Holidays In Viet Nam

Around the world holidays are celebrated many different ways by many different cultures. Each with ethnical ties to the culture from which it originated. Two cultures in paricular are holdays in the U.S.A and holdays in Viet Nam. I interveiwed Thang Nyons about Viet Nam. Thang was born in Viet Nam and lived there for eighteen years, before comng to the U.S.A. for college.

Many of the holdiays in Viet Nam are much different than those in the U.S.A. The few holidays that are very similar to the holidays in the U.S.A are celebrated at different times of the year. Aslo there are a few holidays Viet nam celebrates that the U.S.A dosent.

One holiday I asked Thang about was Christmas. According to him, they actually do celebrate christmas over there. however, the celebrate it much differently than we do in the U.S.A. In Viet Nam christianity is not a dominant religion, so those who do celebrate it either just like having holidays, or it has a religious signifcance to them. In the U.S.A Christmas is by far one of the biggest holdays celebrated, in part because christianity is a dominant religion here. In Viet Nam christmas isn\'t

even considered one of the biggest holday, at best its just a small celebration, and there are not a ton of christmas decorations a month before it even comes.

The next holiday I enquired about was New Years. New Years in the U.S.A is celebrated by most of the population. Even though it is widely celebrated, usually it is celebrated on a smaller scale. In Viet Nam they dont celebrate New Years at the same time as we do in the U.S.A. In Viet Nam they go by a lunar calender, which is slightly different then ours. So there new years celebration occurs some time beween january and febuary. This is one of their biggest celebrations. This is when familys usually come together for a big feast and celebration. which led me to my next question about thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is not really a holiday in Viet Nam. But their New Years holiday is very similar to it, in the sense of how it is celebrated. One Holiday that is similar to it is "Honor Parents day" that is a rough translation of the actual name. This holiday occurs in mid July. The meaning behind this holiday comes from bhudist beliefs. since bhudish and other forms of spiritualism are very common religions in Viet Nam, this holiday fits the population perfectly. It is in essence the idea that on the celebration day, the ghosts of ancestors walk among people. Thang also noted that in big cities the meaning is somewhat lost. however in the coutry area it is very common for people to put baskets of