Geographic distribution
The Kinh people are the only ethnic group among the 54 groups of Vietnam who reside in communities across all provinces, terrains and areas throughout the country (including delta, midlands, mountainous areas, highlands, coastal areas and islands). They gather mainly in the delta areas.
Vietnamese people also concentrate along major roads and are the main population in all urban areas of the country.
With the above characteristics of population and residence, the Vietnamese have played a key role in the country’s development since the beginning of the national construction cause, through the ancient, middle, early modern and modern periods.
Main features:
– Traditional social institutions: The majority of Vietnamese people live in villages, and a few villages gather to form a commune. In a village, there are usually many hamlets, including large ones that can be equivalent to a village. Village rules are regulated in a relatively comprehensive and strict manner in terms of village activities, encouraging people to acknowledge and voluntarily follow them.
Most Vietnamese families follow the patriarchy regime, but women still play an important role as the economic manager in the family.
– Religion and belief: Ancestor worship is the most important belief of the Vietnamese people. The custom of worshiping the Lord of the Soil and Ground, Kitchen Gods and the Earth God is popular in many localities, while many families worship tutelary gods and Buddha. A number of residents in rural or urban areas follow Christianity, Protestantism and other religions such as Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism.
– Housing: Vietnamese people usually live in the houses with no upstairs. The main house has a structure with 3 to 5 rooms, with the middle being the solemn place to put the altar for worshiping their ancestors. The side rooms are used for the family’s members to rest and carry out daily activities. A room is arranged in the wing as a living room for women and a storehouse for the family’s food and wealth. The kitchen is usually attached to the barn. In many southern provinces, the kitchen is usually built adjacent to the main house. The yard is used for drying clothes and playing together, creating a cool and airy space suitable for humid tropical climate conditions.
Today, many villages have become crowded due to rapid population growth. As such, the traditional house campus of most families with a large yard and garden has had to be divided into many smaller grounds.
– Festivals: Lunar New Year Festival is the largest of this kind in the year. The spring festivals are held following the Lunar New Year Festival. There are also many other traditional festivals such as the Full Moon of the First Lunar Year, the Qingming Festival, Doan Ngo Festival (the traditional Double-Fifth Festival), the full moon of the seventh lunar month, and the new rice festival. Each festival has its own specific meaning and rituals.
– Costumes: In the past,men used to wear quan chan que (a kind of wide-leg pants), brown blouses (in the North) and black blouses (in the South) and walked barefoot. During festivals, they wore white pants, ao chung luong den (a kind of long shirt for men), khan xep (ready-to-wear turban) and wooden sandals. Women in the North wore black skirts, ao yem (chemise – a traditional undershirt), brown blouses and khan mo qua. Meanwhile, women in the South are associated with ‘ao ba ba’ (southern women’s traditional costume), khan ran (a traditional black and white checkered shawl) and non la (conical hat). During festivals, women often wore Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese long dress).
Today, with the introduction of fashion from the West and other countries as well as different situations and jobs, the traditional clothes of Vietnamese people have been replaced by T-shirts, white shirts, long skirts and trousers to suit the dynamic activities of daily life. Ao Dai have also been renovated to suit the needs of modern fashion but still retain their traditional features, enhancing the figure, beauty and tenderness of Vietnamese women.
– Marriage: Vietnamese people attach great importance to pure and faithful love. In feudal times, parents arranged marriages for their children. However, today, men and women love and marry each other voluntarily. The traditional wedding ceremony in Vietnam has four basic steps including dam ngo (the proposal), an hoi (engagement), cuoi (wedding) and lai mat (post-wedding visit).
– Cuisine: “Rice and tea” are the basic daily food and drink of the Vietnamese people. Glutinous rice is only found during festivals. Daily meals usually include vegetables, crab and fish soups. Vietnamese people especially like many kinds of sauce (such as shrimp and fish sauce) and pickled vegetables (mustard green, onions, eggplants).
The traditional tray of Kinh people during the Lunar New Year Festival cannot be complete without familiar delicacies such as banh tet (round glutinous rice cake), banh chung (square glutinous rice cake), pickled onions, thit dong (frozen meat), nem ran (spring rolls), gio (sausage), xoi (sticky rice), ga luoc (boiled chicken) and canh mang (bamboo shoot soup). Wine is used during festivals and holidays. Eating betel nut and smoking thuoc lao (Vietnamese tobacco) was not only a habit but is also dedicated to rituals and customs.
