Yêu Tiếng Anh - The church bells are first to greet the dawn as it
seeps into the darkness of a wet and chilly morning in the Central Highlands.
Hundreds of people respond to the call at a 5:15 mass in Dalat Cathedral and at
smaller churches or the chapels of crumbling monasteries in the surrounding
hills.
To the light of kerosene lamps and candles, Roman
Catholic worshipers bundled against the damp mountain air in an assortment of
old coats and scarves chant and pray their way through a once-foreign ritual
they have made Vietnamese. There are no missals or hymnals, and no organ on
weekdays.