Like many other Asian countries, Vietnamese culture contains numerous superstitions. Growing up in Vietnam, I learned about these superstitions from a very young age. Most of the superstitions tend to revolve around luck.
The first superstitious belief that I will discuss is one that states the first visitor of the year indicates luck. Vietnamese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Tết, is an incredibly superstitious time for Vietnamese people. It is also a popular time for people to engage in auspicious actions. One such action is being the first person to enter a house on Tết, also known as xông đất, xông nhà or đạp đất. Vietnamese people believe that the first person to enter the house on Lunar New Year day can affect how lucky the house will be for the rest of the year. A similar belief is also applied to businesses. The first customer of the day can determine how the business will fare for the rest of the day. If the first customer buys a lot, then business will be good and vice versa.
Another Vietnamese Lunar New Year superstition is sweeping on Lunar New Year day. Vietnamese people think that sweeping during this time is equivalent to sweeping away good luck. In other words, sweeping will effectively get rid of the family’s good luck for the year. Vietnamese families normally engage in a thorough deep-clean of the home a few days prior to Lunar New Year to avoid accidentally getting rid of the family’s good fortune.
Additionally, there is also the act of reversing bad luck by eating a fertilized duck egg. A fertilized duck embryo (Balut) is known as hột vịt lộn in Vietnam, and it is a popular drinking snack. The word lộn can be loosely translated to ‘reverse’, and that is where the idea of switching your fortune by eating fertilized duck eggs comes from. However, cautions should be taken when eating these eggs as they should only be eaten in odd numbers. Every time you eat a fertilized duck egg, your luck will reverse. So if you eat the eggs in even numbers, your luck would just revert to its original position as if nothing has changed.
Many Vietnamese families also strongly believe in Feng Shui. Feng Shui involves the careful placement of objects to optimize the flow of chi and create a harmonious environment. In Vietnam, placing a mirror on the other side of a doorway is taboo. This is because you can be scared by your reflection and allow paranoia to creep into your conscience. Furthermore, a mirror placed at the foot of the bed will cause nightmares as well as reflect more energy onto the bed. For similar reasons, mirrors are often placed on front doors to scare away spirits and monsters force them to leave the house alone.
In conclusion, Vietnamese people have many superstitions that revolve around individual and family luck. It is unsurprising that several superstitions also center on Lunar New Year as that holiday is very important culturally.
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This was a really interesting post to read! I do agree with the fact that many Asian countries believe in a lot superstitions, and I can’t help but wonder where they came from. I thought the one about sweeping was really fascinating because I’ve never heard one about cleaning. One experience that comes to mind, is clipping your nails before an exam. My friend once told me that her mother said not to clip her nails before an exam or else she’ll be cutting away the information she studied. Although I’m not very superstitious, I ended up not cutting my nails that night just for good measure.