The Women's Museum

Look I'm just taking a Cafe sua da (iced coffee) to reflect on what I've just seen in.the women's museum.

First of all how incredible to have a Women's Museum at all!!! Visited by men and women alike, as well as Vietnamese highschool students, it gives voice and place to the roles of women and girls in Vietnamese Societies.

It's not just one homogeneous Society either but beliefs, customs and practices from the Viet, the Black Thai, Hmong and other groups that comprise Vietnam today, as well as the changes that happen inevitably as the world gets modern together.

The first floor is dedicated to marriage, birth and motherhood. We quickly learn that there are both patrilineal and matrilineal societies operating in Vietnam. Some where the grooms family must provide for the brides, and after a short time the couple must live with the brides family. I know this is really frowned upon by some cultures but I love seeing the variabilities of belief.

Generally it's believed the mother must rest at home for the first month after having the baby. I know this from Viet families I know in Australia too. There are a host of medicinal plants to protect both mother and child during this most vulnerable time. And much to ward off any lurking evil spirits, in one instance, a knife to be plunged between the floorboards.

The next room was the voices and photos of working women. It gave me a renewed appreciation for how hard women work and for so little. Not just women. One woman's husband earned equivalent of $60 per annum raising pigs. There was not enough income from the rice harvest so for certain months women would  leave their children and partners to  come to Ha Noi to become Street vendors, of the like I'm seeing around. I'm glad I didn't complain now when I was charged 100,000 dong for a bunch of bananas, from the street vendor with the double basket over her shoulders.

The next room was about Mother-worship.  This is a purely Vietnamese custom of adoration of the mother, princesses, princes or dames believe to represent Eg. water, the forest and trees. They each have a particular order along with stories, songs, dances, costumes with particular colours.  Both men and women make offerings according to what they have in order to receive purity of spirit and a joyous life. 

I wonder if this is what women must strive to live up to?

The top room was about women in history, including those women who would become revolutionaries or guerrillas in their wars of Independence from French, Japanese and then Americans.

I was really moved, probably because in 1967 I learned of this terrible war and it effected me profoundly. Women did all sorts of things, either front line, underground, moving food and provisions to the fighters, running kindergartens in the tunnels or doing embroidery when they were captured in prison. One woman embroidered her imprisinment dates from various prison she was sent to.

I also feel sad because I know some fantastic Vietnamese people in Australia who were not so happy about the American exodus. Their lives had become entwined, and they were fearful of reprisals under the communist regime, so they fled. They were the refugees of 40 years ago when Australian leadership under Frazer opened our borders and offered a new life. The fruits of that are enjoyed today by all Australians such as the professions offered, great people like Anh Do and my friends, and ofcourse the Children's Festival.

I hope the scars of the past are healing with the young people and with now much more to-ing and fro-ing between countries. An interesting society that gives a green light to capitalism but the red light reigns of government.