My 24th birthday was the second birthday I have had abroad. Madame Xuyen wanted to make sure it was special. On Friday, January 28th I went to Donkoi Children Development Center and the young leaders group did a special performance in honor of the Chinese and Vietnam New Year and my birthday. The kids did an elephant dance, a dragon dance, and sang happy birthday to me!
Afterwards they also performed a bacci ceremony, which is very important in Lao culture. At the ceremony they have a tree with a large number of strings attached to it and many candles lit up. At the ceremony one person says a blessing. This time it was Kahmfahn, the youth director at Donkoi. He welcomed the volunteers and asked that we have a good time in Laos. As he said the blessing he was sitting with the three volunteers, Hoa, Arro and me, in the middle forming a circle around the tree and candles. The kids and other center staff were sitting around us. After his blessing one child touched my elbow, all the kids and staff sitting around us in the middle gently touched one elbow or wrist of another person so we were all linked together. Therefore we were all receiving Kahmfahn's blessing.
After the blessing the kids and staff take the string that is attached to the tree and tie it to my wrist so that I have dozens of cotton string bracelets on my wrists. It was a very wonderful ceremony.
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| The kids of Donkoi performing the elephant dance |
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| Me at the Bacci ceremony getting string tied on my wrist |
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| Me with Hoa, Arro, and Kahmfahn holding my birthday sign |
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| The makings of bancu. |
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| Madame Xuyen opening the Bánh chưng. |
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| Cutting the bancu with string |
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| Me cutting the cake with string |
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| The finished product! |
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Madame Xuyen in traditional Vietnamese dress with her friend's
daughter, Julie presenting a red envelope for Tet. |
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| Madame Xuyen and Julie |
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| Traditional Tet Flowers made out of paper. |
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| Madame Xuyen and her Bangladesh friend's two daughters in traditional Vietnamese clothes. |
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| Hoa and me on my birthday |
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| Hoa and me on my birthday |
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Madame Xuyen and me with the birthday sign and fresh lily
flowers. |
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| Hoa and me with the birthday sign and flowers |
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Madame Xuyen and me with the flowers in a vase and the
birthday card. |
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| The coconut shells and candles in the garden. |
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| Me in front of one of the candles in the garden |
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| Another candle in the garden. |
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| Another view of the garden candles for my birthday. |
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| My "birthday cake," the bancu with many candles on it! |
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Blowing out the candles
On Saturday, January 29th Madame Xuyen had a Tet or Vietnamese New Year's celebration with several of her friends. She had bought bancu, a Vietnamese cake, with sticky rice, beans and pork wrapped up in bamboo leaves. We had a small celebration with food and drinks and I got to meet several of Xuyen's friends in Vientiane who all came from different countries. |
On January 30th, my actual birthday that night we had bancu again! This time Xuyen put candles on the cake for me to blow out. As they were the never-blow out kind of candles her husband, Skip and I had to dunk the candles in the water for them to go out. After the dinner Xuyen had one final surprise for me. She had hung coconut shelves with candles in them all around the yard for my birthday! It was a beautiful and wonderful final birthday surprise!
Thank you so much Madame Xuyen for my unforgettable 24th birthday!
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