On funerals in the Mekong Delta

On funerals in the Mekong Delta.

An older brother from District 4, Saigon, asked: "Out here, do the đạo tì — the pallbearers — only get fed if they happen to work at mealtime? Up in Saigon it's never been that way."
I answered: "No, anh, it's not like that. If the pallbearers are working at 3 in the morning on the 30th of Tết, they get fed. 2:30 in the afternoon on 22 May, they get fed. 11:30 at night on the 28th of the second lunar month, they get fed. 8 in the morning on the 11th of the fourth lunar month, they get fed. 7 at night on any lunar-calendar day, they get fed. Mekong folks never had much money of their own — funerals were all about neighbors and family in the house helping each other. When the young men come of age, they take over from their elders and learn the steps — how to dance the phá hoàng, how to carry the coffin. No money, but plenty of food! So you call it reciprocity — you treat each other to a meal or two. If you can't afford more, one meal before the casket is carried out. If you can, you come back after the burial to eat again, with a little rice liquor as a way of sharing the family's grief. That's how it is, anh. For decades Mekong people have done it this way."