The Southern is a region with specific cultural features that still retain the unifying point of Vietnamese culture.

This trip will not have famous places, PDC will lead you to a new land where there are typical cultural features of the Vietnamese people in the Southern.

Characteristics of the Southern cultural region

Talking about Southern culture is talking about the culture of ethnic groups. The Vietnamese, Khmer, Cham, and Chinese ethnic groups are all immigrants who have lived there for a long time.

Like the familiar plants of the old land, planted in the new land. Therefore, this culture has both similarities and differences with the culture in the original land of the nations.

This is a land that has both a long history of Vietnamese culture and a place where many different cultures meet. Therefore, it creates the Southern cultural region with its own characteristics and becomes a unique feature of Vietnam.

“Đờn ca tài tử"

Đờn ca tài tử is a genre of chamber music in the traditional music of southern Vietnam. Its instrumentation resembles that of the ca Huế style; additionally, modified versions of the European instruments guitar, violin, and steel guitar are used.

Don ca tai tu is a typical folk art form of Vietnam. It was formed and developed at the end of the 19th century. Don ca tai tu is the art of string-instrument and singing, composed by the people in the South to rest after hours of work. This is a type of performance with a band consisting of four types: pliers, storks, zithers and lutes. The participants are mostly friends and neighbors, so they usually only wear casual clothes when participating in the performance.

(Source of image: baodantoc.vn)

Southern Khmer Temples

Besides the unique cuisine imprinted in the hearts of all visitors, the sacred Khmer temples are also a part of Southern culture. The pagodas, temples not only have a very important position in people's lives, but also contain profound spiritual and religious value and become the center of special cultural festivals. It can be seen that the Khmer pagodas/temples in the South are an architectural work that is a synthesis of the unique nuances of the Khmer people.

Khmer pagoda is the harmony between architecture and sculpture along with impressively sophisticated decorative features, all of which have created a unique and distinctive identity for Southern culture.

(Source of image: Báo Lao Động)

“Chầm riêng Chà pây" 

Cham rieng Cha pay performing art was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among the Khmer people in the South. Artists must know how to sing and play musical instruments by themselves. The only performing instrument is the “Cha pay". The space and time of a Cha pay performance is also very free and unobtrusive bound by a rule.

During the performance, the artist plays each piece of music and then sings each prepared verse by himself. The song's lyrics are often meant to educate people about love for the homeland, moral advice on living according to the law, and criticism of bad habits. Usually, artists not only sing pre-composed poems but also improve quickly on the spot to sing. This is the most unique feature of this folk art form.

Ok Om Bok Festival

According to the calculation of the Khmer people, mid-April is the time of season change from the dry season to the rainy season. At this time, there will be a southwest monsoon blowing to bring water to create rain to help plants sprout.

This is also the time of transition from the old year to the new year, so the Khmer people organize the traditional Tet Chol Chnam Thmay to prepare mentally and to enter the main crop of the year.

The full moon day of the 10th lunar month (about the beginning of November) is the time to change the season from the rainy season to the dry season. According to the Khmer's concept, the moon is the god who regulates the weather, makes the rain favorable, the crops are good, the rice is full, so the Khmer people organize Ok Om Bok Festival to give thanks to the Moon God with agricultural products that have just been harvested in the last crop.

(Source of image: travinh.tintuc.vn)

The culture of the west of the river is very special. It is the subtle interference of diverse cultures that have created a unique feature. Only once you set foot here, you will feel the generosity and rusticity of the people of the West.