In Vietnam, where society sets up marriage as a model to follow, young singles gathered Wednesday in a temple in the capital Hanoi to ask for love, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day.
“Help me Buddha, please, I would like to have a boyfriend this year so that I will no longer be alone,” recites Nguyen Thi Ly in front of the altar of the Ha pagoda, cluttered with offerings of all kinds – roses , fruit, biscuits or fake banknotes intended to be burned.
“I hope I will be blessed with a boyfriend this year, so that my family will stop asking me when I am going to get married,” this 26-year-old office worker told AFP.
“I have already come here to pray for five years to have a relationship,” she assures.
The Vietnamese, attached to Confucian and Buddhist rites, are used to praying at the temple for prosperity, happiness or peace, according to a calendar defined by the cycle of the moon.
Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
But today, the new generation has marked February 14, Valentine’s Day with Christian origins, to reclaim love.
In Hanoi, the Ha Pagoda, with its wooden pillars, has become the favorite temple of souls in search of a half, although the legend of the origin of its supposed powers has been lost over the centuries.
“Spiritual procedure”
Single people face increased pressure to marry and have children, in a society dominated by traditional standards around the family.
Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
Women can marry from the age of 18, and men from 20, but official data shows that the first union occurs much later, at the average age of 29.8 years (in 2022).
Vietnamese people are marrying later and later, state media noted, a trend reinforced by the better level of education and the rural exodus.
Praying, “it’s a spiritual procedure that expresses the insecurity of young people to find their other half”, estimates Tran Thanh Nam, expert in educational psychology
Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
The analyst points to new technologies and social networks which have eroded young people’s abilities to maintain a serious romantic relationship.
Nguyen Van Duong, in his thirties, blames his work as a doctor which took up his time. Like his parents, he is worried about his single status.
“My parents are getting older day by day. They just want me to get married and have children,” he explains.
