In our lives, people have so many dreams such as becoming rich; beautiful; intelligent; successful and so on. There is maybe also one dream that people want the most: living long. Longevity is a big dream of human.

In consciousness of Vietnamese, a family which has very old people live in is having a great fortune. Great fortune is having many offspring and living long. In the past, the people at the age of 40 though do not have any important offices in the village, were treated respectfully by all people in the village, as well as in their families. Respecting the old people has become Vietnamese tradition and it is kept until now.

Nowadays, offspring celebrate ''Longevity Day'' when their parents or grandparents are from 70 years old. At the age of 80 or 90, we call it ''Great Longevity", if far more 90 years old, it called "Great-great Longevity". Celebration of Longevity is usually chosen to be held at the really special occasions like Birthday or Lunar New Year Eve.

Besides the meaning of ''Great fortune'', celebration of longevity really has another meaningful purpose because this day is a chance for offspring to show gratitude to their parent. Living piously is a characteristic of Vietnamese and they express this through the thought and the direct actions to their parents in daily life, especially in the celebration of longevity.

In "Longevity Day", offspring may hold a party, all members in family and some guests will come and join. Everbody is all together and deep in the warmth of family atmosphere. Special presents are also prepared to express the gratitude. Thereto, offspring also attach the best wishes of health, they want their parents/grandparents to live long with them, as long as possible!

 To the parents, the material world is may be not really important. The important thing is the deep gratitude - the priceless present from the offspring that they receive. Therefore, celebration of longevity plays an important role in Vietnamese spiritual life.  For over hundred years, this traditional celebration is still kept and brought in to play.

    History of celebration for longevity

     Celebration for longevity is not only a Vietnamese traditional culture but also an occasion to express your respects and appreciations to the elder in your family and relatives

Legend had it that, the people at the age of 40 were considered as the older in their village. This custom originated from Vietnamese history, in the 12^th or 13^th century of Tran Dynasty, Tran King abdicated his throne in favor of his son to organize and manage the country. After that, Tran King came to relax and became a follower of Buddhism. At that time, celebration of longevity would have been held if there had been someone in the village at the age of 50. Although they were not in the high positions in the village, they were always respected. Especially, in the big festivals or ceremonies of their village, only the olders had been allowed to sit on the “cạp điều” sedge mat. The “cạp điều” sedge mat is a kind of mat which had a typical red color, was made from sedge and decorated with many flowers. Up to now, this custom has been preserved and developed. 

Nowadays, the more the span of life lasts, the later cerebration for longevity takes place. The offspring usually hold the celebration for longevity when their parents at the age of over 70 years old.

   Preparations

Firstly, the family has to choose a place to hold the celebration. Only the close relatives are invited then they can hold the ceremony at home. If the family wants to hold it bigger then they may choose a restaurant or a hotel. Thus, they have to reserve a whole restaurant or a conference room of a hotel at one specific day. The family also demands some special equipment like microphone, amplifiers or furniture like a special chair for the elder to sit while receiving congratulations.

Secondly, they write or print the invitation letters and send them to those who they want to invite. People who usually are invited are relatives, friends or old comrades, etc. The invitation letter must be formal, nice and easy to read. Sometimes with close friends, the family simply invites them directly by mouth.

The third part is preparing food for guests. Usually they will have a big meal. It depends on how many guests they will invite so that the family will decide to cook by themselves or use cooking service from restaurant. Some specific foods are required like peach (with the longevity meaning) and wine (usually they use traditional rice wine). The menu should be suitable for both younkers and elders. Sometimes they even order a special menu only for the elders of the family. Also, some traditional cakes may be required if the family want the meal to be more traditional.

Sons, daughters and children in the family of the elder prepare presents for the elder. Usually the presents are something the elder can use in his life like blanket, clothes, etc. Children can simply give a special wish for the elder or give him a meaningful present like their own drawing, singing a song, etc.

Nowadays, many families hire a photographer for this day. They even choose some nice destinations to take pictures for the elder. But the picture for the big family is unreplacable and has a strong meaning for the elder so the picture usually has to be very big and is showed in their house.

 Rituals and activities

Celebration is usually held on the birthday and maybe the first day of New Year. Its scale depends on economic condition of the family but still includes mainly traditional rituals. In rural areas, celebration of longevity is set up at community house where performs public activities of village. However, cultural house is the place standing for longevity of elders in cities.

According to Vietnamese custom, celebration of longevity includes 2 parts: the first part includes rituals and activities set up at community house or cultural house by local authority and the second part is at home.

