Community topics
Written by: Huang Guigui
2019-12-01 00:00
Last updated: 2019-12-01 00:00On November 9th, the villagers of a fishing boat returned to Yantianzi, a small island with a 20-minute boat ride from downtown Saigon. There are no waiting women waiting for return at the pier, only the ruined tile houses and the sea waves that beat the shore.
Since the last villager moved out in 1998, the island has been peeled off along with the tile houses. Every year, on the first Sunday of May, the worship of Saint Joseph, and the ancestor worship in November, the villagers who left the village took a fishing boat and returned to Yantianzi.
They prayed, incense, and chanted Catholic prayers by the incense-filled ancestral graves. "Some people think, is there anything wrong with Catholics worshipping their ancestors?" Said Father Chen Zhiming, a villager. "On the day of ancestor sacrifice, we condensed the hard work and love left by our ancestors into a pillar of incense-shouldn't this be regarded as a respect for ancestors?" Said another villager Chen Ziliang.
Photography: Gao Zhongming
At 9:00 in the morning, about 30 Yantianzi villagers gathered in the center of Saigon and took a boat to worship Xixizhou ancestors.
Shangxiang: Descendants of Chen Mengde
At 9:00 am on November 9th, about 30 Yantianzi villagers arrived from various places and took a boat to Saixi Island in Saigon for an annual ancestor worship. The cemetery of Yan Mengzi's ancestor Chen Mengde was next to a green golf course. Villagers carried the suckling pig to the monument and planted flowers next to it. Some people took out the palm-sized incense burner and put it into the soil; the village chief Chen Zhongxian took out three incenses as thick as the arms, ignited, and gestured slightly sparsely to insert the incense one by one.
"In the past, I used fine incense, but this year Tai Gong (Chen Mengde) reported to me and asked me to buy Daxiang." Chen Zhongxian, who had a dark skin, said with a smile.
The Hakkas Chen Mengde and his wife took refuge 300 years ago. They moved from Guanlan, China to Sha Tau Kok, and later moved to Yantianzi, Saigon. They would make salt. Seeing that the terrain of Yantian Zi could just introduce seawater to make salt between the ebb and tide, they opened up six acres of salt fields and formed a Hakka village. Since then, there have been ten generations, and Chen Zhongxian is the eighth generation. The villagers are descendants of Chen Mengde, surnamed Chen, and they call each other "cousin" and "uncle", and the women's names are "big sister Chen" and "second sister Chen" ...
Yantianzi villagers put incense in front of Chen Mengde's grave. The incense burner prepared by the villagers is a bit small, but the incense is too large and often falls down. The villagers who are not familiar with the traditional Chinese way of visiting are a little overwhelmed.
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Prayer: Baptized Catholics
Father Chen Zhiming, one of the villagers, led the villagers around the cemetery and prayed slowly with cigarettes: "Today we traditionally show our love for our ancestors and nostalgia for the dead relatives and friends. As contained in the" Gospel of John ... "
After praying, some villagers took out a bunch of yellow young incense and set it on fire, and then three tribes per person were given to the villagers. The villagers took turns to worship and incense. Sister Chen stood in front of the tomb with incense and said, "Tai Gong, we now believe in Catholicism. You go to Catholic heaven!" The crowd nodded and smiled.
Under the leadership of Father Chen Zhiming, the villagers prayed, chanted prayers, and sang hymns, "Today we show our filial piety to our ancestors and nostalgia for the dead relatives and friends. As contained in the Gospel of John ..."
"Someone believes, everyone in the village will believe"
Chen Mengde, the ancestor of Yantian Zikai Village, believed in Chinese folk beliefs. Until the 1860s, the apostolic foreign missionary and priest and Fr. Ke arrived in Yantianzi to preach. In the fall of 1866, Fr. Ke was baptized for 7 villagers, and Christmas the same year, and the priest was baptized for 30 villagers. Until 1875, the villagers of Yantian Ziquan Island were baptized and worshipped Catholicism to this day.
