Explore the culture of the Kinh Ethnic Group

The Kinh people are the ethnic group with the largest population among the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, residing concentrated in the delta region, with favorable conditions for socio-economic development, so they are the main force participating. establish a country. Let's go togetheriguide.aiFind out information about the Kinh ethnic group in Vietnam according to reference information from the Vietnam Committee for Ethnic Minorities!

1. Historical origin:
The Kinh people (as well as the Muong, Tho, and Chut people) are indigenous people, living for a long time on the land of Vietnam, not originating from outside territories. From the original cradle of the Northern and North Central regions, concentrated in the Delta, the Kinh people migrated to other regions, becoming a large ethnic group, present in every area and terrain of the country.
Throughout the development of Vietnam's history, the Kinh people have always been the center of attracting and uniting fellow ethnic groups to build and protect the Fatherland.
Kinh people also have another name: Vietnamese people.
2. Population and language:
- Population: According to statistics from the 2019 Vietnam Population and Housing Census, the Kinh ethnic group currently has 82,085,826 people (male: 40,804,641 people, female: 41,281,185 people), accounting for 86 .83% of the country's total population. The number of people living in urban areas is 31,168,839 people, and 50,916,987 people living in rural areas.
After 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, the population size of the Kinh ethnic group has increased by nearly 8.5 million people. The average annual population growth rate in the period 2009-2019 of the Kinh ethnic group is 1.09%, lower than the average growth rate of ethnic minorities (1.42%) and the average growth rate of the entire population. water (1.14%).
Kinh people are present in all provinces and cities across the country. The number of Vietnamese people residing in the Northern Midlands and Mountains is 5,495,484 (accounting for 6.7%); Red River Delta: 22,074,819 people (26.9%); North Central and Central Coast: 18,111,079 people (22.1%); Central Highlands: 3,642,726 people (4.4%); Southeast: 16,798,500 people (20.4%); and Mekong Delta: 15,963,218 people (19.5%).
- Language: Vietnamese: belongs to the Viet-Muong language group, Austroasiatic language family.
National language: built on the basis of using Latin letters (directly from Portuguese letters) combined, adding 9 diacritical marks (4 marks create new sounds and 5 marks to represent the tone of the word) to record Vietnamese place names and names.
Together with Vietnamese, the national language constitutes the official language of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

3. Geographical distribution:
The Kinh people are the only ethnic group among the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam residing in communities in all provinces, in all types of terrain and areas throughout the country (plains, midlands, and mountains). , highlands, coastal areas and islands), but are concentrated in the plains. This is a common rule, "as a consequence, in each complete country in Southeast Asia, the dominant ethnic group is always the one ethnic group that dominates the plains".
Vietnamese people still live concentrated along major traffic roads, and are the main population in all urban areas at all levels throughout the country.
With the above characteristics of population and residence, Vietnamese people have played a leading role in the development of the Vietnamese nation since the beginning of the country's founding, through the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. and modern today.

4. Main characteristics

-Traditional social institutions: The majority of Vietnamese people live in villages, with several villages grouped together to form a commune. In a village there are often many hamlets, some hamlets are as large as a village, and a Northern hamlet is almost similar to a hamlet in the South. Village rules are relatively comprehensive and strictly regulated on all aspects of the village's activities, forcing everyone to acknowledge and voluntarily implement them.
Most Vietnamese families are small, two-generation families that follow a patriarchal system, but women still play an important role, often being the economic manager in the family.

- Religion and beliefs: Ancestor worship is the most important belief of Vietnamese people. The custom of worshiping the land, the army, and the land is popular in many places; Many families worship the Tutelary God, Buddhist temples, etc. A part of rural or urban residents also follow Catholicism, Protestantism and other religions such as Cao Dai, Hoa Hao....

