Customs and traditions are one of the foundational concepts of Vietnamese culture, yet not everyone clearly distinguishes them from manners, habits, or religious rituals. This article presents the definition, origins, formation mechanisms, and representative practices of the Vietnamese people, especially during traditional Tet.
What Are Customs and Traditions?
Customs and traditions (phong tục tập quán) are habits, rituals, and ways of behaving deeply embedded in a community's life, passed down through generations and changing little over time. The concept has two components: "phong tục" refers to habits that have become established in daily life, while "tập quán" emphasizes the repetitive, communal nature of those habits. In Vietnamese the two words often go together because they complement each other: phong tục is what has become custom, tập quán is what the majority follow.
An important distinction: customs and traditions are not law, nor are they entirely religious belief. They sit in between, carrying a soft obligation (those who do not follow are seen as strange or lacking in propriety) and a voluntary quality (people follow because they were taught, because it feels familiar, because they want to be like the community).
Where Do Vietnamese Customs and Traditions Come From?
Vietnamese customs and traditions formed from three main sources: natural conditions and wet-rice agricultural economy, the need to organize communal life, and centuries of cultural contact and exchange. Kind of knowledge: School: Văn hóa họcSchool's interpretation. How one school or one book reads it; other schools may read it differently. The five labelsWet-rice civilization required people to observe weather, divide work by season, and join together against floods and pests. From this arose seasonal prayer rituals, the cult of the Rice God, the new-rice offering, and abstinences during the first days of the year. Kind of knowledge: Folk beliefFolk belief. What people believe, avoid or pass on by word of mouth, recorded as a belief, not as a checked fact. The five labelsPeople believed that performing these rituals correctly would bring good harvests and family peace.
The second source is the need for community cohesion. Practices such as village festivals, ancestor death anniversaries, weddings, funerals, visiting the sick, and housewarming all function to bind members of the clan and village. They define who is responsible for what, who benefits from what, and thereby maintain social order without hard law.
The third source is cultural exchange. Through centuries of contact with Chinese, Indian, and later Western cultures, the Vietnamese selectively adopted many elements and transformed them to fit local conditions. For example, ancestor worship in Vietnam bears strong local marks despite Confucian influence; the Kitchen God offering on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is a product of the fusion between the local hearth deity cult and Sinicized notions of Táo quân.
How Are Customs and Traditions Maintained and Changed?
Customs and traditions are maintained through four main mechanisms: oral transmission, imitation, education within family and clan, and cyclical repetition over time. Kind of knowledge: School: Văn hóa dân gianSchool's interpretation. How one school or one book reads it; other schools may read it differently. The five labelsOral transmission is the most important mechanism in communities without widespread writing. Adults tell children the legends of bánh chưng and bánh giầy, the Táo quân legend, the betel and areca legend; children listen, remember, and follow when grown. Imitation occurs during festivals, when the whole village participates in a ritual and newcomers learn from elders without needing explanations.
Education within family and clan plays a special role. Grandparents teach grandchildren how to arrange an offering tray, how to light incense, how to pray, how to behave with relatives during Tet. These lessons are not in books but in practice. Therefore, when a family migrates elsewhere, they can still recreate most of the old customs thanks to those practical memories.
Cyclical repetition is an important reinforcing mechanism. Tet comes once a year, ancestor anniversaries come once a year, weddings and funerals occur on occasion. This cyclical nature keeps customs from being forgotten: people do not need to remember continuously, only to repeat when the occasion comes, and each repetition is a transmission to the next generation.
However, customs and traditions also change. Living conditions change, the social environment changes, and new generations make different choices. In large cities, many families no longer have enough space to wrap bánh chưng or enough time to prepare the offering tray themselves. They switch to buying pre-wrapped bánh chưng, ordering pre-cooked trays, or simplifying rituals. This is not the loss of custom but its transformation to fit new conditions.