Father Chen Zhiming said that pirates were rampant in the late Qing Dynasty, and the islands in Saigon's Inland Sea were often looted by pirates, and Yantian Zigu was unavoidable. Until one day, a pirate ascended the Yantian Azusa coast and saw a tall man standing on the top of the mountain. They were frightened and immediately boarded the ship and left. Later, some pirates saw the statue of Father Bo Fou Joseph in Yantian Zi St. Joseph's Chapel, and said that the "giant" he saw that day was Fou Joseph. "In the age of superstition, in this small village, as long as there is good deeds, one person believes, everyone in the village will believe."
Sister Chen said on the incense: "Oh my father, we now believe in Catholicism, go to Catholic heaven!"
Incense and Candles: Culture and Religion
Catholics worship their ancestors and chant the scriptures while fragrant. It is like salt water encountering fresh water, which is difficult to merge. Father Chen Zhiming also said, "Some people think, is there anything wrong with Catholics worshipping their ancestors?" But he believes that "Catholicism" is religion, and "sacrifice to ancestors" is culture, and the two do not violate each other. "Chinese people worship their ancestors carefully and go far. It is a kind of respect for their ancestors. And the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments of the Catholic Church is" filial obedience to parents ", isn't it the same? Chen Zhiming believes that "Shangxiang" is just a form. They are incense, respecting the faith of Chen Mengde.
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Chen Mengde's tombstone is not in Yantianzi, but on the Xixi Island, which is separated from Yanyizi Yiqiao, "probably because of Feng Shui." Sister Chen speculated.
Homecoming: Women under the Jade Belt Bridge
After the incense, the crowd was divided into two lanes by the Xixi soldiers. Some people walked and some people went to Yantianzi by boat. Pedestrians must pass the Yudai Bridge before entering Yantianzi. Some villagers couldn't hide their excitement when they walked up the Jade Belt Bridge. They opened their arms and ran in the direction of Yantian Zi. "It's been a long time since I came back!" They smiled like flowers.
The Yudai Bridge is a bridge that connects Xixizhou and Yantianzi. In the past, Yantian Zi performed his duties separately. Men were responsible for salt production and fishing; women were responsible for farming. In its heyday, Yantianzi once had more than 50 households with a population of more than 300. Due to insufficient cultivated land, villagers went to Luxizhou to cultivate.
The villagers walked back to Yantianzi along the Yudai Bridge. Some villagers were so excited that they opened their arms and shouted, "I haven't come back for a long time!"
Sad story behind Jade Belt Bridge
Every morning when the tide recedes, a swamp emerges between the two islands, and the women step barefoot through the soft mud to cultivate in Xixizhou and return to Yantianzi before the tide rises. Many times, the tide rose, and the women's bare feet were sucked by the swamp and could not be pumped. The salty water slowly drowned them from the bare feet until they became sea ladies who could never rely on the shore. "My mother is one of them." Chen Ziliang said. Decades ago, villagers invested in building the jade belt bridge between the two islands.
"Hakka women are hard." Chen Ziliang put away a smile.
St. Joseph's Church has a history of 129 years. After worshipping Catholicism, the villagers donated the most beautiful land on the island-the top of the mountain-to the church and built the church.
The Church: The Combination of Chinese and Western Cultures
Near 11:30 in the morning, the villagers led by Father Chen Zhiming to the Saint Joseph's Chapel to reflect on the Mass. They read the Bible verses, and when the music sounded, they sang poems: "I have love, Broadcast in the world ... "
The Saint Joseph's Chapel, located on the top of Yantian Zi, was completed in 1890. The church combines Chinese Hakka and Western Catholic culture. On the altar of St. Joseph's Chapel was a statue of a man (Jesus's adoptive father) holding a baby boy (Jesus) in his hand. Chen Ziliang said that this means "adding a light" in Chinese tradition. "If the Virgin is holding Jesus, it is estimated that men in the village will not come in!" He joked that behind the joke, there was a "Men's humility" in Hakka culture. ".
