VIETNAM WINTER (2016): HUE- IMPERIAL CITY

I arrived in Hue, the historical capital until 1945, during the week leading up to Vietnam’s most important holiday, the Tet New Year, celebrated for a week in February. Throughout the city, families had set up elaborate altars stacked with a variety of foods, dedicated to worshipping their ancestors. Smoke rose from fires where people burned fake money as a sacrifice to the Kitchen Gods, to ensure their deceased ancestors’ safe journey back to the heavens. It rained throughout the week that I stayed in Hue, which added to the melancholic atmosphere.