Religious Devotion

On a visit to a temple in Saigon, we intruded on a memorial ceremony.

Those attending the memorial ceremony seemed to be oblivious of the crowd in the temple, unself-conscious about expressing their wishes for the soul of their dead relative.

I wish I knew what this temple official was writing.

This is the priest in charge of the memorial ritual.

Here is the priest again, chanting.

After a while they went outside to an altar they had set up.

This is another priest, officiating at the ceremony.  Our guide said that it was quite expensive to arrange a memorial ceremony like this.

In another temple people were lighting incense.

We were intrigued by these incense spirals.  Fragrance contibutes a great deal to the sense of devotion one feels in the temples in Vietnam, in contrast to the Jewish ritual we are familiar with, where fragrance is used on Saturday nights to separate the Sabbath from weekdays, but not elsewhere.  In the Temple, incense was an important part of the ritual, something we've lost along with the Temple, and an easier thing to accept than animal sacrifice.