Vietnam has a deep cultural heritage rich with colorful traditions and ancient festivals and celebrations. To explore the customs of Vietnam is to find the present meeting the past, young celebrating old, and myth mixing with fact. The vibrant local and national holidays, religious occasions, and community events all combine to create the Vietnamese way of life.

An exhaustive list of Vietnamese customs and traditions would fill volumes. We have chosen a few interesting aspects of Vietnamese cultural traditions and daily life to share with you.

Although meat and fish are main dishes in Vietnam, the Vietnamese diet is largely vegetarian. This emphasis on vegetables makes sense considering the nation is filled with fertile agricultural regions.

Vietnam is a country of festivals. Hundreds of local festivals celebrate all aspects of life and history within the country. Many festivals coincide with specific events in the agricultural cycles (e.g., first planting, harvesting, etc.) Indeed, festivals most often occur in the Spring when the harvesting has been completed or when the rice transplanting season is over.

Important national holiday festivals include, Tet Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival) and Tet Tao Quan (Kitchen God's Celestial Journey Festival). However, the most popular national holiday may be the Tet Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year Festival). This celebration of the new year is an intensely special and sacred event. During the holiday families give show their respect to deceased ancestors with offerings of food, fruit, and incense at family altars. In addition to honoring their ancestors, the days of the new year holiday are also a time for people to visit their neighbors, friends and relatives and to eat tasty celebration fare, such as banh chung, a square-shaped, sticky and delicious rice cake.

The custom of chewing betel and areca nut is practice that is particular to Vietnam. Traditionally, chewing of the betel mixture was thought to freshen the breath, help in the digestion of food, and calm you down if you were in a bad mood. The mixture typically contains four components: the areca leaf for a sweet taste; the betel bark for a hot taste; the chay root for a bitter taste; and a lime for a bitter taste.

Tra or “tea” is the most often seen, and imbibed, beverage in all of Vietnam. Slightly different than the tea that most Westerners are used to seeing, tra uses loose tea leaves which are steeped in a small teapot and then served in tiny tea cups. Green tea is most often consumed in the countryside and black tea is consumed in the cities.

In rural areas, many people in Vietnam do not celebrate birthdays.

Traditionally, Vietnamese people list their family name first, then their middle name, with their first (given) name listed last.

We have collected a selection of Web sites that will help you to learn more about the customs, habits, practices, and traditions of the Vietnamese people.

Vietnam Customs and Habits

Vietnam Consulate: Customs and Habits

Vietnam Embassy: Customs and Practices

Vietnam Culture