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Culture of Vietnam
The richness of Vietnam's origins is evident throughout its culture. Spiritual life in Vietnam is grand panoply of belief systems, including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Tam Giao (literally 'triple religion'), which is a blend of Taoism, popular Chinese beliefs, and ancient Vietnamese animism.
Festivals
The most important festival of the year is Tet, a week-long event in late January or early February that heralds the new lunar year and the advent of spring. Celebration consists of both raucous festivity (fireworks, drums, gongs) and quiet meditation.
In addition to Tet, there are about twenty other traditional and religious festivals each year.
Architecture
Vietnamese architecture expresses a graceful aesthetic of natural balance and harmony that is evident in any of the country's vast numbers of historic temples and monasteries.
The pre-eminent architectural form is the pagoda, a tower comprised of a series of stepped pyramidal structures and frequently adorned with lavish carvings and painted ornamentation. Generally speaking, the pagoda form symbolizes the human desire to bridge the gap between the constraints of earthly existence and the perfection of heavenly forces.
Pagodas are found in every province of Vietnam. One of the most treasured is the Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue, founded in 1601 and completed more than two hundred years later. In North Vietnam, the pagodas that serve as the shrines and temples of the Son La Mountains are especially worth visiting. In South Vietnam, the Giac Lam Pagoda of Ho Chi Minh City is considered to be the city's oldest and is notable as well for its many richly-carved jack wood statues.
Language
As a language, Vietnamese is exceptionally flexible and lyrical, and poetry plays a strong role in both literature and the performing arts.
Folk Art
Folk art, which flourished before French colonization, has experienced resurgence in beautiful woodcuts, village painting, and block printing.
Vietnamese lacquer art, another traditional medium, is commonly held to be the most original and sophisticated in the world.
Music and Dance
Music, dance, and puppetry, including the uniquely Vietnamese water puppetry, are also mainstays of the country's culture.
Rice and Food
Although rice is the foundation of the Vietnamese diet, the country's cuisine is anything but bland. Deeply influenced by the national cuisines of France, China, and Thailand, Vietnamese cooking is highly innovative and makes extensive use of fresh herbs, including lemon grass, basil, coriander, parsley, laksa leaf, lime, and chili.
Soup is served at almost every meal, and snacks include spring rolls and rice pancakes. The national condiment is nuoc mam, a piquant fermented fish sauce served with every meal. Indigenous tropical fruits include bananas, pineapples, coconuts, leeches, melons, mandarin oranges, grapes, and exotic varieties like the three-seeded cherry and the green dragon fruit.
Ao Dai
A lasting impression for any visitor to Vietnam is the beauty of Vietnamese women
dressed in their Ao Dais. These long flowing dresses worn over loose-fitting trousers are considered to be the national dress of Vietnamese women.
Early versions of the Ao Dai date back to 1744, when men and women to wear a trouser and gown ensemble that buttoned down the front.
Although popular, men wore it less often than women, and generally only on ceremonial occasions such as at weddings and funerals. It took another twenty years before the next major design change occurred and nearly another two hundred years before the modern Ao Dai emerged.
The original Ao Dai was loosely tailored with four panels (Ao Tu Than), two of which were tied in the back. In 1930, a Vietnamese fashion designer and writer, Cat Tuong, lengthened the top so it reached the floor.
Tuong also fitted the bodice to the curves of the body and moved the buttons from the front to an opening along the shoulder and side seam. As a result of these changes, Ao Dai became a contoured, full-length dress. The dress splits into a front and back panel from the waist down.
During the 1950s two tailors in Saigon, Tran Kim of Thiet Lap Tailors and Dung of Dung Tailors, started producing the gowns with raglan sleeves. This created a diagonal seam running from the collar to the underarm and is the preferred style today.
There have been many stylish alterations in color and collar design in the past four decades. Most noticeable is the gradual shortening of the gown's length, such that today, it is usually just below the knee.
Variations in the neck collar, between boat and mandarin style, are common. But more adventurous alterations such as low scooped necklines, puffed sleeves, and off-the-shoulder designs are emerging as more women experiment with fashion. Less rigid control over color and access to new fabrics have also created dazzling results.
Every Ao Dai is custom-made, accounting for the fit that creates a flattering look for each woman.
It is hard to think of a more elegant, demure and yet sexy outfit, that suits Vietnamese women of all ages than the Ao Dai.
Conical Leaf Hats
While girls from other countries love to wear hats with made of multi-color expensive materials, with attached feathers and bows, Vietnamese girls are attracted to the Vietnamese leaf-covered hat (non la) which can not be found from anywhere else in the world.
The hat is creatively made from leaves, the simple materials of nature. These young leaves are brought from the softest trees and are exposed to the dew for one night so when dried, it is still soft enough to be flattened.
Vietnamese girls wear this leaf hat like a little umbrella to protect themselves from sun or rain. The hat elegantly enhances the sentimental attractiveness of Vietnamese girls because they are mysteriously hidden, showing only their shy blush cheeks and long hair beneath the broad rims of the non la.
The leaf hat is not only a symbol of Vietnamese girls, but has also become part of the spirit of Vietnam, the nation.
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