On seeing it in the dark, my Vietnamese grandmother was convinced it was Buddha himself – and that she had died and passed into the afterlifeWhen my cousins and I were young, we built a makeshift Christmas tree in our grandma’s basement garage. Christmas was a relatively new celebration for our family: my parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles had arrived in Australia as refugees from Vietnam in the late 1970s and, as Buddhists, didn’t celebrate Christmas – until young children came along.So, our tree was fashioned out of cardboard tubes – the kind that hold bolts of fabric, since our family was in the textiles business. The base was a plastic bucket; the body was three of those slender cardboard cylinders, tipi-ed together and tied at the top. We draped it in tinsel and crowned it with a star. It was a thing of beauty, one-and-a-half metres high with a slightly musty aroma. Continue reading...
The article tells a humorous story about how the author's grandmother, a Buddhist refugee from Vietnam, was confused by a makeshift cardboard Christmas tree, mistaking it for Buddha and believing she had died.
The central theme is how cultural traditions and beliefs can clash, especially when introduced to a family of different backgrounds. It also highlights the generational gap and the humorous consequences of misunderstandings within families, especially during holidays.
The author suggests that her daughter's growing curiosity about Christmas might lead her family to embrace the holiday. This implies a potential for cultural blending and adaptation within the family as they navigate their own unique traditions.
The article tells a humorous story about how the author's grandmother, a Buddhist refugee from Vietnam, was confused by a makeshift cardboard Christmas tree, mistaking it for Buddha and believing she had died. The central theme is how cultural traditions and beliefs can clash, especially when introduced to a family of different backgrounds. It also highlights the generational gap and the humorous consequences of misunderstandings within families, especially during holidays. The author suggests that her daughter's growing curiosity about Christmas might lead her family to embrace the holiday. This implies a potential for cultural blending and adaptation within the family as they navigate their own unique traditions.
