The traditional beliefs and values are first clearly reflected in family life. Children are expected to be obedient to their mother and father. Every decision is made, and every turning point in life is marked with the consultant of parents. North Vietnam travel tours
We, children, are deeply indebted to our parents who brought us to life, nurture us and enrich our lives with their unconditional love and with the suffering that they take on themselves on account of this love. Think of sacrifices that parents made for upbringing and educating us, an old Vietnamese saying immediately springs to our mind: BASSAC CRUISE MEKONG VIETNAM
Công Cha Như Núi Thái Sơn
Nghĩa Mẹ Như Nước Trong Nguồn Chảy Ra,
(Father's good deed is as great as Thai mountain
Mother’s love is like water flowing from a perennial spring.)
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| Vietnam Family Life |
A child is deeply grateful to his parents for their help, favors and kind-nesses; thus, he should hold his parents dear. When his parents get older, he ought to prove his gratitude by taking care of them when they get sick and showing his solicitude for his parents. As an old-age tradition, Vietnamese elderly people never live by themselves or in nursing homes but with one of their children, usually their eldest son. This obligation is still continued when the parents pass away in the form of ancestral cult and the maintenance of ancestral tombs. This filial piety tradition is passed from generation to generation and become a unique, beautiful Vietnamese cultural feature. Ancestor worship is practiced in most, if not all, Vietnamese homes even in the homes of Vietnamese overseas. In relationship between siblings, younger siblings are required to respect and obey older ones. The eldest brother, the leader, is entrusted with a heavy responsibility that of substituting for the parents in case of emergency. Respect, concord and love among siblings are a token of happy and virtuous family. In Vietnamese culture, the notion of blood relationship is always imprinted in the mind of the Vietnamese. Being members of the immediate family and of the extended family, they are connected together by a strong sense of collective responsibility, loyalty and mutual obligation. Thus, they are expected to help one another, especially in difficult time. Halong Bai Tho Cruise
In Vietnam Spiritual Life
Vietnamese people have long believed in the existence of a supernatural world. There exist spirits and deities who controlled everything and exerted a great influence on the course of human life. Plants, animals and man are believed to have souls.
Human beings possess three souls (hon) commanding the superior functions and seven vital principles (phach) concerning the visceral functions, but plants only have the soul-life (sinh hon), and the animals merely have an additional sensory (giac hon). Man is the only creature having a transcendental soul which possesses the capacity for survival. This explains the origin of the Cult of the Ancestors in which the spirits of the dead, though invisible, are always present somewhere in the house. It was assumed that the fine elements of nature are epitomes of the benevolent deities, and the devastating elements of nature embody the malevolent deities; hence, it is necessary to appease them from the material needs and deception. This belief resulted in the practice of ceremonial offerings through which the people communicated their wishes to the deities.
Being Asian citizens, Vietnamese people also have the habit of being superstitious in their daily life, especially in special occasions like Lunar New Year, weddings and funerals. Lunar New Year has long become an integral part of the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. To prepare for Tet holiday, people often clean their house well and decorate ancestor altars with different kinds of fruit, colorful flowers and red candles to get rid of bad lucks. On stroke of the midnight, family members sit together to share with one another beautiful wishes and “lucky money” in the hope of having a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. On the first day of the New Year, it is believed that the first guest visiting their house will have bearing on the well-being of the owner, so they spend much time choosing the suitable person, usually male, in advance. Besides, people are unlikely to sweep the floor in the first three days of this festive occasion in order to avoid sweeping the wealth away. During Tet holidays, angry words are forbidden, and sincere good wishes are exchanged when people meet each other. During the next few days, it is crucial for people to visit their relatives, friends and former teachers, and they can also drop in pagodas to bring home a leafy branch- a symbol of prosperity.
