Hình ảnh Việt Nam xưa & nay

Category: Vietnam Discovery Travel

A brief description of the Vietnamese folk beliefs

Since ancient times, with the prosperous natural conditions, Vietnamese people’s livelihoods had long been dependent upon the gifts of nature. Thus, the worship of nature was soon to become the oldest tradition and an important aspect of Vietnamese indigenous religion. Moreover, Vietnam is the at the gate of an open sea where many peoples and cultures gathered. Each religion being introduced into Vietnam was modified to be more familiar with the customs and indigenous ideology.

Tháp Chàm Ninh Thuận

Classification of Vietnam’s folk beliefs

Fertility rites made an early appearance in Vietnamese history. With the importance of the agriculture and farming, the Vietnamese worshiped the symbol of yin-yang, the harmonious balance of heaven and earth, and the prosperity of beings. Fertility rites are found in Dong Ho folk paintings from Bac Ninh province, with images of buffalo, pigs, chickens, fish; or in the ancient cultural products such as the imagery of sexual intercourse on bronze drums found in the village of Dao Thinh (Yen Bai), dating back to 500 BC. The custom of “mortar pounding to welcome the bride” is also an expression of traditional belief; mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female and of natural production.

Nature worship: Nature is the Great Mother of the Vietnamese people, the image of an omnipotent goddess bringing prosperity, fortune, and protection for everyone. This ideology appeared in the systematic mother goddess cult, formed upon the impact of Chinese Taoism, combined with the Goddess worship tradition from prehistoric times. The fact that women were being worshiped is something very unique when put into the context of the country under the teachings and rituals of Confucianism.

– Three – Four Palaces: Mother of Heaven (or Mau Thuong Thien), Mother of Grand Forest (or Mau Thuong Ngan), Mother of Water (or Mau Thoai) and Mother of Underworld.

– Four natural elements:

Goddess of clouds – worshiped at the temple Bà Dâu

Goddess of rains – worshiped at the temple Bà Đậu

Goddess of thunder – worshiped at the temple Bà Tướng

Goddess of lighting – worshiped at the temple Bà Dàn

– Animals and plants worship: Unlike the many different cultures that worship the powerful animals such as tigers, lions, falcons, etc. Vietnamese people worship animals such as buffalo, snakes, rats, dogs, cats, elephants, these animals are very familiar to the lives of people of an agricultural society.

Veneration of the dead: The Vietnamese people have great respect to the realms of life and death. They believe that the human body consists of two parts: body and soul. The 3 parts of the Soul include Consciousness (the mastery of awareness), Energy (energy causes the body to operate) and Shen (spirit of life). The folk saying, “The livings with wisdom are sacred after death,” explains the fundamental causes for the Vietnamese beliefs and rituals.

“Better to be blind and keep the orders within the household

Than to have clear sight but do not worship your ancestors.” (Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Luc Van Tien)

Although the Vietnamese keep their rituals and forms of worship, but most of the population do not follow a particular doctrine or religion. Would the mixture of religious and folk beliefs, with the vague interpretation of beliefs and disbelief, become a problem for the nation? Or would it be the necessary space for the economic development and integration in terms of knowledge? Ultimately, the worship of nature brings a solid ethical foundation for a sustainable developing society. Likewise, being grateful and showing respect to ancestors and national heroes are the basis of the tradition “when drinking water, remember its source” – which is a valuable quality of the people of Vietnam.

Source:

Wikipedia

http://chimviet.free.fr/quehuong/ng…

http://vovworld.vn/vi-VN/Van-hoa-Xa…

Trịnh Khánh Linh (THE PAVONIS ORGANIZATION)

January 18, 2016
Vietnamese Betel Chewing

Betel Chewing

Features

Chewing betel has been a traditional custom of Vietnamese since Hung Vuong dynasty. A piece of betel is a reminder of the famous Vietnamese folk tale “Trau Cau,” which contains a meaningful lesson of brotherhood and marital loyalty. Betel is commonly used in traditional occasions such as weddings, guest visiting, and commemorating. There is an old saying in Vietnam which says, “Every conversation starts with a piece of betel.” That came from a tradition when Vietnamese people used to offer betel to guests who visit their house. Betel is also indispensable in a com-memorial feast to show respect to ancestors and in a wedding gift of a groom’s family to a bride’s family. Betel is considered as a symbol of the affinity between a husband and a wife. Moreover, Vietnamese chew betel to protect and strengthen their teeth. They believe that the astringent taste of betel bring health benefits to teeth and gums. Betel is also a traditional medicine to cure malaria.

