Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Phong: I enjoyed all of them. Jim Phong wrote: > The full moon this past week was the 2548th anniversary > of the birth of the Buddha (Shakyamuni). This weekend > the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Braintree, just South > of Boston, celebrated the occasion, known as Vesaka Puja, > or Phat Dan in Vietnamese, by inviting buddhist delegations > from different nationalities and lineages (buddhist "denominations", > so to speak) and have a big bash. There were Vietnamese, Chinese, > Khmers, Laotians, Nepalese, Indians, Tibetans, Thai, > Burmese, people from Sri Lanka, etc., etc. > > I was there for a few hours; I had to leave early but stayed > long enough for lunch, the procession in traditional dresses, > the offerings of gifts to the Buddha, and a bit of folk dance. > Of course, I took some photos. > > In particular, this one is for B.D.: > http://www.phongdoan.com/Photography/PhatDan2004/crw_1046.htm > > The small photos on the wall in > http://www.phongdoan.com/Photography/PhatDan2004/crw_1100.htm > are of departed ancestors; Vietnamese buddhists often keep an ancestral > altar at home, as well as photos (used to be name tablets) of the departed > in the temple so they can pray to and for the ancestor when they visit the > temple. > The bigger, framed photo lower, by the woman's hand undoubtedly is one > of a freshly departed parent. Once the mourning period is over, the framed > photo is replaced by a smaller one, on the wall. [Be careful when visiting > a Vietnamese home; that photo on the mantel piece, could easily be > one of the dead, as well the living, and a faux-pas can easily be made > :-) ] > > Also in the same photo you can see the round script on the wall; it used to > be > a sino-vietnamese round script, similar to what you may find in a > restaurant > in Chinatown. Now it is a latinized round script, as the Vietnamese have > adopted the latin alphabet as the national writing, thanks to the colonial > French in the late 19th century. > > You can see more photos of the day at > www.phongdoan.com/Photography/PhatDan2004, > part of the continuing "You can't go home again" series. > > Photographically, I tried to avoid blocked faces in the main > subjects in a crowd. I was not totally successful in my goal. > A Leica rangefinder with a widish angle lens would be much better > for this purpose, the best really; unfortunately I was not > using my Leica M. > > Comments, critiques, criticisms, etc. are always welcome and > always appreciated. Otherwise, please enjoy the photos. > > Cheers, > > - Phong > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >