As a human being, the death is inevitable. For Vietnamese, funeral ceremony is considered an important event. When a member in the family passes away, people carry out a solemn funeral ceremony. The relatives and friends come to share the sadness with the members in that family. If you are to come to a funeral ceremony, bring some flowers or fruits to the ceremony. Another tip for you is that when you accidentally meet a funeral on the street, it is advisable for you to give way to it and take off your hat to show the respect. Normally, Vietnam has common rites for funeral; however, in several ethnic groups, there are special features. In Muong people’s funeral, you can clearly identify whether the death is his father or mother by looking at the stick that he use. If he uses a bamboo stick, the death is his father, and if it is a wood stick, then the death is his mother. For some ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen, after the funeral, people set up a rudimentary hutch for the death. Then, one or three years later, people will set up a new one, which is more spacious and stable. People bring here wine, meat, fish and other dishes, then the relatives of the death and the neighbors will stay there several days eating, dancing to say goodbye forever to the death. After that, they will no longer have to be responsible for the death person. It must be surprised to know that but it has become the habit of the whole group. It is obvious that the funeral ceremony of Vietnam is quite different from that of Western countries since it contains traditional values of the natives. As a foreign tourist, you should be aware of such rituals in order to avoid culture shock while staying in Vietnam.
