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Beauty of Vietnamese traditional customs and ancestral worship
Beauty of Vietnamese traditional customs and ancestral worship
25/2/17
I was trying to recall the past experiences that I have
gone through during my four years of living and working full-time in Vietnam
and use them to draw a picture of Vietnamese culture, which I expect will be
a great work of art with my wonderful memories of this country.
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When
I first arrived in Vietnam, I was very curious about how Vietnam had resisted
numerous invasions to safeguard its sovereignty and become an independent
country as we know it today. Throughout Vietnam’s rich and long history, what
features prominently is the entire country’s effort to preserve national
identity, a firm foundation for Vietnam to move forward. It is not difficult
to see the marks of Vietnamese people’s respect for cultural customs passed
down by their ancestors.
A
symbol of ancient Vietnamese culture can be found on the Dong Son bronze
drums which date back more than 2,000 years ago. Reproductions of motifs on
the Dong Son drum surface are often visible in offices or reception rooms of
government agencies and miniature bronze drums make highly sought-after
souvenirs. The worship of ancestors, particularly the Hung Kings, Vietnam’s
legendary founders, is prevalent across the country and is a major theme of
many traditional festivals and in the arts. In addition to safeguarding and
fostering traditional values, Vietnam also embraces foreign cultures in a
selective manner to influence its own unique culture.
Coming
from a country that has experienced numerous defensive wars throughout its
long history, the Vietnamese people naturally bear in mind their national
pride and gratitude to those who did a service to their country. In Vietnam,
Tran Hung Dao is one of the most venerated heroes. The Tran Dynasty general
is admired much in the same way as Koreans respect their own hero, General
Lee Sun Sin. And the heroines most venerated by Vietnamese people are perhaps
the two Trung Sisters who rose up against the then dominating Chinese in 40
AD. In modern times, the Vietnamese people pay respect to President Ho Chi
Minh, an exceptional leader and hero in the national struggle for
independence, he is regarded somewhat as a saint and his thoughts and
philosophy on leadership continue to be applied in Vietnam today.
In
Vietnam, streets are frequently named after heroes who made significant
contributions to the country’s construction and defence, which I think is a
very fine tradition. In Korean history, we also have many heroes hailing from
defensive wars against foreign aggressors but there is still a lack of ways
to commemorate them. In the capital Seoul, there are also streets named after
national heroes such as Sejongro, Euljiro, Dasanro, Wonhyoro and Chungmuro
but such streets are few and far between while most streets are named after
their geographical features. This is why I find the Vietnamese tradition of
reverence for national heroes especially beautiful. And although Vietnamese
people warmly embrace foreign religions, the indigenous ancestor worship
remains a central part in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people.
Park Nark-jong, Director of the
Korean Cultural Centre in Vietnam
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Park
Nark-jong
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All comments [ 10 ]
The custom of worshiping ancestors is a beautiful, rich, and colorful and joyful tradition in Vietnamese culture.
Ancestor worship is to express gratitude to the ancestors, the deceased parents and grandparents.
This is their root that generates generations over time. Everyone is proud of their roots, which is a prerequisite for their pride, identity and success in life.
Vietnam folk poems say something like this: “A tree has roots and branches that are hatched from the root and water also runs from its original sources to the rivers and seas”.
The kinship relationships in the Vietnamese family have been maintained and strengthened from generation to generation via the custom of ancestor worship.
Tt is more important to know that the custom of ancestor worship helps younger generations to learn to be kind to other human beings.
We need to fight against superstition. There are those who take advantage of ancestor worship to develop superstitious activities to fool credulous people.
Vietnamese need to develop a positive and beautiful meaning toward ancestor worship and promise to do good deeds with honor and respect our deceased.
This has become an invisible spirit with which to overcome challenges and difficulties in building a prosperous, just, democratic and civilized society.
There are many strange customs in Vietnam, however they are also very interesting.
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