Representative Vietnamese Customs and Traditions
The Kitchen God Offering on the 23rd of the Twelfth Lunar Month
The Kitchen God offering is one of the rituals that opens traditional Tet. According to folk belief, Táo quân is the deity who watches over the family kitchen and on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month ascends to heaven to report on the household's conduct during the past year. The offering is usually made in the morning or at noon on the 23rd, with a savory tray of traditional dishes, incense, tea and wine, and votive paper. After the ritual, the family burns the votive paper and sends Táo quân back to heaven. On the 30th of Tet, many families hold a ceremony to welcome Táo quân back.
Kind of knowledge: DocumentedHistorical record. Backed by a document, a date and a source; the note number beside it points to that source. The five labelsIn a Vietnam News Agency report published on 2 February 2024, reporters Đỗ Sinh and Huy Tiến recorded that the family of Mr. Nguyễn Văn Hòa and Mrs. Võ Thị Bình, overseas Vietnamese in Thailand, still maintains the Kitchen God offering on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month with a tray carrying the flavors of their home provinces of Quảng Bình and Huế, including bánh chưng, pickled vegetables, whole boiled chicken, shredded chicken salad, steamed shrimp, spring rolls, beef stew, steamed glutinous rice, ginger jam, coconut jam, and tomato jam1. A notable detail is that the altar held a small bowl of water with three goldfish, following the custom of sending Táo quân to heaven with carp or goldfish. Mr. Hòa said he drove to Chatuchak market in Bangkok to find and buy three goldfish1.
Ancestor Worship
Ancestor worship is the central practice in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese. Each family usually has an ancestor altar placed in the most solemn part of the house, holding an incense bowl, lamp, water cups, and often a tablet or photograph of the deceased. On death anniversaries, Tet, the full moon, and the first of the month, the household head lights incense and makes offerings. Offerings may be a savory tray, fruit, cakes, depending on each family's means.
Kind of knowledge: School: Văn hóa dân gianSchool's interpretation. How one school or one book reads it; other schools may read it differently. The five labelsAncestor worship in Vietnam is distinctly local, differing from many forms of religious worship in that it is tied to bloodline and clan rather than to a supreme deity. Vietnamese people worship their grandparents, parents, and ancestors of their own lineage, not a shared deity for the whole community. For this reason, ancestor worship has enduring vitality and is little affected by religious change.
Wrapping Bánh Chưng and Bánh Giầy
Bánh chưng and bánh giầy are linked to the legend of Lang Liêu, one of the legends about the origin of traditional Tet. Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsThe legend tells that the sixth Hùng king wanted to choose a successor and ordered his sons to present offerings. Lang Liêu, the poorest son, was told by a deity in a dream to make bánh chưng and bánh giầy from glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork. The king found the two cakes delicious and meaningful and passed the throne to Lang Liêu. This legend is traditionally attributed to the Hùng Vương era, but modern scholarship does not treat it as a proven historical event, rather as a folk legend reflecting ancient conceptions of heaven, earth, and harvest.
Kind of knowledge: DocumentedHistorical record. Backed by a document, a date and a source; the note number beside it points to that source. The five labelsIn the Vietnam News Agency report, the Kitchen God offering tray of the overseas Vietnamese family in Thailand included bánh chưng, showing that the practice of wrapping bánh chưng exists not only at home but is also maintained in communities of Vietnamese abroad1.
Burning Votive Paper After Rituals
Burning votive paper (hóa vàng) is the ritual of burning joss paper after a ceremony ends. Kind of knowledge: Folk beliefFolk belief. What people believe, avoid or pass on by word of mouth, recorded as a belief, not as a checked fact. The five labelsFolk belief holds that joss paper is a means for the living to send the deceased things needed in the other world. This practice is usually performed outdoors, after the incense has burned out and the household head has finished praying. In the Vietnam News Agency report, the family of Mr. Nguyễn Văn Hòa in Thailand burned votive paper outside after the offering, following the customs of their homeland1.
