Vietnam Culture

Vietnam Culture - Religion

Religion in Vietnam has historically been largely defined by the East Asian mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, the so-called Tam Giáo, or "triple religion." Vietnamese Buddhism has typically been the most popular. The country also has a strong cultural norm of ancestor worship as well as animism. This fits perfectly with the triple religion, making it difficult for many Vietnamese to express exactly which religion they practice.

Vietnam Culture - Cuisine

Vietnam has a very diverse range of cuisines which vary based on region. Typical flavors are sweet, spicy, sour, and umami (such as nuoc mam from fish sauce - a popular Vietnamese ingredient). The cuisine is built largely on rice, vegetables, soy sauce, and a variety of noodle broth-based soups, the most famous of which is phở. The popular noodle soup is made by pouring hot broth over beef (or sometimes chicken), flash cooking it just before eating. It is eaten throughout the day, including for breakfast. There is an emphasis in Vietnamese cooking on using only native ingredients. The cuisine is gaining significant popularity in a number of international countries outside Asia.

Vietnam Culture - Social Organization

As Vietnam remains largely rural, the two most important units in Vietnamese culture and social organization are village and country, with little emphasis on districts or provinces. Kinship is also extremely important in Vietnamese culture, with the clan coming before family (as opposed to family before clan in other cultures such as Chinese). Many villages are inhabited by people who are all related in someway by blood and clan hierarchies can be difficult to decipher as they are based on generations rather than age. Marriages used to be arranged and people married at a very young age but this has almost completely disappeared today. However, many young couples continue to incorporate a number of the elements of traditional Vietnamese weddings into their own ceremonies.

Vietnam Culture - Clothing

Vietnam has a history of strict dress codes. In feudal Vietnam, commoners could only wear very strictly monitored, simple clothes in certain colors, based on the whims of the lords. Peasants typically went barefoot, with sandals reserved for aristocrats. Monarchs had the exclusive right to wear the color gold, while nobles wore red or purple. Today, the most recognizable traditional Vietnamese form of dress is the Áo Dài, which is worn mainly by females (white Áo Dài is the typical female high school uniform) though sometimes by men as well. It is fashioned as a long dress with slits on both sides, worn over cotton pants. Other than the few women outside of high school who continue to wear Áo Dài, Vietnamese dress today is almost entirely Westernized.

Vietnam Culture - Art & Music

Vietnamese art has traditionally been strongly influenced by Chinese Buddhist art as well as by Confucian and Taoist art. Calligraphy has long been an important part of Vietnamese culture and art, with scholars and artists traditionally commissioned to create calligraphy pieces at the Lunar New Year and to write prayers to be burned at temple shrines.
Vietnamese music varies slightly by region, with the northern region's classical music as the oldest and most formal. The two major forms of Vietnamese music are Imperial Court Music, such as Nhã nhạc, which features elaborately costumed dancers, and Ca trù, which is a form of chamber music typically associated with geisha-type entertainment.

Vietnam Culture - Martial Arts

Vietnamese martial arts are highly developed as a result of the country's long history of warfare. All the forms are heavily influenced by Chinese martial arts but remain highly spiritual due to the influence of Vietnam's "triple religion" Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Vietnamese forms of martial arts are known for their scissor kicks but are much less known internationally than the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai forms.