Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Last month, we celebrated Mother’s Day in America on May 9^th. This month, it’s the fathers turn to be celebrated, and their “glorious” day this year is on Sunday, June 20^th. Along with the word “mother”, “father” also is one of the words that any child would say when he/she starts learning how to speak.

There are many different words for “father” in Vietnamese. Each region would have its own word. For example, people in the north identify their “father” as bố, bọ, bõ, thầy, ông cụ, thân sinh, thân phụ; people from the central may identifyn “father” as ba or cha. People from the south may call “father” tía or ông già.

In general, the universal word for “father” is cha and bố (commonly used for northerners) or ba (commonly used for the southerners).

There are different words for “Father’s Day” in Vietnamese:

• “Ngày của Cha” (pure Vietnamese)
• “Ngày Từ Phụ” (Sino-Vietnamese word)
• “Ngày Thân Phụ ” (Sino-Vietnamese)

Vietnam doesn’t have a designated day for Ngày của Cha like in the United States. Instead, it shows its filial piety to the father on Lễ Vu Lan, one of the major Buddhist celebrations, and/or on the Tết Nguyên Đán (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) occasion, or on ngày sinh nhật của cha (father’s birthday).

For người Công Giáo (Catholics), I just learned Ngày của Cha is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19.

For the Vietnamese in the United States, they pretty much follow the same western tradition and honor their fathers on Father’s Day, the third Sunday of June. Children gather and bring food or cook their father’s favorites to eat together in celebration. Because it’s the summer time, steak and seafood BBQ are pretty common meal menus.

As gifts for Ngày của Cha, I think for fathers who have limited income, the most practical gift that the children can give is tiền (money), along with fruit, food, supplemental herbal medicines, wine, tools, etc. Here are some common gifts to give:

• Cà vạt (tie)
• Đồng hồ đeo tay (hand watch)
• Giây thắt lưng (belt)
• Máy cạo râu (electric shaver)
• Viết máy cao cấp (luxury pen)

My father, like all Vietnamese fathers, wanted one commonly desired gift that he expected from us when we were young: to show him the best score that we could obtain in school. As we grew older and moved away from our parents, all he wanted was simply a phone call to let him know how we were doing. Really, just being present with him on Father’s Day was already the gift that made me happy.

My father is no longer with us. Thus, we no longer celebrate Ngày của Cha and can only pay our filial piety on the anniversary of his death by offering some food, flowers, burn incense on the altar, and pray for him.

To all the ones who still have fathers, you can start to celebrate Father’s Day by saying “Con cám ơn cha đã cho con…” (thank you father for giving me…)

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Photo by Cristian Dina from Pexels