User:Sisselerickson/Culture of Vietnam

Vu Hong Van is a doctor of Philosophy at the University of Transport and Communication in Vietnam. His article, “Determine the Appearance and the Value System of the Traditional Culture of Vietnam Through the Worship of Ancestors Belief of Vietnamese People”, focuses on the analysis of the worship of ancestor beliefs in the family, the village’s Tutelary god beliefs, and the Hung Vuong worship beliefs (Van, 2020). Because many of the traditional values of Vietnamese culture are gradually fading, this article’s goal is to educate the traditional values of worship in Vietnamese families in order to enrich the values of traditional culture system of Vietnam. In Vietnam, the worship of deceased family members is a very popular daily activity. According to folk beliefs, in each family, the ancestral alter is the most sacred place to the Vietnamese people because it is seen it is seen as the sacred bridge between the loved one’s current life and the sacred realm of heaven and earth (Van, 2020). Another popular belief activity in Vietnamese villages is the worship of the Village’s Tutelary god which is the most sacred symbol of the whole village and the highest combination of worship gods and the soul of the humans (Van, 2020). Lastly, the Hung Vuong worship plays an important role in the Vietnamese spiritual life. The history of the Vietnamese nation started with the Hung Vuong era and is known as the first era of national construction which laid the foundation of todays Vietnam country. The worship of Hung Vuong is a belief that has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. Vu Hong Van believes that educating and preserving the values that their ancestors have cultivated is important to prevent the fading of traditional values.

Vi Hong Van writes another article, “From the Belief of the Immortality of the Soul, the Blessing or the Harassing of the Soul Towards People to the Worship of the Souls of Vietnamese People”, for the University of Transport and Communications in Vietnam which was published on February 27, 2020. In this study, Van askes the question of why the belief in the blessing and harassing of the soul has become such a popular custom of worship among the Vietnamese people and if the immortal soul actually exists. Because so many people believe in a different concept of the soul, there are still arguments about whether or not there is a soul (Van, 2020). Apart from the belief of village tutelary gods, the worship of souls is a way to show good values of Vietnamese people and to satisfy their spiritual needs as well. Throughout Van’s research of the customs of worshiping souls, he concluded that the worship of souls is a socio-historical phenomenon. He believes that it isn’t only the behavior of the living towards the dead, but also the behavior of the ones still living in the world. Van’s article is written to inform the audience of his research and is effective in doing so.

Thi Hien Nguyen is an associate professor at Viet Nam National University in Hanoi and is in the department of Interdisciplinary Studies. Her journal article, “Cultural Adaptation, Tradition, and Identity of Diasporic Vietnamese People: A Case Study in Silicon Valley, California, USA”, was published by Nanzan University in 2016. Her research aims to understand how the Vietnamese community of Silicon Valley adapts, transforms, and preserves their traditional Vietnamese practices while living in the United States. Her research note is written in first person as she took part in field work at the University of California in Lost Angeles and through her field work she has learned that culture identity and traditional culture of Vietnamese people in the United States, are similar to the people actually living in Vietnam (Nguyen 2016). According to the 2010 U.S. national census, more than 600,000 Vietnamese live in California and make up the fourth biggest Asian Diasporic community in the United States (Nguyen 2016). In order to prevent the traditional Vietnamese culture from fading, the large Vietnamese community has created places for the practice of said traditional culture. These areas play a very vital role in making sure they immigrants adapt, adjust, and resettle. Thi Hien Nguyen writes her research note to tell a story of how the U.S. Vietnamese are trying to adapt to the American culture while still preserving their own cultural identity and history.

Valentina Marinescu, from the University of Bucharest in Romania, and Thi Kim Dung, from the Hue University of Sciences in Vietnam, completed a study called “The Fusion Between Culinary and Communication Culture in Traditional Vietnamese Family”. The purpose of this study was to look at the traditional Vietnamese family culture and culinary behavior preserving the national culture in modern society. According to research, there is a big relationship between culinary culture and communication culture in Vietnamese family meals as it is a time that preserves and promotes the culture values of the nation. In Vietnamese culture, eating and talking have always gone hand in hand with eachother. As for the methods and materials used to complete this study, the researchers used sources from prestigious professional journals and online data on Google scholar, Researchgate, Jstor.org, and other reliable websites and libraries.

On a similar topic, Thi Kim Dung LE has written an article called “Characteristics of Traditional Vietnamese Family and its Influence on Communication Culture in the Family”. Thi Kim Dung is a PhD student and a member of Faculty of Sociology and Social work at the Hue University of Sciences, Vietnam. The objective of her article is to understand the communication culture in the family and the role and influence it has towards the family environment. The article states that communication also follows the hierarchies in the family and the information is usually going one way from top to bottom. As a child, you will be listening, receive, and responding to information said by your older family members. As a child, you must also make sure to use eye contact and express your opinions through verbal and nonverbal language. Through this process of listening to your elder family, the children learn valuable lessons and parents attach great importance to teaching them.

Nguyen Trong Long, from the University of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam, and Vu Hong Van, from The University of Transport and Communications in Vietnam as well, have written an article called “The Policy of Preserving and Developing Traditional Cultural Values of Vietnam: A Case Study of Some Vietnamese Folk Beliefs”. In Vietnam, many different folk beliefs are passed down from generation to generation making it extremely rich and diverse and also contributing to unique cultural values in Vietnam. This case study shows that Vietnams culture, beliefs, and religion play a vital role in the developing of the Vietnamese identity. A big folk tradition is the worship of Mother Goddess. Mother worship is the belief, admiration, honor, and worship of Goddess associated with natural and cosmic phenomena (Long and Van 2022). The Vietnamese people come to Mother Goddess to find support and protection and has been worshipped for many generations.

Traditional Kinship
Communication culture in traditional Vietnamese families tends to follow the top-down stereotype and is highly hierarchical. Vietnamese people transmit the family culture through teach communication. The three core relationships in the Vietnamese society are king - people, father - child, wife - husband. The father - child, wife - husband relationship shows that the father has the biggest role and position in the family and has a strong influence on the rest of the family. Today, the father - child relationship has started to transition intoa parent child relationship as both parents have profound influence on their children.

There is a big relationship between culinary culture and communication culture in Vietnamese family meals as it is a time that preserves and promotes the culture values of the nation. In Vietnamese culture, eating and talking have always gone hand in hand with each other.

Philosophy and Religion
One of the most popular folk traditions is the worship of Mother Goddess (or Đạo Mẫu) Mother worship is the belief, admiration, honor, and worship of Goddess associated with natural and cosmic phenomena. The Vietnamese people come to Mother Goddess to find support and protection and has been worshipped for many generations.

In Vietnam, the worship of deceased family members is a very popular daily activity. According to folk beliefs, in each family, the ancestral alter is the most sacred place to the Vietnamese people because it is seen it is seen as the sacred bridge between the loved one’s current life and the sacred realm of heaven and earth. Another popular belief activity in Vietnamese villages is the worship of the Village’s Tutelary god which is the most sacred symbol of the whole village and the highest combination of worship gods and the soul of the humans. Lastly, the Hung Vuong worship plays an important role in the Vietnamese spiritual life. The history of the Vietnamese nation started with the Hung Vuong era and is known as the first era of national construction which laid the foundation of todays Vietnam country. The worship of Hung Vuong is a belief that has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.

Apart from the belief of village tutelary gods, the worship of souls is a way to show good values of Vietnamese people and to satisfy their spiritual needs as well.