The Culture of Vietnam

Rural customs and traditions remain big influences in Vietnam’s culture; almost 75% of the country’s population still lives in rural areas. In rural Vietnam, family relationship plays a very important role. Like most Eastern cultures, Vietnamese value the roles of family and clan. Every clan has its patriarch, clan altar, and death celebrations attended by the whole clan. It is still typical today to see 3 or 4 generations living under one house in rural Vietnam.

Vietnamese Buddhism, one of the 3 religions in the so-called Tam Giáo, is the highly accepted among the commoners. Also many Vietnamese are greatly influenced by the practice of ancestor worship and native animism. Vietnamese food is one of most popular in the world. It is very diverse and most of the time categorized into 3 groups; each representing to the country’s main regions – north, central, south. Its distinctive flavors are sweet, spicy, sour and flavored with an array of basil and mint. Vietnamese cuisines generally use little oil and a lot of vegetables; mostly based on rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Noodles and noodle soups are also very popular in different regions of the country. Like their cuisines, music also varies in the 3 regions. The northern classical music is the oldest and usually more formal music in Vietnam. Central music is characterized by melancholic melodies and has influences from Champa culture. The southern music radiates a sparkling laissez-faire attitude.

The Vietnamese celebrates numerous modern and traditional holidays. The Lunar New Year (Tết) and the Mid-autumn lantern festival (Tết Trung Thu) are the 2 most important and extensively celebrated traditional holidays. Tết is the biggest holiday of the year and it falls on the first 3 days of the lunar calendar. But the long celebrations are held on the weeks before and after the 3 days, which is usually between late January and late February.