Vietnam Culture and Traditions

By | September 30, 2021

Vietnam is a socialist republic in Southeast Asia with the capital Hanoi. The densely populated, fertile core areas of Vietnam are the wide alluvial plains around the deltas of the Red River in the north and the Mekong in the south. They are connected to one another by a narrow, elongated mountainous area. There is a tropical monsoon climate with high rainfall from May to October. Although Vietnam is very densely populated, two thirds of the Vietnamese live in the countryside. Ethnic minorities such as Thai and Khmer make up 14% of the population. They mainly inhabit the mountain regions. Over 80% of the Vietnamese do not belong to any religious community. Buddhism is still the most widespread. Today’s Vietnam was from 111 BC. until 939 AD a Chinese province and then an independent empire. In 1862, France made the country a protected area. The independence fighters of the Viet Minh liberated themselves from 1945 under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh from French colonial rule, the country was divided into South and North Vietnam in 1954. The Vietnam War brought millions of deaths. The war ended with the victory of the communists and reunification in 1976. The 1992 constitution established the leading role of the communist party in state and society. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are restricted. In 1986, Vietnam introduced market economy structures to economic policy. The opening to foreign investors brought high economic growth, which is based primarily on industry (electronics, textile industry) and the export economy. Vietnam has been an ASEAN member since 1995 and a member of the World Trade Organization since 2007 (WTO). Relations with the US have improved a lot since the 1990s. In 2001 a bilateral trade agreement came into force.

CULTURE: GENERAL INFORMATION

Historically on Viet Nam the Chinese influence has always been very strong, with its baggage of sacred and secular traditions, to which, only in the century. XX, trends of Western origin have been added, which can be found in various aspects of today’s culture and society. The cultural mosaic is therefore the result of religious influences from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity, which have merged with previous animistic and practical beliefs, such as shamanism.. The sense of family is very strong, regardless of the rural or urban dimension of life, and the figure of the woman is in many areas equal to the man. The twentieth century was strongly marked by the end of colonialism, by the war, by the socialist regime, which imposed very harsh living conditions and little possibility of openness and cultural development. Conversely, the last years of the century have seen a better situation, and less state control over culture, from which art, literature and every other expression have benefited. Viet Nam is to all intents and purposes inserted in the international cinematographic, artistic, musical and theatrical circuits, and national productions are able to better combine traditional motifs and innovative impulses, both from the point of view of themes and forms. There are over 120 museum institutions in the country, including five National Museums; numerous sites of historical and architectural interest, including those included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Site: the monumental complex of Hue (1993); the historic center of Hoi An (1999); the sanctuary of Mi-sön (1999). Visit sourcemakeup.com for the best of Vietnam. Even in past and present sport (ie East and West) coexist in a multifaceted scenario: traditional martial arts and “historical” disciplines such as table tennis or sepak takraw (a sort of volleyball played with the feet), football, badminton, chess, canoeing were added, practiced in all the parks of the country, not only by the youngest.

CULTURE: TRADITIONS

At the center of its traditions the Vietnamese place the worship of ancestors, the family, the village, the land. Ancestors, family, dead are the three poles around which the New Year’s party revolves, which lasts for three days with special rites at the altar of the ancestors and with solemn processions in the town. Another solemn feast is the Tet of the summer solstice, in which paper images or wooden mannequins of tall characters are burned to ward off summer epidemics and any other seasonal evil. Very joyful is the autumn festival, in which the knots of new engagements are tightened, celebrated with foods seasoned with aphrodisiacs. The cuisine is characterized by the nuoc-mam sauce (fish brine), food rich in vitamins. Rice is the main dish; the most consumed meat is pork and the use of fresh or dried fish is frequent; widely consumed are tomatoes, salads, cabbages. Traditional clothing varies from area to area, also in relation to the different ethnic and social groups distributed throughout the territory. The most popular garments are, in any case, trousers and tunics or blouses of different shapes depending on the occasion or use. Western garments are increasingly common.

Vietnam Culture and Traditions