Posts Tagged Vietnam Culture
Traditional offering ritual takes place in Hue
Posted by thanhcong in Vietnam Culture on August 20, 2010
The Nam Giao offering ritual, part of the Hue Festival 2010, took place on Nam Giao esplanade in the central city of Hue on the June 9 evening. Read the rest of this entry »
One Last Jaunt Through Ha Noi
Posted by Thanh Vu in Travel Blog, Vietnam Culture on December 24, 2009
The Usual Hangouts
It is nice to know that we have a city overseas where we have usual hangouts. During our time in Hanoi we went back our favorite ice cream store and to Mesa Bakery for fresh donuts. We also spent several afternoons at our favorite, although overpriced, café at the tip of Hoan Kiem Lake. The coffee is decent, but expensive, but it is one of my favorite spots in Hanoi. We like to sit at the café and people watch, seeing the young lovers walk hand in hand around the lake and the elderly getting their daily exercise. It is pretty peaceful to stare over the small lake, and sometimes I even forget that I am in Hanoi. I can tune out all of the motos zooming by and the drivers honking their horns every two seconds. We even splurged on ice cream sundaes that were very tasty and refreshing.
We took Jackie and Scott on a tour of the Old Quarter, showing them shoe street and the other streets specializing in different goods, and watching them with sick fascination as they tried to navigate across the crazy streets filled with motos coming from every direction. Eric and I feel pretty comfortable by now trying to get across a street in Vietnam, but the trepidation on the face of newcomers is fun to see. We tried to find an area Eric and I went to once where there were a few bars that spilled out onto the street, all facing each other in a triangle shaped intersection at the west end of the Old Quarter. Read the rest of this entry »
Rice in Vietnam
Posted by Thanh Vu in Vietnam Culture on December 18, 2009
Rice is an integral part of life in Vietnam. Vietnam is an agricultural country with eight out of ten Vietnamese living in rural areas and making their living by growing rice. Many Vietnamese people say their country looks like two rice baskets placed at two ends of a pole.
Rice is a staple food for half the world’s population and its cultivation is dated back some 7,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. It is a symbol and also part of ceremonies and offerings. It’s one of the most important food crops in the world and an important part of Asian culture.
There are thousands of rice varieties. Rice is a cereal grain related to oats, rye and wheat. It comes in white, brown, red, black or amber. Its grains can be either short or long, and thick or thin. Rice mainly grows in flooded fields (it needs a constant supply of water) and is called lowland rice. In countries where there is plenty of rainfall, rice may be raised on hills and is called upland rice.
Lowland rice, known as wet rice, is the most common species in Southeast Asia which can be planted in two or three crops a year. Seedlings are raised in nursery beds and transplanted after 25-50 days to flooded fields surrounded by soil-raised border. The paddy stem is submerged in two to six inches of water and the seedlings placed in rows approximately a foot apart.
Vietnames Hair Cut
Posted by Thanh Vu in Vietnam Culture on December 18, 2009
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 early years of the 20th century, Vietnamese men wore their hair long, secured in a knot at the nape. When going out, a man would wrap a scarf around his head to cover this chignon. This hairstyle was imported from China, probably during the long period when Vietnam was under Chinese occupation. Chinese records from the first century AD. note that Vietnamese men “wear short hair“, citing this as a difference between the two peoples.
By the 17th century, however, long hair had become a symbol of Vietnamese identity, since, under the Manchu dynasty, Chinese men had started shaving the front half of the head and wearing the remaining hair in a pigtail. Thus, when Nguyen Hue launched his assault on the Manchu army that was occupying Thang Long (now Hanoi) in 1789, his declaration that he was “fighting for long hair” spoke of his determination to preserve Vietnamese culture.
Contemporary Vietnamese Traditional Weddings
Posted by Thanh Vu in Vietnam Culture on December 18, 2009
The pace of change
Modern traditional weddings in Vietnam differ significantly to those in the past. The most obvious change is the cost – the social pressure of ‘face’ leads some families to spend up to the equivalent of ten year’s salary. Another obvious difference is the average age of the couple.
In the past, a groom of 20 with an 18-year-old bride would be considered an ideal couple. Today, education, a degree of female emancipation, and the need to pursue a career have raised the figures by five or even ten years for middle-class city dwellers. Working class couples tend to marry earlier.
Contemporary beliefs
The tradition of matchmaking has largely faded away, but most parents have firm views – were they to decide that the prospective spouse was unsuitable, most young people would accept the verdict and break off the relationship.
Some young people seek the services of an astrologer in advance to determine whether their future liaison will be successful. If the result were negative, most would withdraw.
Women a couple of years over 30 are considered to be past their sell-by date – for men, it’s a about 35. The possibility of being left on the shelf is frightening, especially for women. As the deadline draws nearer, individuals’ and families’ criteria become looser – better an unsuitable partner than no partner!
Cheo – Dramatic Art
Posted by Thanh Vu in Travel Blog, Vietnam Culture on December 16, 2009
Possibly the oldest sung form of Northern Vietnam, cheo, is still performed regularly in Hanoi. The Cheo theatre opened in 2002 and ever since has staged two performances a week, on Fridays and Saturdays.
But in September, the theatre will be open five nights a week including Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There are also plans to put on displays of traditional ceramic, lacquers, embroidery and bronze products from local craft villages.
Some of Vietnam’s top cheo artists, such as luminaries as Xuan Hinh, Xuan Hanh, Thuy Mui, Mai Huong and Thu Huyen – most of whom have won prizes at national contests – appear here regularly.
Each performance includes six or seven extracts from well-known cheo dramas, many of them celebrating old-time heroes. The evening usually starts with offerings of the mildly narcotic betel leaf and tea.
Seats on the upper level cost VND40,000 while the others are VND50,000; buy them at the theatre. Unfortunately, no English translations are available. (see Cai luong)
Cheo Theatre15 NGuyen Dinh Chieu St., Hanoi
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