RELIGIOUS ASPECTS Vietnam as a whole recognises many different religions, with policies providing religious freedom, in retrospect the socialist government regulate and in some cases restrict this religious freedom in order to increase the socialist propaganda.
Vietnamese families usually have a family altar to show respect to their ancestors. During Tết, the altar is thoroughly cleaned and new offerings are placed there such as a tray of fruit. Offerings are made to thank the Buddhas for a safe and harmonious year (Tết, 2015).
In Hồ Chí Minh City there are a wide range of places of worship with all the mix of religions creating the atmospheric culture of the city. 63% of the population of Hồ Chí Minh City are nominally Buddhist, however there are different variations of Buddhism and 10% practice Mahayana Buddhism and a further 3% practice Hoa Hao Buddhism. Another variation of Buddhism is Theravada Buddhism with 1.2% practicing this form of the religion, however this is many in the rural districts of the city. Another religion that thrives in the rural districts of Hồ Chí Minh is Coa Dai, it combines many different religions together with it’s base religion being Buddhist comprising of 4% (United States Department of State, 2012). “Roman Catholicism established a solid position in Vietnamese society under French rule” (Ronald. J, 1987), in modern day society there are still 11% of Hồ Chí Minh City’s population that are recognised as being Roman Catholic, with only 2.5% being Protestants. Islam only takes up 0.2% with other minority religions taking up 0.1% of the population of Hồ Chí Minh City (United States Department of State, 2012). In Buddhism, men and women are occasionally segregated during certain occasions, such as in meditation. Due to the seriousness of the meditation practice, lustful thoughts and actions are discouraged. Apart from during meditation, there seems to be no obvious gender segregation in specific buildings or activites in the practice of Buddhism.
1. United States Department of State, 2012 2. Authors Own, 2016
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