The Bamboo Cross

The following is a reposting of my previous entry Last Year's Day of Atonement which was made to coincide with the Day of Atonement 2009.


As it is that time of the year again I wish to share with you all my last Day of Atonement as a COG believer.

It was habit during holy time to read spiritually uplifting material. Therefore on the Day of Atonement 2008 I went to the library and read a book there that had caught my attention. The Bamboo Cross by Homer E. Dowdy (1968).

It is an account of Evangelical Degar (Montagnard) missionaries among their people in Vietnam back in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a fascinating account of life among these peoples.

I was not evangelical at all but I was already familiar with most of COG doctrine and their stories so I read other religious works.

In this book a shaman incites a drunken horde to destroy anything white, including white people. The harassment from Communist Viet Cong guerrillas who tried to lure them to join them in their war.

It also relates how among one tribe it was the custom to demolish a house once a person died in that house.

Also it related how there was this tribe that lived in an inaccessible place that could only be accessed by climbing a treacherous stone.

Since this book was written before the Communist North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam I wonder what happened to them. This book is definitely worth a read if you can get your hands on it.