The day after we arrived in Ninh Hoa, Anne's Great Uncle had a mourning ceremony for Anne's Great-grandmother. Unlike back in the states where we celebrate birthdays, in Vietnam people celebrate the day of a loved one's passing. Honoring of when family member hopefully has reached a state of Nirvana and contentment. A celebratory table of all their favorite foods are set out and a special prayer is made at the prayer alter, which is in every home and sometimes homes may have a whole room with a prayer alter dedicated to family members who have passed (it is very sweet because your family is ALWAYS with you, even when they have died).
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Afterwards special commemorative money is burned.
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And the whole family feasts on the prayer meal.
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And then the men sit and drink and snack for the rest of the day, and we mean DRINK
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And then comes the karaoke.
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The beer of choice in Ninh Hoa is 333, which is made from rice and is fairly light, but we soon found out heavy in alcohol content.
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We made the mistake of telling Uncle Cau Bay that the beer was really light and that it would take about 20 to get drunk. Well after a few shots of rice wine, it only really took a lot less than 20 and it took Mike 15 hours to sleep it off.
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The day before we left one of Anne's cousins had an engagement party/announcement. In Vietnam when a man wants to marry a woman his whole family goes over to the bride-to-be's house and formally asks her family for their permission to have her join their family. It is a really touching ceremony because the whole family is involved.
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Formal offerings are made to the bride's family the and union of the two families is made with a final toast.
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The bride and groom then exchange rings and are seen as married within the two families and are then invited to call each other's parents Dad and Mom.
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Then of course, as with all things Vietnamese, there is a feast.
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And more drinking. But this time no Nam Chuc Phan Tram (or chug-a-lug) for us, just good times with a crazy group of uncles.
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The ceremony started at 8 and by 10 we were a little tipsy and yet again the karaoke came out.
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