Tag Archives: vietnamese

Đốt vía (Noah Hensley)

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Title: Đốt vía

General Information about the Item:

  • Rituals, Good Luck Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Vietnam
  • Informant: KL
  • Date Collected: October 21, 2021

Informant Data:

KL was born into a family of Vietnamese immigrants in 2001. He initially lived in New York City, but eventually relocated to Burlington, NC to attend high school. He is a junior at Dartmouth College, studying economics

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Viet business practices and customs are heavily influenced by mythical spirits and beliefs in good/bad chi. Business owners are encouraged to please spirits in order to be profitable in both the short and long term. The influence of these spirits on business practices is not limited to Vietnam’s borders, as Viet immigrants still abide by the rules even within the US. 

Social Context: 

KL’s mother ran a shop while the family lived in NYC, and abided by business practices that were consistent with her upbringing in Vietnam. As a young boy, KL often helped his mother in the shop, doing handiwork and organizing boxes. KL remembers asking his mother why they partake in the ritual of Đốt vía, and her being quite serious in the explanation of its practice. The last thing a shopkeeper wants is back luck, and this was an essential part of being in the good graces of various spirits. 

Item:

Đốt vía refers to a practice of burning a single piece of paper and waving it around the store after the first customer to not purchase anything goes through. This is believed to ward off the supernatural spirits of bad luck in the store, as a customer coming in without purchasing something is a sign of ill fortune. In the United States, laws usually permit only one piece of paper to be burned, but in Vietnam it is common to burn nearly an entire newspaper’s worth of paper. 

Associated File:

Cách Đốt Vía Giải Xui - Mách Bạn Mẹo Đốt Vía Bán Hàng Giải ...

Informants Comments:

This is widely practiced in Vietnam, and I experience it just about every time I go.

Collector’s Comments:

This ritual seems less practiced in the US due to the safety hazards associated:

Tags/Keywords

Ritual

Vietnamese

Shopkeepers

Vietnam

Burning, Good Luck

Mirror on the Door (Noah Hensley)

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Title: Mirror on the Door

General information about the item:

  • Superstition, House Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Vietnam
  • Informant: KL
  • Date Collected: Oct 21, 2021

Informant Data:

KL was born into a family of Vietnamese immigrants. He initially lived in New York City, but eventually relocated to Burlington, NC to attend high school. He is a junior at Dartmouth College, studying economics

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: 

The Vietnamese are typically firm believers in ‘Feng Shui’i; arrangement of furniture and items in the house that promote good flow of energy throughout the house. Viet households are typically meticulously planned and laid out by the matriarch of the family. Mirrors are particularly important in planning various aspects of ‘Feng Shui’.

Social Context: 

As the mother typically is well versed in traditional superstitions related to Feng Shui, KL received knowledge of this practice through his mother. It is disrespectful to alter the Feng Shui of a room that has already been set up, so children in Viet families are often informed of various traditions through their parental units. 

Item:

Mirrors are often forbidden to be placed in certain areas of the house: at the foot of the bed, for example, a mirror is thought to bring bad spirits as energy is reflected back into ones-self from nightmares. Mirrors can also have the opposite effect, however. To protect positive Feng Shui, mirrors are placed on the front of the front door to ward off bad spirits and energies from entering the house. An evil spirit, before entering the house, would be afraid of its own reflection, and therefore not enter the abode. 

Informants Comments:

Very common in Vietnam, less common in US.

Collectors Comments:

It might strike some as unusual to put a mirror on the front door in the US given cultural contexts.

Collectors Name: Noah Hensley

Tags/Keywords:

Superstition

Vietnamese

Parents

Vietnam

Feng Shui, Mirrors