Ritual Imagination of Rural Village Origins Among Migrants in Ho Chi Minh City: the Case of cúng xóm (‘Hamlet Worship’) During the Lunar New Year Festival

Patrick McAllister (University of Canterbury)

In recent years an interesting phenomenon can be observed in certain parts of Ho Chi Minh City, especially Tan Binh and Tan Phu districts, usually about eight or nine days after Tet, the lunar new year. On street corners and in alleyways in residential areas at this time, marquees and altars are set up for rituals known as cúng xóm, ‘hamlet worship’, but which in this context means worship by neighbourhood groups who are long-term migrants to the city from the centre of Vietnam, especially Quang Nam and Da Nang provinces.

This paper describes these rituals and outlines their nature and significance, based on research in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu district and in Da Nang, conducted in 2011-12. It shows how importing this ritual into a new urban environment is linked to the process of urban adaptation, while simultaneously providing the participants with a sense of community and identity linked to their original homes. Cúng xóm also has to be understood within the context of the process of religious revival in Vietnam, itself linked to economic modernization since 1986 and the movement of people associated with this.

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