I recently read a summary of some of the most famous Vietnamese fables. The one I found most amusing was Vietnam's creation myth. The myth states that Vietnamese people are descendants of a dragon (father) and a celestial being/goddess (mother). Since they are not of the same "species" they couldn't live together. Therefore, after giving birth, the mother took 50 of her children to live in the sky and the father took 50 children to live in the sea. This is used to explain why there are so many tribes in Vietnam (approximately 54) and how the tribes are able to live equally and peacefully until today. It was fun for me to read and compare to other creation myths I've read about. For example, Korea's is that they are descendants of a god and a bear and Japan's is that they are descendants of the sun goddess.
https://www.lalung.vn/giai-tri/cac-truyen-thuyet-hay-nhat-cua-viet-nam-1925
Comments
Hi Mae, I think China also has similar creation mythes to the Vietnamese one you read. One story is about the god j used mud to create human beings. I am surprised about so many Asian countries have such creation mythes. Do you think it is because our countries are really close so that the mythes just changed when people were told in different cultures or it is just because we have really similar cultures which make our countries' mythes really similar?
Hi Mae, thanks for sharing this interesting creation myth with us and this picture is so cute! We have similar old saying as well. Chinese people call themselves as "descendants of dragon" as well. Long(dragon) is a fictitious animal but has the most influence and impact on the Chinese. In our eyes, long was the God, holy and sacred, able to command the rain and wind, to ride on the mists and cloud. So long had long been considered the ancestor of the Chinese and the people are proud of being descendants of long.
Hi Mae! I think it's really interesting how Korea and Japan have similar creation myths to the Vietnamese one you read. Do you think that these might have started as the same fable but then diverged as they were told in different cultures? Is there a common theme in the Vietnamese fables you've read that you think exemplifies Vietnamese values, or do the morals vary a lot depending on the fable?