Viet Nam has a rich and diversified culture with 54 local ethnicities that live across the country. After the long –term Chinese and French sway on its culture, Vietnamese culture made it possible to localize and make use of the foreign culture in their efforts to enrich their national culture. They include the culture that fused with cultural aspects of the Chinese people in addition to that of other countries that exist within the Eastern Asian region, original local culture and finally, the culture that cooperated extensively with Western culture (French).
When coming to Viet Nam, it is really easy to see above things: Like the traditional Chinese family, there are three Vietnamese generations living under the same roof or after getting married, the women usually stay at her husband in law and look after the parents in laws. Spanking is a common form of punishment that is administered once children develop past the early childhood age. Love of learning and respect of teachers are long term practices and become one of meaningful activities. (In Viet Nam, they have “Vietnamese teacher day”, in which you come back to visit your current/former teacher/professor). In Vietnamese language, you can find many words, which are come from French. For example:
Vietnamese: Cà phê, Áo sơ mi, ca ra vat…Etc… (Coffee, Shirt, necktie)
This is derived from French: Café, chemise, cravat…Etc…
The Vietnamese people have a lot of festival holidays but Vietnamese New Year, more commonly known by its shortened name TET or TET Nguyen Dan is the most important, popular holiday and festival. Tet starts on the first day of the first lunar month and is the first season of the new year (according to the lunar calendar), and therefore it is also known as the Tet Nguyen Dan, literally meaning Fete of the Three Firsts.
The Vietnamese always try to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavors of the Vietnamese festivities. To prepare Tet, besides re-decorating the interior of their homes, they really pay attention to the preparation of food specialties.There are two other items that cannot be missed: Banh chung (square cake made of glutinous rice, pork and green beans wrapped in the dong leaves and boiled) and pickled onions.
In the morning of the first New Year day, the children always wake up earlier and dress up carefully. After speaking the best wishes to parent, grandparents and relatives, they can receive lucky money on tiny red envelopes from adults. According to Vietnamese’s custom, giving lucky money to children, it will help the children be in good health and prevent from sickness. Their children will have lucky and happy year.
Nowadays, in modern life, the culture of Vietnamese people is keep changing but they always remind each other, especially their relatives to maintain the fundamental and common Vietnamese values: Family is top priority, yearning for a good personal brand name, love of learning, and respect for other people.
Online Vietnamese lessons for kids: dinolingo.com
