Vietnamese Customs

Superstition in Vietnam is a part of tradition and customs passed down from one generation to the next.

The Vietnamese culture has evolved from the basis of a wet rice cultivating civilization. Because of this, the lifestyle of the Vietnamese population is closely related to native villages and lands.

In Vietnamese customs, there are a lot of superstitions related to the newborn baby after birth.

There are many reasons why Vietnamese do not name their newborn babies when they were born. The reasons are belief, olden government policy in the old society and family customs.

In Vietnam, there are three main kinds of adopted child: formal adopted child, symbolic adopted child and pretended adopted child.

It has some difficulties for the wife when she is pregnant and has baby at the first time. The first-born baby custom means the wife come back to her family to have the first-born baby, and from the second child she stays at her husband’s family.

According to the old custom, after checking the family annals, avoiding the profanation of taboo names (name of a child is same as the name of ancestors); the newborn child is officially given a name.

In the past, marriage in Vietnam was a family affair. Parents selected their child's spouse through a match maker.

All over the world, wedding are governed by an endless list of customs and superstitions. Elka Ray examines some of the intriguing tradition associated with Western and Vietnamese nuptials.

Describes modern traditional weddings in Vietnam from beliefs to the wedding customs.

Vietnamese engagement ceremony is an important ceremony before the wedding which involve both fiancé’s and fiancée’s families.

The presence of the dead, the behaviour of the living, and an influence on the future - the many generations of the Vietnamese family.

"The sense of the dead is that of the final", says a Vietnamese proverb, implying that funeral ceremonies must be solemnly organized.

Each passing year in a person’s life brings esteem and respect to their family and neighborhood. Formerly, at the age of 40 one was honored for being an old man or woman.

Control of the rivers has been crucial to the Vietnamese people’s hard-won ability to survive and thrive in a sometimes unforgiving land. The construction of dykes along rivers is without a doubt one of the most important steps in the emergence of the Vietnamese people.

When considering the styling dilemmas once faced by Vietnamese men, a "bad hair day" takes on a whole new meaning. Dao Hung explains why hairdos once led to public ridicule, whippings, and even jail terms.

In the past, building a house was considered one of the three most important events in Vietnamese life. These were purchasing a buffalo, looking for a wife, and building a house.