Vietnam emerged on the world map as a country with many
landscapes and rich cultural values. The diversity and uniqueness of culture is
manifested through many aspects from cultural values, traditions, literature,
religion to costumes and architecture. It is the beauty of traditional culture
that attracts hundreds of tourists each year.
1.
Overview of Vietnamese culture
Culture can be simply understood as
a combination of material and spiritual values created by humans in the
process of labor and production. It bears the imprint of the era including
cultural - historical elements, as well as clearly demonstrates the spiritual
life of each ethnic group in the territory of Vietnam. In which, there are 03
main characteristics:
-
Vietnamese culture is part of the result of the harmony
between Buddhism of the East, Confucianism of the North (Chinese characters and
Confucianism).
-
It is also the result of the process of preserving and
maintaining the moral values of the Vietnamese people over the centuries such
as: patriotism, mutual love, water, remember the source, ...
-
However, in a certain angle, Vietnamese culture still has
some stereotypical and qualitative elements.
2.
Vietnamese cultural factors need to
know
2.1 Typical cultural traditions:
-
During the historical development process, after many
changes and reforms, up to the present time, Vietnam still retains intact
typical cultural activities such as:
-
The tradition of welcoming the new year - Lunar New Year is
associated with the desire for a new year of peace, convenience and a good
harvest. During Tet, there are typical activities such as wrapping banh chung,
year-end rice tray, new year, spring travel activities, New Year greetings and
lucky money (money to celebrate the age).
-
The tradition of ancestor worship: Not only clearly shows
the moral tradition "Remember the source of drinking water" as well
as show the filial heart of the next generation to the previous generation. At
the same time expressing the desire for a peaceful life and lots of luck.
-
Marriage ceremony: From the Vietnamese perspective, getting
married is one of the three great things of a person's life. Therefore, the
wedding must be fully organized in order to wish for the marriage of the couple
to always be strong, as well as to report to the ancestors and invite everyone
to join the family.
-
Funerals, death anniversary: This is an opportunity to
show the love of a family member in the family for the deceased. As well as
praying for peace for loved ones who have died.
2.2 Typical cultural values:
-
Typical cultural values create the characteristics of
Vietnamese society and form typical social codes of conduct:
-
Family cultural values: The tradition of loving children and
respecting the elderly in the Vietnamese family. As well as the family
structure living in the multi-generational model (many generations living
together). Elderly family members often have a voice because of a lot of knowledge
and experience, and descendants often obey and obey the instructions of adults.
-
Village and community cultural values: The culture of the
village and the community lifestyle of the Vietnamese people is clearly shown
through the proverb " Sell far brother and buy closer
neighbor". Everyone always has the spirit to help and embrace each other.
2.3 Traditional clothing
Vietnam's national dress is the ao
dai, which has undergone many modifications to get the current shape.
Vietnamese ao dai is divided into two main categories, namely men's ao dai and
women's ao dai, with an indispensable accessory that is turban.
The Ao Dai first appeared in the
Nguyen Dynasty with the name of the cross-collared robe, in the 17th century it
was called the four-part dress, the 19th century it was the five- part dress, the Le mur Ao Dai in the
20th century. from the 1970s until now is the traditional ao dai.
Ao Dai is not only a kind of
costume, but it also shows Vietnamese cultural value through many ups and downs
of history. Not only is a symbol of tradition but also imparts cultural, moral
and aesthetic values of Vietnamese people to international friends.
2.4 Religion and
beliefs
Vietnam
is a religion free country. Religions are introduced and developed to create a
diversity of religions and beliefs and are a unique feature in Vietnamese
culture that has many impacts on the value system and ideology of the people.
In
Vietnam, religions have been active and developed over the years such as
Buddhism, Christianity including Roman Catholicism and Protestantism,
endogenous religions such as Cao Dai and some other religions. These folk
beliefs are still maintained and widely developed up to now.
