Spring day thinking about family culture

Along with the development of the village, clan culture is a driving force and a great stimulus for the family and traditional society.

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From birth to death, a person's name and surname are the most solid and certain positioning for an individual. Because, no matter where they go, what they do, whether they become a national hero or just a simple worker living a leisurely life in the countryside, a given name represents a separate person, while a surname represents a community with blood ties and many historical characteristics.

Associated with the development of villages, a nucleus of traditional Vietnamese society, clan culture is a driving force and a significant stimulus for families and traditional society. Clan temples, genealogies, eldest sons, ancestors' death anniversaries... are symbolic elements of clan culture.

For thousands of years, clan culture has directly or indirectly participated in the development of a dense traditional culture and has become an indispensable factor in the Vietnamese cultural heritage. This Binh Than Spring, lighting incense on the ancestral altar, we take the time to pause and reflect on clan culture with a spirit of inquiry and the most sincere feelings.

There was a time when people, for various reasons and with different perceptions, made an unclear distinction between beliefs, spiritual culture and superstition. These assumptions led to many consequences, causing many cultural, spiritual and religious activities to be restricted, sometimes having to go underground.

There have been phenomena of communal houses, pagodas being dismantled, temples being demolished, but in any case, the family temples are still intact, unaffected. That is also luck and partly to affirm the continuous flow of family culture not interrupted by external influences.

According to history, there are large families and associated with the dynasties named after them in power such as: Dinh, Le, Ngo, Ly, Tran, Mac, Ho, Nguyen, etc. It has been estimated that there are about 14 common families that account for 90% of the population in Vietnam.

In addition to the 8 families mentioned above, there are also the families: Bui, Do, Pham, Huynh, Dang, Duong, etc. Besides, the remaining 10% of the population are families of ethnic minorities such as: Cham, Khmer, An, Kieu, Hoa, Phung, Doan, etc. Each of those large families has established many glorious feats recorded in official history along with heroes who saved the country and people, passed down to posterity, bringing glory to the family.

Therefore, many family histories are also the history of the country. In that development, each family established its own characteristics, its own style and prestige in relation to the village as well as to other families.

It could be a scholarly family, following the profession of a teacher to continue the Confucian family lineage; it could be a martial family, proficient in archery and swordsmanship, practicing martial arts, passing them down to their children, etc. Those factors create the family's own cultural identity, determine the family's position in life and have a comparison with other families.

However, although their identities are different, the connotations of rituals, morality of remembering the source of water, cultivating and building the family temple, and solidarity are very similar among families. Ancestors and the family temple are the solid spiritual support for descendants in the family.

No matter where they go, what they do, no matter how full or hungry they are, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, at all costs, the descendants of the family will return to their hometown, the place where they were born and raised, where there is a family church, to stand before the family altar to light incense sticks to show respect to their ancestors and pray for their ancestors to grant them blessings and peace. That is satisfaction. That is satisfying their spiritual needs.

Parents, grandparents, and relatives are a source of motivation for their children to always be confident and feel secure in doing business and work. That blood relationship and closeness is like a spiritual medicine that stimulates and motivates them to overcome difficulties and reach success. In daily life, when faced with challenges, they always think of those close to them to be determined to overcome them.

When we are successful, we return to our homeland, return to our family's ancestral temple, and reunite with our loved ones. There is no greater happiness than the first day of the lunar month, when spring is everywhere in our homeland, peach and apricot blossoms are blooming, and we can live in the love of our parents, grandparents, and family members, and chat and share sincere feelings.

At those moments, many thoughts suddenly came to mind. Flashing through my mind, I thought that, in the end, only love is the most valuable and sacred. Money, fame and position in life are also meaningless... A green banh chung cake cut into 8 pieces, shared among 8 people who are called relatives, everyone feels united and happy. I deeply understand the saying "a drop of peach water is better than a pond of water".

From the perspective of the structure of the village, the state, the family is the nucleus of society, the family is the cell of the clan, the clan is the unit that makes up the village. The village is the nucleus of the country. A strong village makes a strong country, a village exists only when the country exists. That solidarity and bridging nature shows the important role of clan culture with the village and the country.

Whether a family in general and a family culture in particular is strong or weak, static or dynamic, prosperous or declining depends mainly on the people of that family. The era is only a secondary factor.

According to many studies, clan culture is like an underground stream, refreshing the soul and enriching the cultural capital of clan members. Clan culture has no drums or gongs, but the source of life is abundant and prosperous.

With external manifestations, there was a time when, due to difficult economic conditions, many family temples were degraded, family ancestor memorial services were organized carelessly, descendants participated sparsely, family members did not know each other, etc. But, fortunately, in recent decades, the trend of returning to the roots and reviving family activities in the villages has been vibrant and has many outstanding features.

Many clan temples have been renovated or newly built; many clan genealogies have been collected, translated and widely disseminated to clan members; ancestor worship rituals are performed methodically according to traditional principles.

In particular, the establishment of a clan executive committee to take care of studying, encouraging learning, and educating the descendants in traditions is widely and effectively organized. These activities bring many spiritual and material values ​​to the clan members, becoming a common beneficial activity for the clan.

All activities that unite and develop the clan will be a legitimate and sacred connection for clan members to unite, support and help each other both materially and spiritually to stabilize and develop their lives. Within each clan, there are still many unresolved issues, many conflicts and contradictions.

However, that is just a seasonal, fleeting phenomenon. It is not the essence. Let's look at reality. Throughout the countryside, along the roads in spring, it seems that all those who have gone far away and those who have stayed behind go to the family temple to burn incense for their ancestors and show their respect.

Just a few years or a dozen years ago, going to burn incense at the family temple was the responsibility of the eldest son and the head of the family, not the concern of the second son, eldest daughter, or second daughter.

Today's Vietnamese Tet has changed in quality. Along with changes and economic development are changes in culture and community life. Vietnamese people not only celebrate Tet like before, but also switch to playing Tet.

In that transformation, clan culture is the foundation and support to help descendants in the clan have a deeper awareness of their family lineage, thereby making each person's soul sublimate and creating a cultural identity typical of Vietnamese culture in the journey towards the future./.

According to VOV