I recently had a woo-woo experience that I won’t soon forget. We were at a pearl factory showroom at Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay. Based on that experience, there’s no doubt in my mind – woo-woo is alive in the Far East.
“Woo-woo” is the term my sister uses to describe all manner of supernatural occurrences and phenomena. She’s not just my sister. She’s the managing editor of this humble travel blog. OK. She’s just the regular editor. That is to say, she checks my work. (She’s really good at it).
I looked up the term, “woo-woo.” Apparently it’s a derogatory term for supernatural phenomena. My sister is way into woo-woo, and in her world, there is nothing derogatory about the term. And there’s nothing derogatory about woo-woo as its’s used here.
Here’s What Happened
As described in detail last time, I was purchasing a pearl necklace on a visit to Ha Long Bay. I had been speaking English, but as the salesgirl was writing up the order, I switched to vietnamese. It freaked her out.
She stopped writing. “What did you say?” She asked. I said a few more things in Vietnamese. Her coworkers were amused, but our poor salesgirl was in shock. I was creeping her out.
She just stared at me. Intently. More than intently. She stared as if looking deep into my soul. It was like she was looking into my eyes to see who’s in there. Now who was creeping out who?
Woo-Woo in the Far East
Listings of religions popular in the Far East usually include something like “Traditional Beliefs.” They’re said to be more prevalent in the country. Maybe city dwellers are too busy and distracted to think much about the spirit world. Out in the country, it’s a different matter. And it’s dark out there at night.
In Southeast Asia, people often provide special places for spirits to hang out. They’re called spirit houses. A spirit house is a place built to honor one spirit or another, a place where offerings to those spirits can be made. The spirits being honored are often the builder’s ancestors.
Ancestor worship is common throughout the Far East. Maybe you’ve noticed a little shrine in your local Thai restaurant. Ancestor worship isn’t a religion per se, but it’s definitely spiritual.
Vietnamese believe that their ancestors’ spirits are alive and well – and here. They’re here to the extent that they can influence the course of current events. Mostly in positive ways, as far as I can tell.
People make offerings to honor and show appreciation for their ancestors. Offerings might be something to eat. Maybe a bunch of bananas or a bite of someone’s favorite food. Grandpa liked his cigarettes, so why not leave him a couple of smokes?
I don’t understand the offering part. I guess the ancestor can partake of the offering without actually partaking of it. Maybe it’s that they see the special offering and know that their descendants are thinking specifically of them.
But what if one of those bananas disappears? What if later on there’s nothing left of the smokes but a couple of cigarette butts. Does that ever happen? Maybe I don’t want to know!
Ancestor worship is a way to keep ancestors close. It’s positive, and it’s kind of nice. But in Vietnam, not all spirits floating around are nice. I wonder if our poor sales girl thought something like that was inhabiting me? We’ll go down that road next time.
To be continued…