The western Catholic architecture takes the east gate as the front, and the Chinese tradition is to sit north to south. Therefore, setting up a church in the east and south respectively is also a fit with the Hakka culture. In the Hakka culture, men and women cannot enter the same door, and the church has a southeast gate, which just reverses the Eastern and Western culture. On the day of the Mass, men entered through the south gate and approached the altar; women entered through the east gate and sat behind the church.
Under the leadership of Father Chen Zhiming, the villagers pursued Mass in the Saint Joseph's Chapel for about half an hour.
Leaving Home: We Make Our World the Home
After recollection, the villagers marched to the cemetery on the east side of the island, where other ancestors were buried. Father Chen Zhiming led the villagers to pray. After completing the ancestor worship ceremony in a Catholic ceremony, the villagers drove down the mountain and left by boat at the dock.
The dock was the way home for the former male villagers. After farming, women who can escape from the swamp need to cook when they return home, and then wait at the pier at dusk to wait for the return of the fishing boat. After a man disembarks, he always has to touch the stone piers near the pier, symbolizing a safe return.
According to Father Chen Zhiming, worshiping ancestors is not religion, but a culture. "Chinese worshipping ancestors is a way to pay attention to their ancestors. It is a tribute to their ancestors. The fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments of the Catholic Church is to honor their parents."
During the retreat, the villagers chanted multiple poems: "I broadcast love on the earth ..."
The Hakkas have gone far from home
However, with the decline in salt production and catches after World War II, and the fact that half of the land in Luxizhou was used to build golf courses, villagers could not rely on salt drying, farming, and fisheries to survive. Male villagers stepped on board and walked away. "This is the characteristics of the Hakkas. We take the four seas as our home. When one place fails to provide us with food and clothing, we have to find another place." Chen Ziliang said.
Until 1998, after the last villager also moved out, there were no more handprints on the pier at the pier. The stone shingles of the tile house were peeled off, the glass windows were broken into pieces by the heavy rain, and the century-old tree buckled under the strong wind-Yantianzi almost became a deserted island.
Father Chen Zhiming dipped the holy water in the villagers' hands, and the villagers held up their hands and drank the water.
Mulberry: Yantian Azusa is home
Only Chen Zhongxian, who lives in Saigon, returns to Yantianzi by boat every day to take care of this ruined area and waits for the return of the villagers twice a year.
"" Zi "in" Yantian Azusa "means" Sangzi ", which means" hometown ". We take the four seas as our home, but Yantian Zi is still our hometown and our roots." Chen Ziliang bent her eyes into two bridges. , Squeeze out several fish tails. The ancestor sacrifice is exactly a process of finding roots. "On the day of ancestor sacrifice, the hard work and love that our ancestors left us, condensed into a pillar of incense-shouldn't this be regarded as a respect for ancestors?
What motivated the villagers to return to Yantianzi not far away during the St. Joseph's Ordination on the first Sunday of May and the ancestor worship in November? Zhang Zhaohe, a professor of the Department of Humanities of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who has studied Yantian Zi since 2007, summarizes three reasons: one, the same clan, all villagers are descendants of Chen Mengde; two, common culture, that is, Hakka culture; three, common belief, all The villagers are all Catholics.
After the mass, the villagers and Father Chen Zhiming came to the cemetery on the east side of the island to worship the ancestors in a Catholic ceremony.
Legacy: This will not be an island
However, of the more than 30 villagers on November 9th, most of them were silver-haired, and there were few younger generations. Chris, 35, was born in the UK. "None of my generation has lived in Yantianzi." He took a camera and took pictures of villagers worshiping their ancestors.
Chen Ziliang did not worry about the issue of "heritance". He established the "Yanguang Conservation Center" in 2011 to be responsible for preserving and promoting the history and culture of Yantianzi. This year, the Tourism Commission and "Cultur Gourd" held another three-year Yantianzi Art Festival.
Yantian Zi's portrait salt is attached to the seawater and takes the four seas as his home, but at the same time the seawater is attached to the shore and they are attached to their hometown. Chen Ziliang said, "As long as the villagers are still here, this place will not become an isolated island."
At 1 pm, the villagers took the street crossing and left Yantianzi. The annual ancestor worship event ends.
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