Modernized tradition

We were invited to participate in a festival at the pagoda. I forget exactly the occasion, but possibly it was the 'anniversary' of the establishment of the first pagoda in the village by its first monk about 1000 years ago. The fact that it's right after the harvest and everyone has some cash to contribute might have more to do with it than any actual anniversary. Anyway, they hired a monk to come and perform with microphone and strategically placed speakers so that he could be heard from every corner. He was definitely chanting in Vietnamese, but reading from a text written in ideograms - possibly Han Nom, which is the indigenous version of Chinese characters. This marks him out as a scholar since very few people these days can read these characters. The other two were there simply to give a timely clash of cymbals or bang on the drum. The men and women were praying separately in two parts of the pagoda. The women in the front section where they had their own non-chanting chief nun and the men in the back part where this guy was. The women's section was full, the men's almost empty. In fact the men were all to be found in the out-building where the food and drink (beer) was being served.