“Lên Ðồnging” in Silicon Valley

One spring day in 2003 Karen went with Phan to a ceremony at a newly established Silicon Valley temple. “Come with me,” Phan told Karen, “you’ll see it’s a really big temple!” Karen was astounded because it was quite different from other temples she had seen in the area. Although most did not advertise their presence, this temple had a huge painted wooden sign and three flags (of temples, the United States, and the former Republic of South Vietnam) placed over the entrance gate. And while it was located in a residential neighborhood, like most other temples of Silicon Valley, it was not situated inside the home but in an attached building constructed solely to house the temple. It had a beautiful new floor with an elevated area for the medium and ritual assistants to sit, French doors with paned windows, and freshly painted walls. And as Karen later learned, nearly every object on the altar had been purchased in Vietnam. The statues of the spirits, the lintels and columns, the many vases and incense pots, the drums and gongs, and the numerous silk spirit hats suspended from the ceiling had all come from Vietnam. The airiness of the temple, along with the made-and-purchased-in-Vietnam ritual goods, reminded Karen of public temples she had visited in Vietnam. She wondered who had built such a temple and how they got all the goods from Vietnam. What did other mediums think of this new and rather opulent temple? Did they like it better because it was similar to those in Vietnam? In fact, when Hiền first visited this temple she said it made her feel as if she had returned home.