Spring Outings at the Start of the Year
Du xuân is the practice of going out, visiting relatives and friends in the first days of the new year. Kind of knowledge: Folk beliefFolk belief. What people believe, avoid or pass on by word of mouth, recorded as a belief, not as a checked fact. The five labelsVietnamese people believe that going out and meeting people in the early days of the year brings luck and smooth dealings all year. Du xuân is also an occasion for children to visit grandparents and parents, and for distant relatives to meet again. In the Vietnam News Agency report, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Hòa's family planned a spring outing to northeastern Thailand, where his parents first settled years ago, to revisit old scenes and meet Vietnamese friends1.
Customs and Traditions in Contemporary Life
Today Vietnamese customs and traditions exist in a new context: urbanization, labor migration, international integration, and technological development. These factors both enable customs to spread more widely and pose challenges to maintaining them.
In terms of spread, overseas Vietnamese communities play an important role. The Vietnam News Agency report noted that most Vietnamese families in Bangkok still follow the tradition of Tet offerings from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Lý, a member of the Vietnamese Association in Bangkok and surrounding areas, said that although far from home, people still follow news in Vietnam to teach their children and grandchildren to keep the fine traditions of their people1. This shows that customs can cross geographical distance if the community is conscious of preserving them.
In terms of challenges, the pace of urban life simplifies many rituals. Preparing the Tet offering tray requires time and effort, and many workers lack both. Some families switch to ordering pre-cooked trays or buying prepared offerings. This is a change in form, but the meaning of the ritual is basically retained: remembering ancestors and wishing for luck in the new year.
Distinguishing Customs and Traditions from Related Concepts
| Concept | Main Features | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Customs and traditions | Habits and rituals passed down through generations, communal in nature | Kitchen God offering, wrapping bánh chưng |
| Folk belief | Belief in supernatural forces, usually with specific objects of worship | Worship of Thành hoàng, Mother Goddess worship |
| Religion | System of doctrine, organization, strict rituals, with founder and church | Buddhism, Catholicism |
| Festival | Event gathering many people, with ritual and entertainment, usually tied to a specific time | Hương Pagoda Festival, Lim Festival |
| Law | Rules issued by the state, with obligation and sanctions | Law on Marriage and Family |
The table shows that customs differ from folk belief in that they are not necessarily tied to belief in deities, differ from religion in lacking doctrine and strict organization, differ from festivals in occurring regularly and not necessarily gathering many people, and differ from law in lacking state sanctions.
Why Do Customs and Traditions Still Matter?
Customs and traditions matter for three reasons. First, they are a vehicle for transmitting cultural identity. When a community loses its customs, it loses part of its shared memory, part of how it identifies itself. Second, they are a mechanism of social cohesion. Shared rituals such as death anniversaries, Tet, and village festivals create occasions for people to meet and share, thereby strengthening relationships. Third, they are a treasury of indigenous knowledge. How to choose glutinous rice, how to wrap cakes, how to cook the tray, how to arrange it, how to pray, how to behave with relatives are all knowledge accumulated over generations.
Kind of knowledge: School: Văn hóa họcSchool's interpretation. How one school or one book reads it; other schools may read it differently. The five labelsHowever, one should avoid absolutizing customs. Not every custom is good, and not every custom needs to be kept unchanged. Some customs such as overly burdensome wedding practices, prolonged funeral rites, or extreme abstinences can disadvantage individuals and families. Preserving customs should go hand in hand with selection, removing elements no longer suited to modern life and to humane values.
Conclusion
Vietnamese customs and traditions are a complex system, formed from natural conditions, communal needs, and cultural exchange, maintained through oral transmission, imitation, family education, and cyclical repetition. Representative practices such as the Kitchen God offering, ancestor worship, wrapping bánh chưng, burning votive paper, and spring outings are still maintained by Vietnamese communities at home and abroad, with changes in form. Understanding customs and traditions helps us know not only where we come from but also how to engage with cultural values in a rapidly changing world.
