August 27, 2006
The dead going “hi-tech” in Vietnam
According to tradition in Vietnam, the lunar July is the month to give thanks and praise to parents and ancestors as well as to help lost souls. However, this tradition has taken on some of the trappings of the modern age, wtih vendors selling cell phones or gift coupons, allowing allow the dead to go shopping at ‘underworld supermarkets’. Vietnam.net reports.
"CM City’s Binh Tay Market is famous as a place producing votive subjects for export. There a man offered: “You can buy everything for the dead here. If you can’t find the thing you need, you can place an order”.
“Nowadays, no one sends ordinary TV sets to the dead, but LCDs. We have LCDs with screens showing all kinds of current game shows,” he added.
At another shop, the seller recommended products for the dead: “Laptops for businessmen, I-pod MP3 players or O2 mobile phones for the young...”
Related articles on mobile phones and death rituals:
-- Handsets get taken to the grave
-- Japan's camera phone craze spreads to funerals
-- In Ghana, you can take your Nokia with you
-- Dead people in Slovakia are buried with their mobile phones
-- Irish are taking their cell phones with them to the grave
-- Mobile phone started ringing inside coffin
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