Vietnamese knowledge, page 7
Bunpimay New Year of the Lao in Vietnam: April Water Pouring and Its Rituals
Bunpimay, the Lao New Year in Vietnam, also called Bun Huột Nặm: offerings to the spirits, wrist-thread tying and water splashing in mid April.
What Makes the Cống People's Rooster Comb Flower Festival in Điện Biên Special?
Tết Hoa mào gà is the biggest yearly festival of the Cống in Điện Biên; in Pa Thơm it falls near the full moon of the 10th lunar month. Rites and meaning.
The Kin Pang Then Festival of the White Thai: An Early-Spring Rite of Then Practitioners
Kin Pang Then is the early-spring rite of the White Thái, led by Then masters to thank the spirits and their disciples; it is held in Mường Lay, Điện Biên.
How Is the Hà Nhì Rainy Season Festival Dế Khù Chà Celebrated?
Dế Khù Chà, the rainy-season Tết of the Hà Nhì: soul-calling rites, glutinous rice cakes, swings and prayers for rain; each village picks its own day.
The Mông People's Nào Pê Chầu New Year: Why They Celebrate a Month Early and the Main Rituals
Nào Pê Chầu, the Mông New Year, falls a month before Tết Nguyên Đán: sweeping the soot, the Xử Ka offering, the year-end meal and fetching new water.
How Does Lunar New Year for the Ethnic Chinese in Chợ Lớn Differ from Vietnamese Tet?
How Lunar New Year among the Hoa of Chợ Lớn differs from Vietnamese Tết: Kitchen God send-off, offerings, bánh tổ, assembly halls, visiting order.
What Is the Dao People's Tết Nhảy? Origins and Meaning of the Put Tong and Nhiang Cham Dao Rites
Tết Nhảy of the Dao: the Pút tồng rite of the Red Dao in Lào Cai and the dance rite of the Dao Quần Chẹt, with their timing, dances and meaning.
Rija Nâgar of the Cham: the New Year festival by the Cham calendar
Rija Nâgar is the main new year rite of the Brahmanist Chăm: a prayer for good rain and harvest and a sending off of the misfortunes of the old year.
Saigon Tet: flower markets, flower street and the Tet customs of Saigon people
Tết in Sài Gòn: the Nguyễn Huệ flower market from 1960 and flower street from 2004, the flower boats of Bình Đông wharf, and how families keep Tết.
Tết Sử Giề Pà of the Bố Y in Lào Cai: Rituals, Offerings and Meaning
Sử Giề Pà, the buffalo thanksgiving of the Bố Y in Lào Cai, falls on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month, with a shared offering tray for the village.
Tet during the subsidy period: ration coupons, Tet food bags, and the queues for candied fruit
What was Tet like in Vietnam's subsidy era? Ration coupons, the Tet food bag, pre-dawn queues and shared bánh chưng pots, as remembered in the press.
Tet in Hue: How Do Hue Locals Prepare for and Celebrate Tet?
Tết in Huế runs from the twelfth lunar month to the seventh of the first: the Thướng tiêu rite, đạp đất, vegetarian offerings and many cakes and preserves.
The Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen School: Trần Nhân Tông's Monastic Renunciation, the Three Patriarchs, and the Thought of 'Cư trần lạc đạo'
The Trúc Lâm Yên Tử school founded by Trần Nhân Tông: its three patriarchs and the idea of cư trần lạc đạo, living in the world yet glad in the Way.
Zen Master Vạn Hạnh and the Meaning of the Verse Thị đệ tử
Vạn Hạnh was a monk of the Lý era, linked to the story of Lý Công Uẩn. His verse Thị đệ tử speaks of impermanence, life and death, rise and decline.
What Is the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh and How Do Scholars Re-read It
Thiền uyển tập anh records lives and verses of Vietnamese Chan masters of the Lý and Trần eras; scholars now read it as a deliberate arrangement.
How the Xinxin Ming and the Zhengdao Ge Differ in Chan Buddhism
Xinxin Ming and Zhengdao Ge are both foundational Chan verses, but they differ in author, date, wording and how they present the path.
What Do Old Histories Say About Triệu Quang Phục and Dạ Trạch Marsh?
Old histories tell how Triệu Quang Phục withdrew to the Dạ Trạch marsh, raided the Liang army by night and later took the title Triệu Việt Vương.
Mid-Autumn Festival for Children in Vietnam's Three Regions: How Lantern Parades, Lion Dances, and Moon-Viewing Feasts Unfold
How children celebrate Mid-Autumn in northern, central and southern Vietnam: lantern parades, lion dances and the moon-viewing feast.
Từ Đạo Hạnh, Nguyễn Minh Không, Dương Không Lộ: Three Lý-Era Zen Masters in Lĩnh Nam chích quái and in Village Belief
Từ Đạo Hạnh, Nguyễn Minh Không and Dương Không Lộ in Lĩnh Nam chích quái are tales of wonder about three monks of the Lý era, told as tales.
Cúng Đất in Huế: Which Months, What the Three Offering Trays Hold and Why the Land Deity Is Thanked
Cúng đất in Huế is held in the second and eighth lunar months, with three offering trays to thank the land deity and remember the former Chăm owners.
What Is the Year-Opening Bud-Picking Custom and Why Has It Shifted to Receiving Lộc?
Year-opening bud picking is the Vietnamese custom of taking a small green branch from a temple for luck. Today many ask for lộc or buy salt instead.
Where Does the New Year Pen-Opening Custom Come From and What Should You Write? Origin, Practice, and Today's Pen-Opening Ceremonies
Khai bút, the Vietnamese custom of writing the first words of the new year: its legend of teacher Chu Văn An, when people do it, and what to write.
The Vietnamese Black Teeth Dyeing Custom: How It Was Done and When It Disappeared
Teeth blackening was once a Vietnamese beauty standard; how the dye was made in Huế, who practised it, and how it faded after 1907.
What is tuồng (hát bội)? Face-painting art, Bình Định hát bội and the Đào Tấn heritage
Tuồng, or hát bội, is Vietnam's classical theatre, known for coded face-painting and for the plays of Đào Tấn in Bình Định, its heartland.