Everywhere incense burning: Remembering ancestors in Đổi Mó'i Vietnam

Abstract

This article explores ‘ancestor worship’ from the viewpoint of villagers in the Red River Delta, as a meaningful practice reverberating across spiritual, social and moral realms. I describe two cases of what is locally termed ‘remembering the moral debt to our grandparents’. The first case involves the personal interactions of an older unmarried woman with her deceased parents, while the second focuses on the re-incorporation of a prominent local lineage organisation. I then analyse how war, revolution and reform have shaped the way villagers ‘remember the debt’ at home and in lineage halls.