11. Traditional Clothes
Ao Dai is Vietnamese traditional outfit. It is worn by both men and women, is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over trousers. Depending on the type of occasions, the colors and patterns of Ao Dai are a little bit different. Ao Dai can be worn for special occasions such as Lunar New Year (Tet). For some schools, especially high schools, they will require their female students to wear plain white ones with some small patterns on Mondays. On the other hand, female teachers also sometimes need to wear Ao Dai without requirements of colors or patterns. Similarly, some companies may require their staffs to wear Ao Dai as uniforms such as flight attendants or hotel workers. In additional, like Indian wears Sari, Korean wears Hanbok, or Japanese wears Kimono in their weddings, Vietnamese also usually wears Ao Dai to celebrate one of the most important moments in their lives. Both male and female clothes will be beautifully designed with three main colors: red, yellow or white. However, Ao Dai is not only the traditional clothes of Vietnam. Before the appearance of Ao Dai, Vietnamese women sometimes wear Ao Tu Than in the north for their special occasions. Moreover, Ao Ba Ba is also usually worn for day-to-day use in the southern of Vietnam.
12. Languages
Does Vietnamese use symbols (characters) to write like Chinese, Korean, Thailand or most of Asian countries? The answer is “No”. Even though it was first written down from the 13th century by using variant Chinese characters (which was called “chu Nom”), during 16th century, Portuguese and Italian Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam began using Latin script to transcribe the Vietnamese language as an assistance for learning the language. Furthermore, when French officially came and colonized Vietnam, they eliminated “chu Nom” because it was easier for them to write and read Latin script. Therefore, since then, Vietnamese has used the modern writing system which is a Latin alphabet with additional diacritics for tones and certain letters. The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is a little bit complicated. In some cases, the same letter may represent several different sounds, and different letters may represent the same sound. Vietnamese is also a tonal language because the meaning of each word depends on the tones in the standard northern dialect. For foreigners who want to learn Vietnamese, it is also challenging for them to remember how to say exact pronouns when they communicate with others. Like Norway, in Vietnam, a pronoun usually connotes a degree of family relationship or kinship, which means that the aspect of kinship terminology depending on the ages, genders and social positions of both speakers and listeners, is used when referring to oneself, the audience, or a third party. Because of the complex of pronouns, sometimes people will make mistakes when they try to translate Vietnamese into their native languages or vice versa. What is more, like Chinese with their official language- Mandarin, even though people use only one official national Vietnamese system to educate and communicate with each other, there are still other languages. It is because that besides native speakers who are called Kinh, Vietnam is like a diversified family with other 53 ethnic minorities such as Muong, Tay, Dao, Thai, etc., and they speak Munda, Thavung, Khasi, or Mon-Khmer languages. Some of those languages are as similar as the official Vietnamese, but some are completely different. You may need a special dictionary if you want to clearly and deeply understand all languages in Vietnam if you are interested in learning those.
13. Festivals
Like most of countries in the world, there are several festivals in Vietnam, most of which relate to history such as Hung Kings Commemoration Day, which is celebrated on the 10th day of the third lunar month, is usually oriented around the themes of filial piety, ancestor worship, and patriotism. This is one of the public holidays when people can enjoy some time away from work or school to honor their nation’s history which also includes Independence Day (September 2nd), Reunification Day (April 30th), and National Defense Day (December 22nd), etc. Additionally, Vietnamese also celebrates international occasions such as International Women’s Day (March 8th), International Children’s Day (June 1st), or International Workers’ Day (May 1st), etc. So, what is the biggest festival in Vietnam? That is probably Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet Nguyen Dan), which is from last two days of the last lunar month to the third day of the first lunar month. Vietnamese prepares for Tet by cooking special holiday food such as caramelized pork and eggs, Vietnamese sticky rice cakes (banh chung, banh day, etc.), and cleaning the house. Furthermore, some customs will be practiced during Tet such as ancestor worship, wishing New Year’s greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, etc. What is more, because most people will have nearly 10 days-off from works and schools, Tet is also an occasion for family reunions, which is like Christmas in Western cultures.
14. Weird Food
As everyone knows that sushi or ramen is good and is the favorite dish of people in Japan, there are still some weird food which is hard for people to enjoy such as raw horse meat or natto (fermented beans). So, in Vietnam, besides having lots of popular food such as Pho or Banh Mi, Vietnamese also has some weird food which may make people cry at the first time they have seen it. These could be fried crispy insects which are raised on farms, or fetal duck boiled eggs which you can see the whole baby duck inside. Especially, rats or snakes can also become some dishes on the menu of some restaurants. Have you ever tried snake wine in which there is a whole snake in the bottle? Or maybe its beating heart will be added in a small glass of wine, which Chef. Gordon Ramsay used to try it before.
15. Temples-Pagodas
There are millions of religious people in Buddhism which is mainly the Mahayana tradition one, and that’s why there are many temples in Vietnam. You can easily find a shrine, a pagoda, or a temple in the city or in the countryside. Vietnamese usually comes there to pray for themselves or for their families, or they also meditate because in normal days, those places are usually peaceful and quiet even though during some special occasions like Tet, there will be chaos. Moreover, almost of temples have many trees, a pond with koi fish or turtles, so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere with frankincense and beautiful nature. One of the oldest and most famous ones in Vietnam is The One Pillar Pagoda, located near Ha Noi Capital, was constructed in 1049 by King. Ly Thai Tong. Due to wars, this pagoda was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the last one thousand years. If you have chance to visit Central Vietnam, Thien Mu Pagoda can also be in your lists of destinations. It was constructed in 1601 with the name meaning “Heavenly Lady” because legend explains that an elderly woman told the local people that a lord from the Nguyen Dynasty would come and build a Buddhist pagoda on the site of Ha Khe Hill (recent place). When you come to the south of Vietnam, you should visit the most famous temple, the Jade Emperor Pagoda. The former president of U.S., President Barack Obama, visited in the site on his state visit to Vietnam in May 2016. However, there was nothing commercial or touristy about this pagoda. There is an atmosphere of respect, humbleness, and patience at the temple. A place where locals can worship and reflect.
