Title: Offerings

General Information about Item:

• Customary Lore, Offerings
• Language: Vietnamese
• Country of Origin: Vietnam
• Informant: Alexis Le
• Date of Event: September 1, 2017

Informant Data:

• Alexis was born June 22, 2000 in Naperville, Illinois. She is a senior at Metea Valley High School. Alexis and her sister were raised Catholic, but her family is not strict when it comes to upholding Catholic traditions. She is Vietnamese. Alexis’s mother is from Saigon and her father is from Hanoi. The majority of Alexis’ immediate family now lives in the United States.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: It is a Vietnamese wedding tradition to give offerings to the men in the groom’s family and to the ancestors. By doing this, the families are seeking approval and acceptance of the marriage. A bountiful offering also represents a bountiful marriage.
• Social Context: Alexis attended the wedding of her Aunt Jennifer at a winery in Kenwood, California. The wedding had the structure of a traditional American wedding, with a ceremony and reception, but it contained many traditional Vietnamese wedding customs. After the rehearsal dinner, the women of the bride’s family give offerings of fruit or platters of food to the men in the groom’s family. There is also an altar for their ancestors that has fruit, water, pastries, and incense.

Item:

• The folklore collected here is the Vietnamese wedding tradition of giving offerings to the men in the groom’s family and placing offerings on an altar for their ancestors. I interviewed Alexis over the phone and took notes on what she told me about the folklore. These data are not direct quotes from Alexis but are rewritten from my notes to create organized content.

Collector’s Name: Claire Burner

Tags/Keywords:

• Offerings
• Vietnamese lore
• Customary lore