Offering guests betel and areca According to the authentic custom, a bowl of clean water along with a spoon should be offered to guests so they can wash their mouth before chewing betel. The host will then serve a tray of betels including a dish of betels, a dish of arecas, a pot of lime water, black powder (for blackening teeth), a knife, paper, a pipe to spit out a chewed betel quid and infusion of betel leaves. Middle-aged people may chew the raw betel to enjoy the astringent taste. Old people may put the betel in the water pipe to soften it before chewing. The tools used to display betel and areca are made from different materials, from copper, silver to pottery, platter, lime-pot, a spatula to spread lime on a betel leaf, spittoon, and a knife. Decorative patterns on these tools are usually the carving arts of homeland scenery, flowers and leaves or animals.

The art of preparing betel quid In order to prepare a fine, elegant betel quid, it requires the artist to be skillful in folding the betel leaves into a elegant shape. Phoenix Wing Betel Quid – The art of preparing betel quid of Hanoian “Little areca goes with green betel leaves,” is the common description of betel in Vietnamese literature. Hanoian specifically and the Vietnamese in general used to consider preparing betel quid as a form of art. The betel quid of the North Capital needs to be mentioned when speaking of the special betel quid – the Phoenix Wing Betel quid. With the same materials used to make betel quid along with the advanced skills of the women of the North Capital, a piece of Phoenix Wing betel has its own unique attractiveness. The Vietnamese believe that a look of a betel quid can reveal much about the personality of the person who prepares it. For instance, a not so neat and nice betel implies that the person is clumsy; betel quids with unequal size reveal the person’s poor evaluating skill; or too much lime on a betel leaf suggests the person is extravagant. Hanoian have their gracial way of chewing betel. Instead of chewing both the betel and the root together, they chew each separately. The areca will be crushed and the betel root will be dipped in lime before being chewed. The old Hanoian chew betel to create a reddish shade for their lips, blacken their teeth and create a line on their lips that so-called ‘the pencilled lips with betel juice’.

Today, in Hanoi, only people above 60 years old maintain the custom of betel chewing. Therefore, it is rare to see people offering each other a beautiful piece of betel like the one that A.de Rovides, a French, has talked about in 12th century “Hanoian have a habit of carrying a bag filled with betel and areca around their bellies. They left it opened so they can offer some betels to their friends when greeting.”

Ending Nowadays, despite the fact that this tradition has become less popular, the symbol of betel still remain its deep meaning and important role in many fields like medication, sociology and culture. Its simplicity, on the other hand, still plays an indispensable role in major occasions and celebration of Vietnamese. Betel brings out the elegance and simplicity of Vietnamese cultural heritage.

Source: The Pavonis Organization Fanpage

January 18, 2016
The Origins of The Vietnamese

According to a national legend telling the origins of the Vietnamese, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lac Long Quan and the female heavenly angel Au Co. They married and gave birth to a sac of 100 eggs from which hatched 100 humans. One day Lac Long Quan told Au Co: “I am descended from dragons, you from fairies. We are as incompatible as water is with fire. So we must live apart from each other” the husband then went seawards with 50 of their children, while his wife went to the mountains with the other half of the clan.

The oldest son, Hung Vuong, later installed himself as Vietnam’s first monarch. Because of that, Vietnamese people refer to themselves as the dragon’s son and fairy’s grand children.

Most Vietnamese considers Van Long of the Hong Bang Dynasty, exited from 2879 BC to 257 BC as the first state, and Hung Vuong as the first king, the founding father of the country.

Vietnam has exited for nearly 4000 years; they are ancient people with their own identity and culture. Their salient tradition is fighting for national independence. Even from the ancient time they had to struggle against foreign domination. China occupied and assimilated Vietnam for almost 1000 years, the Vietnamese finally expelled the Chinese in 938 AD.

However, anthropologists said Vietnamese belong to an ethnic called Austro-Asiatic, which was born of a cross between the Mongoloids and the Austro-Negroid inhabitants 10,000 years BC. This ethnic settled in a territory extending from south of the Yangtze River in the present day China to the northern part of present day Vietnam. During the Bronze Age 3000 years BC the group of Viet people in the red river basin created a cultural and national identity before the formation of Chinese Empire. This later was known as the first state of Vietnam.

Therefore in Vietnamese, Vietnam is written in two words, Viet and Nam, Viet is the name of an ethnic group, and Nam means south. Vietnam, then, refers to the country of Southern Viet people. To Vietnamese, South (Nam) often evokes what pertains to Vietnam, while North (Bac) evokes China.

There are 54 officially recognized ethnic groups living in the territory of Vietnam, making the total population of this country over 93 millions. Sizes of those ethics are big different, Viet people makes up of 86% of the national population and is the largest ethnic group in Vietnam, the second largest group is Tay People, with 1,7 m. The smallest is Ơ Đu, with less than 400 people.

Each ethnic group in Vietnam has its own cultural identity while still sharing certain similarities with mutual exchanges within the national border, and influences from China, India and Southeast Asian Countries. Generally, most of ethnic in Vietnam rely on wet rice agriculture or swidden farming, combining with raising poultry, collecting, hunting and fishing; and handicrafts and on commerce of different level.

http://www.incensetravel.com

September 19, 2015