- Housing: Vietnamese people often live in ground houses. The main house usually has a 3-compartment or 5-compartment structure and the middle space is the most solemn, where the ancestral table is located. The side rooms are a place for rest and activities of family members. The room is arranged in the house wing as a place for women to live and is also a place to store food and family wealth. The kitchen is often built right next to the livestock barn. In many Southern provinces, the kitchen is often built next to or connected to the main house. The yard is for drying and family activities and also to create a cool space, suitable for humid tropical climate conditions.
Nowadays, many villages are crowded with people. Due to population growth, the traditional house grounds with large gardens of most families have to be divided into many smaller plots, and four-level houses are replaced by houses. Flat roof, modern tubular storey house.

- Holidays: Lunar New Year (Lunar New Year) is the biggest festival of the year. After the Lunar New Year, there are spring festivals. There are also many other traditional holidays such as the Full Moon Festival in January, Thanh Minh Festival, Ha Dien Festival, Thuong Dieu Festival, Doan Ngo Festival, Full Moon Festival in July, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Rice Festival... Each festival has its meaning. The meaning and ritual are also different.

- Costume: In the past, Kinh men often wore lame pants, brown (Northern) blouses, black (Southern) blouses, and went barefoot; On holidays, people wear white pants, black robes, turbans, and wooden clogs. Women wear black skirts, overalls, brown blouses, and black crow's beak scarves (Northern region); Ba Ba shirt, bandana, conical hat (Southern region). Women wear ao dai on summer festivals.
Nowadays, with the introduction of Western fashion and other countries as well as serving different situations and jobs that require casual wear, Vietnamese people's costumes are replaced by t-shirts and white shirts. , long skirts, skirts, pants, trousers... Ao Dai has also been more or less innovated to suit modern fashion needs but still retains the traditional features and enhances the figure and beauty. gentleness of Vietnamese women.

- Marriage: Vietnamese people value pure and faithful love. In feudal times, it was often the case that "where parents put them, they still sit there", today men and women find out for themselves. The traditional Vietnamese wedding ceremony must go through 4 basic steps: Promising, asking, marrying and returning.

- Cuisine: "Simple rice, sweet soup" is the basic daily food and drink of Vietnamese people. Sticky rice is only seen during holidays. In daily meals, there are often vegetable soups or crab and fish soups... In particular, Vietnamese people love to use fish sauce (shrimp sauce, fish, shrimp, fiddler crab...) and melons (cabbage, onion, etc.). carriage, palanquin).
The traditional Tet feast of the Kinh people cannot lack familiar delicacies such as: banh tet, banh chung, pickled onions, bamboo shoots, frozen meat, spring rolls, spring rolls, sticky rice, boiled chicken or bamboo shoot soup, etc. Used during holidays, festivals... chewing betel and smoking waterpipes used to be not only a need and habit but also part of customary rituals.

5. Economic conditions
The vast majority of residents rely on agriculture as their main livelihood, in which wet rice cultivation is the main thing, combined with livestock raising, expanding handicrafts and exchanging and trading. Wet rice agriculture was formed and developed in the Vietnamese people very early. Raising pigs, cattle, poultry, raising fish... is also very developed. Vietnamese people are famous for their "skills" in industrial crafts, developing a variety of arts - hundreds of professions, each of which seems to reach the pinnacle of ingenuity and talent. Many craft villages have separated from agriculture. Village markets, fairs, district markets... are very busy. Currently, in the process of industrialization and modernization of the country, urban areas and industrial zones are increasingly developing, people's lives are getting better and better.

Above is some interesting information about the Kinh people of Vietnam, let's joiniguide.aiPlan to explore, meet and experience culture with Kinh people in the near future!

Source:
- Ethnic groups in Vietnam (Truth National Political Publishing House)
- Basic characteristics of 54 ethnic minorities in 2019 (Committee for Ethnic Minorities and General Statistics Office)
- Website of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities, Website of Nhan Dan Newspaper
- Results of the survey collecting information on the socio-economic status of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam