Are there funeral homes in Vietnam?

MIA2013 wrote:

Just wondering...I don't remember seeing any funeral homes while I was in my mom's hometown. My uncle died after Tet this year, and the funeral was held inside our vacation home for 4 days. They did it Cao Dai style, although, he was an atheist. :huh

Nobody respects the final wishes. Funerals are about the living. My request is no military honors. Already prepaid for everything and have insurance for shipping my body. Head stone to read: "He Took His Grievances To The Top".

My request is no military honors.

AP, that's an easy one to arrange. All your survivors have to do is do nothing to ask for them. Have you visited a VC/NVA cemetery? I like they way they're divided into two sections. The inner section is for those who died in combat, which is separated from the outer section by a low wall. The outer cemetery contains the tombs of veterans. I like that division. An in-law of my wife's niece is buried in the outer section of the Can Tho cemetery, and he was a two star general when he died a few years ago. So rank does not have it privileges. All dead are equal with whose who payed the price in combat occupying the more honored sanctum.

MIA, In Tam Vu the family prepares the body for burial and puts the deceased in their coffin. I assume that's the way it is everywhere in the country. I have seen funerals with obvious funeral parlor assistance in the cities, but I suspect the funeral parlor people do their work at the deceased's home. I walked by something like that on my last visit to Chau Doc.

Next visit I'm going out to the Tri Ton ethnic Cambodian cemetery and find out exactly what they put under the tombstones, if that is what they have.

also , does VN have pre arranged funerals, meaning funeral insurance to cover your own death costs

As in weddings and birthdays, i think the well wishing money given to the family during the 3 day funeral is supposed to help cover the cost of everything.

I think it is terrible about the lack of respect given to the men buried in the ARVN cemetery is Saigon. Homes built on top of grave sites and remains boxed up and discarded. I remember reading about this last year.

MIA2013 wrote:

Just wondering...I don't remember seeing any funeral homes while I was in my mom's hometown. My uncle died after Tet this year, and the funeral was held inside our vacation home for 4 days. They did it Cao Dai style, although, he was an atheist. :huh

No, there are no "funeral homes", the kind that we're used to in America, in Việt Nam.  I think the people are connected to the homes so naturally any funeral is done at the home they died...maybe because the spirit still lingers at a place they're familiar with.  After they die, the home altar is active for several months and some people will come and pay respect (do the incense stick) at the home altar...Not entirely sure as I am still studying this cultural phenomenon.

how do foriegners living in Nam go regarding thier funeral, assuming at time of death they are without family? can they be burried in VN

mark stutley wrote:

how do foriegners living in Nam go regarding thier funeral, assuming at time of death they are without family? can they be burried in VN

If you don't have any family at all, then the cops just call your embassy and let them deal with it.  Isn't that how Australia deals with dead family-less foreigners?

Yes, there are funeral homes in the city. Venue and service are provided in Viet traditional way. Maybe you didn't see any becoz you didn't really look for one.

Anniest wrote:

Yes, there are funeral homes in the city. Venue and service are provided in Viet traditional way. Maybe you didn't see any becoz you didn't really look for one.

Thanks for showing up.  I don't mind being wrong when someone else sees/knows something I don't.  Are they just in HCMC?

a little off topic, but the biggest irony i saw was shop in Hue selling cigarettes and coffins. it is proababloy a good thing to let your embassy know where you live,   before you die then

do they embalm the dead here in Vietnam?

vnescape wrote:

do they embalm the dead here in Vietnam?

They didn't embalm my uncle.

Anniest, please explain:  "traditional way". Again in the cases I've seen, the body is prepared in the home of the deceased. There is no embalming. Rather the coffin is are stuffed with cotton batting and other materials. And on the third day, they are buried, usually with a funeral cortege that include musicians (Chinese style music), monks or priests, close fmaily members dressed in white that follow the coffin, followed by lesser ranking mourners dressed in everyday clothes.

In the cities they are taken to cemeteris where I presume there is a family plot. In the country they are taken out to the family tombs.

Minority Cambodian vietnamese citizens are cremated under the guidance of an Achar (usually a head monk) and if a man, at least two sisters will have roles in the funeral procession.

Minority Highland funerals involve the sacrifice of animals, the drinking of much Mnam pay (ruau canh), a cymbal and gong band, much feasting and eating, the preparation of the tomb and burial poles, and the entombment. The tomb will be kept for a specific period of time depending upon the deceased's social status, with occasional sacrifices at it, until the "Abandonment of the Tomb" ceremony. On my last trip to Ban Me Thuot I visited the cemetery and noted that the some minority Highlanders there had built marble family tombs and others had switched to more Vietnamese style tombs.

MIA2013 wrote:

vnescape wrote:

do they embalm the dead here in Vietnam?

They didn't embalm my uncle.

Not that I know of.  That's why alot of funerals must be carried out right away as the corpse starts to quickly decompose.  When you looked at your deceased loved one, the face doesn't look like it's sleeping (like how they embalm them in the West)...it looks like it's dead.  Very creepy at first but you get used to it.

My uncle actually did look like he was sleeping. They cleansed his body with rice vinegar. Dressed him in this gold colour robe and hat. Then his wife put some pieces of gold and herbs in his mouth. Fruits were placed on his chest. We all circled around him and each one of us caressed his face. The monks were there for 4 days. Dry ice was delivered daily to repack his coffin. There was a lot of rituals they did for 4 days besides the ones I mentioned. I never seen anything like it. They couldn't bury him in the family cementary. They had to bury him in a public cementary. My mom said thats only good for 5 years and then they have to dig him up and cremate his remains. Luckily my grandmother is grandfathered in at the family cementary. She has a spot next to my grandfather, whom she loves dearly with all her heart.

Aha, a Cao Dai funeral. Interesting. Even within the Kinh ethnic majority there are differences to the ritual. That brings up the possibility that within the cities different funeral parlors will serve the various religious groups anywhere from Nha Trang south.