Miscellany: A (Vietnamese) Buddhist Funeral

My Grandma was never a religious person, but nearly all people from Vietnam practice some elements of the uniquely Vietnamese Buddhist tradition that exists there. Thankfully, Houston has a huge Vietnamese population, so a nearby funeral home is fully stocked to take care of the ceremony in the manner passed down from generation to generation. These past few days have been trying, but it's always nice to know your loved one is going out in style.

Monks come in, and we kneel on the hard floor (which gets painful pretty fast). They start chanting and singing in rhythmical Vietnamese, with much bowing from everyone in the room to the shrines erected, one carrying an image of the Buddha, another with a portrait of Grandma. Every family member wears a plain white headband, tied a certain way depending on if the wearer has any dead parents. A monk rings a gong periodically.

Then the sermon begins. I'm told later that it's about the love a mother has for her children, a fitting subject. We're still on our knees, and the pain welling up from them is almost too much to bear for me. More and more singing, a ceremonial meal laid out in front of Grandma's shrine, and condolences from close relatives follow. A long day, to be sure, and there's more ceremonies to come...