토속종교가 베트남 사람들의 생활문화에 끼친 영향

The Impacts on Vietnamese Local Religions influenced Cultural Life

Mekong delta is the largest delta in Vietnam with an area of 39000 km 2 , or 12% of the country’s. Therefore, the delta, together with Hochiminh City, has been and will be playing a very crucial role in Vietnam’s cultural-economic development strategies. Yet, while Mekong delta is a fairly new land in comparison with our nation’s long history, it has been a “promise land” or a “land of hope” to many migrants who have migrated to and resided over the delta in their pursuing of wealth and happiness. Many generations of the Vietnamese, side by side with other ethnic peoples, have exploited and protected the region which resulted in several magical achievements during wars against foreign invaders as well as in peace time. Mekong Delta is resided by multi-ethnic peoples. These peoples, who are different in terms of economic development level, social structure and religion, have come to existence over the land at different time points. However, through long history of co-residence, due to cultural exchange and acculturation, among the peoples there have emerged many common cultural features and this process is currently still on progress under proactive influences of modern circumstance. As a result, there have been many religions in the delta; besides world religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, there have existed local religions. Obviously, these religions contribute greatly to the cultural diversity of the whole southern part of the country. The Vietnamese is a majority people in the region. The culture of the Vietnamese in Mekong delta has selectively inherited cultural values of Vietnamese tradition. During their residing in the delta, the people has also adopted and created cultural features that are adaptative to natural and social environment of the region. For instance, at the end of 19 th century and early 20th century, the Vietnamese in Mekong delta created several religions with ubiquitous local identities. In general, local religions have played very crucial roles in the life of the Vietnamese in the delta; however, their impacts have seldom spread out of the Vietnamese communities. In this paper, by viewing religion as both a social phenomenon and a cultural one, I concentrate on proposing the reasons for the birth of local religions of the Vietnamese in Southern Vietnam at the end of 19 th and early 20 th century. Also, I want to take a look at these religions’ impacts over cultural life of the people in the region. Assumedly, they were born under specific conditions of the South and only have impacts upon the life of the people. Furthermore, the paper proposes that, on one hand, the Vietnamese in the South have selectively inherited traditional cultural values which have created Vietnamese cultural values as the whole; on the other hand, they have made their own ones within the context of their new living conditions.