Exploring the Changes in Death Anniversary Rituals in Ancestor Worship in Large Cities Under the Impact of Modern Life and Market Economy

<p class="ql-align-justify">This article focuses on exploring the changes in death anniversary rituals, a central ritual of ancestor worship, under the impact of modern life and the market economy in large cities in Vietnam. Based on the theoretical framework of cultural change and religious sociology, the study combines quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the depth of the shift in ritual practice. The survey was conducted with 344 people, along with twenty-seven semi-structured interviews with people aged 18 to 70, from various occupations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The data collected clearly reflect the changes in the organization, time, scale, and symbolic meaning of death anniversary rituals in the context of urbanization and commodity economy. If in the past, death anniversaries were associated with community, agriculture, and the spirit of “grateful to ancestors, previous generations,” now this ritual is gradually becoming formal, simplified, and strongly influenced by the market economy, expressed through hiring services, ordering food, worshiping online, or organizing ostentatious activities. However, besides the manifestations of commercialization, the study also discovered a trend of  re-sacralization, when many young families are looking for ways to restore the meaning of filial piety and spiritual connection between generations. The results show that death anniversaries in the context of urbanization are not lost, but are being “restructured” to adapt to the new pace of life, reflecting the dynamic relationship between tradition and modernity in contemporary Vietnamese religious life.</p>