Moreover,
in Vietnam, the ancient customs and beliefs still exist. Vietnamese people have
a belief to worship gods such as the village emperor, people who have made
merit to the canonized country, people who died in war to protect their
homeland, ... This has created a cultural belief. diverse and rich with many
typical activities such as King Hung
Temple Festival, Giong Temple Festival,...
2.5 Architecture of the house
-
In order to adapt to geographical conditions as well as
weather, there will be different housing architectures in each region. Some
typical architectural styles of houses:
-
Three-room house - North: This is a traditional house style
and is still being built in many rural areas in the plain in new new styles.
Like its name suggests is a house consisting of 3 compartments with 1 main room
and 2 sub-rooms.
-
Stilt house - Northwestern mountain forest: Considered as
the cultural symbol of many ethnic groups, because it is a prominent leading
image in the residence space of each ethnic group. Stilt houses usually have
3-5 rooms depending on each family and are built entirely of wood.
-
The communal house - Tay Nguyen: This is a typical design of
stilt house, a cultural heritage. Not only has unique architecture but also has
many sacred cultural meanings such as: being a communal house to organize
festivals, a place to keep and worship artifacts with the same role as the
village's god of destiny. ...
-
The thatched cottage - South: Like its name suggests, this
is a cottage with dirt walls. It is a cultural feature bearing bold tradition from
ancient times.
2.6 Martial arts
Vietnamese traditional martial art
refers to the martial arts sects that have been handed down throughout the
history of the Vietnamese nation, showing the spirit of self-reliance and
willingness to defend the country. And today, it is diversified and richly
developed into many sects such as Ky Son Vo, Nhat Nam, Shaolin Tay Son, ... In
which, the most famous is Vovinam martial that is welcomed by many
international friends. receive and want to learn.
2.7 Traditional Music
Vietnamese traditional music is
formed and developed throughout the process of working and living of the
people. Folk music and traditional music always play an important role in the lifestyle
and development of Vietnamese culture. Music is a means of conveying
educational content, ethical and spiritual values, a way of conveying love as
well as a reflection of people's personal and emotional life.
At first, music was simply lyrics or lullabies, then
underwent the process of music interference from other countries, typically the
music of the Han people, but gradually developing more professional music
genres such as Ca trù, quan-ho, and the culmination is the royal court
music. Typical ethnic musical instruments must be mentioned as the gourd, erhu,
flute, and rock guitar in the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) ... Currently, traditional music is
still maintained and promoted to go hand in hand with modern music.
2.8
Literature
It is undeniable that our country's
immense literature over the ages is still preserved. Diverse literary genres
such as poetry, stories, epic legends, ... Each stage will have different
features.
- Before the 10th century:
Vietnamese literature was mainly a form of oral tradition with folk songs,
proverbs, legends or fairy tales, songs, ... Not only expressing the experience
of the ancients, but also is the soul expressing the "wishes" and
belief of Vietnamese people in a good world. Famous stories such as Thanh Giong, Tam Cam, Thach Sanh, Bending the plow in middle-road, ...
- From the 10th to 19th centuries:
Chinese literature appeared with genres such as: hù, statement, proclamation,
expression, novel, memoir, etc. Major works: Great
proclamation upon the pacification of the Wu by Nguyen Trai, Lament of the soldier's wife by Dang Tran Con, ...
- At the end of the 19th century,
Nôm literature was born: this genre was poetry with very few prose, recitation,
singing and speaking. There are a number of genres learned from China such as: Tang poetry. Typically, the Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du, the National anthem of Nguyen Trai, ...
- In the early 30s of the 20th
century, modern literature was formed: this is the period evaluated one day by
thirty years, literature has many innovations with three literary lines: real
literature, Romantic literature, revolutionary literature. Typical works such
as: Pick-up Wife - Kim Lan; Red Fate - Vu Trong Phung,...
Above are the basic Vietnamese
cultural factors preserved and handed down to this day. Despite the ups and
downs of time and historical events, they are still not eroded. Hopefully
Vietnamese culture will be richer and more developed!
Written by Nguyen Thanh Sang
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