Palanquin, standards, and sign boards. Denis Finnin / AMNH

Large and exuberant festivals in honor of local gods are central to village life among the Kinh majority in Vietnam. In a procession that may stretch nearly a mile, marchers in vivid costumes snake through the village lanes and on dikes between rice fields, bearing on their shoulders a palanquin, or ornate platform-type conveyance, containing a sacred object, perhaps an image of the god. With all the pomp of a king surveying his domain, the god proceeds from his temple to a community house. There he may accept petitions from local dignitaries on behalf of the village.

The festival tradition, important for hundreds if not thousands of years, had disappeared during the past half-century of wars and economic hardship. But the 1980s saw a revival of these celebrations, which enhance local pride and reinforce a sense of community. As festival organizer Mr. Nguyen Tuan Mac observes, "The festival is a source of invisible strength."