The place where I was born is a coastal land in the North of Vietnam, right from the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese and Spanish missionaries (the French came later in the colonial period) followed the merchant ships to mission here. for coastal areas. Therefore, Catholicism in Vietnam often thrives in coastal areas, near commercial ports, and convenient for the voyages of Western missionaries. Hai Hau, Nam Dinh, my hometown, was introduced to Christianity quite early and developed strongly compared to Buddhism and Confucianism here after more than a thousand years of influence from the colonial period of the Chinese empire. Here the number of churches is very large on a small area, the reason is that this land does not have mountains, instead there are agricultural rice fields and a dense network of rivers. It is divided into many small residential areas scattered far away from each other, so each of those residential areas will organize into its own parishes and have its own church to organize religious activities.
With each residential area connected by trunk roads through the fields, it is extremely convenient to move to the surrounding areas, so on the occasion of the recent Lunar New Year celebration, I took advantage of visiting. Some churches around where I live (just a small part within a radius of about 3km square). Because each church will have different architecture, from bell tower, main church, decoration, and different monuments, I consider it a form of semi-tourist.
Simplified Gothic architecture or mixed style is a common feature of the churches here. The original Gothic style has very little European character, instead it combines some native Asian styles to be more harmonious with the people and partly to save construction costs. Vietnam is influenced by the French the most, so the Spanish or Portuguese architecture is almost gone. There are still pointed bell towers, pointed roofs (doors), many glass windows (color or not), arched domes at the top of the church. Some incorporate wooden beams, mosaic motifs, thread or local materials, some break out with a separate separate bell tower to create its own character.
Most of the interior is also pointed arches, wooden ceiling systems, using local tiles, reinforced concrete pillars. These are the churches I used to go to to pray or major holidays, celebrate when I was young and live in the countryside, but now here the Omicron variant is still expanding strongly in the countryside, so it is very limited to open. for both residents and visitors elsewhere to come inside. It is a pity that it is not possible to fully admire the inside, most churches here now celebrate Mass online, so parishioners themselves have little opportunity to pray inside openly. Because there are some pretty old churches over 100 years old that are beautiful and have historical value.
Usually, I really like going to churches, because in addition to the architecture of the bell towers and cathedrals, but also their grounds. There is a difference between the construction layout, decorated by trees or flowers, miniatures. And around there are monuments, lakes, different community houses. Like a walk in a simple miniature park, a place to find cool and relaxed.
I don't have enough time to go through all the different churches, but a few typical photos can suggest many more churches to visit when you come to this small, peaceful countryside. and friendly is welcoming
Thanks for following this post. The image was taken with a samsung note 8 phone.