In the morning of longevity day, elders together with relatives gather at community house or cultural house. Each of elderly people wears a traditional costume called “ao dai”- a long dress, his head is rolled by a turban. 90-year-old people will wear yellow costume and the same color turban on the head, 80-year-old elders will bring red things but people have age of 70 will only wear red turban. After finishing preparation, they stabilize their seats (people having the same color will sit at the same row). The celebration will start with songs. Some families even hire artists to perform dramas or lion-dancing to bring joyful, exciting atmosphere. Then, representative person of local authority will go to the stage to present briefly about name, age and biography of every elder, then wish them best things as well as give them meaningful gifts. Presents are maybe money, lacquer pictures and so on. At the end of celebration, instead of coming back home soon, they will stay at their seats, drink a cup of tea, eat biscuits and have a talk with others.

The second part of celebration is set up at home. Elders will go back their houses to receive wishes from relatives. Offspring will prepare and do a ritual to thank God for their parents’ longevities. Elders will sit at the centre of living room decorated with parallel sentences, lights, flowers... Younger family members will come to offer a sip of wine and wish them longevity. Besides, according to Chinese legend, Tay Vuong Mau gave Han Vu De, a king of China, a magical peach and said that if he had eaten that fruit, he would have became an immortal person. That’s why offspring can offer peaches instead of alcohol drinks. When the ritual finishes, everyone will sit around the food tray to have a meal.

 Special characteristics

In Vietnam, there are 54 ethnic groups. Therefore, it is said that each of ethnic group also has the typical features and is so different from Kinh people. For example, in some areas, they lay offerings under the legs of an altar.

There are several rules that you have to remember when joining a celebration for longevity. According to the age of the elder, you will give them a picture with a Chinese letter at the centre. If the elder is 49 years old, writing “Phuc” on the picture. Writing “Tho” if the elder is from 49 to 61 years old. “Khang” will be written for 61 to 73-year-old elder and “Ninh” for elder who is 73 to 85 years old.  

Truth is told that celebration for longevity is held in so many Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Japan, China... Every country has its own way to celebrate this day then longevity celebration has many colors itself.

In Chinese culture, peach is long associated with longevity. It is believed that peach of the Heaven can grant one an extra 500 years of life once eaten. Thus, elders usually eat a peach or flour peach in their longevity day.

To Japanese elders, they have mainly 9 milestones to celebrate, in which they wear costume in suitable hereunder colors:

o   At the 60^th birthday, elders wear red costume

o   At the 70^th birthday and the 77^th birthday, a costume in purple is required.

o   At the 80^th, the 81^st and the 88^th birthday, they often wear golden brown one.

o   At the 90^th, the 99^th and also the 100^th birthday, white costume is often wore.

  Some changes

After a long time, celebration for longevity has five biggest changes. Each change has its own reason and influence.

Firstly, we can mention the age to celebrate the longevity. In the past, at the age of 40, one was honored for being an old man. The history of Vietnam recounts that during the Tran Dynasty, in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, a 40-year-old king would give up his throne to his son to become a Buddhism monk. According to village customs, a man of 50 is honored as an old man. Old men stop working and are no longer village officials; however, they are still invited to festivals and to sit in the Communal House where they are honorably seated on red-bordered mats. Longevity still preserves deep significance and showing respect for older people. Presently, when grandparents or parents reach the age of 70, 80, or 90, their children and grandchildren organize longevity ceremonies. It points that the life span has increased recent years.

Moreover, today, in almost every village or urban district, there is an Association of Longevity for the eldest, and women are equally venerated. That is because there is no gender unequally and the longevity ceremony is not for only the rich people. It shows the social justice.

Besides, the celebration day has changed. Unlike Westerners, elderly people in Vietnam are not usually in the habit of celebrating their birthdays. It depends on each location: on the first lunar January or on 15 lunar January, commonly happens in early spring festival. The reason is for starters, few old people actually know their exact dates of birth, as they have no birth certificates. Therefore, the Lunar New Year is the time for family reunions. This is the most auspicious time of year and all family members are likely to be home to join in the celebrations. It might be better understood as a way of giving thanks or honoring the elderly.

Lastly, the gifts and the places to hold the celebration are different from the past. Nowadays, the offerings are often the elderly care goods, such as blanket, clothes, etc, even money. However, as living standards have been on the up, celebrations have become more extravagant for some families. A big celebration will not show the gratitude to the parents. “What important is how children behave towards their parents everyday” – an elderly said. In the past, they celebrated simply and the guests were only invited to enjoy tea and cakes. Now, it becomes more and more prolix and costly. The party is often organized in a luxury restaurant. The young people take this chance to invite rich or VIP colleagues for cash and lavish gifts. We should condemn and criticize it to preserve the right traditional value.

Advices for visitors

·     Avoid to be late coming with any reason.

·     If you are close with the family, you should come earlier to help them.

·     Talk with nice tone, and use proper words, especially with the elders.

·     Wear formal clothes. Do not wear revealed clothes. Especially do not wear RED clothes. Only the elder of this cerebration can wear RED clothes.

·     You MUST meet and give congratulation to the elder who hold this ceremony before join with other guests.

·     Do not give huge amount of money as present. Use it to buy something more meaningful.