once he was done he took the incense bowl and walked through the house from room to room.

Then our landlady and her daughter cleared and removed the table and the paper structure was burned in a smallish burning bin on the sidewalk in front of the house.  This paper structure was for Buddha.  There was also some fake paper money there and some paper clothing .  These were burned to send them to their ancestors.

Once all was done we were invited to their home for lunch.  So were quite a few other people!  It turns out that there are quite a few family members and we recognized several of them because they run businesses in the neighbourhood.  The lady who cleaned our house once was there (no idea if she is a friend or a relative) and so was the woman who served us at the coffee shop that very morning.

Lunch was spread in small plates along a grass mat on the floor and we sat around it, rice bowl in hand, digging in.  There was also rice paper wrappers available and water to dip them in to soften. We could then fill and wrap to our heart's content.  There were 15 or 16 people there in total, from 5 years old to 88.  No question we looked the most awkward sitting on the floor.  Even the 88 year old was more limber though she was sitting on a sort of wooden couch.  It seems a lifetime of movement has many advantages.  Lunch was delicious, as expected.  We really like Vietnamese food.  The food that had been on the table/altar in our courtyard was brought into our house and tucked into the refrigerator.

All in all a totally amazing day.



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