When it's Christmas Eve in Vietnam . . . after midnight Mass, the Christians of Vietnam return home for the most important meal of the Christmas season, chicken soup! The children leave their shoes in front of their doors, and on December 25th, they wake early and run to find them filled with treats and presents left by Santa!

I was surprised to learn Christmas is one of the 4 major holidays in communist Vietnam . The other 3 are the birthday of Buddha, the New Year called "Tet" in February, and the mid-autumn festival.

For a long time Vietnam was part of France and Christmas was celebrated by Christians here. But, when the communist atheist came to power in 1975 that changed. The Christians then began to celebrate Christmas in private in their homes.
 
By 1980, the Vietnamese economy was struggling so badly, the government realized they needed to make changes. They changed their policies to align more with the western world and adopted more liberal social and economic policies of the developed world. 

Along with improving the Vietnamese economy, the adoption of more western ideals allowed the return of open religion and the celebration of Christmas. Today, although considered one of the 5 communist countries in the world, Vietnam is not truly communist. They are more of a socialist country, and call themselves that, "The Socialist Republic of Vietnam" .

I have asked some of the Vietnamese in different cities I have visited about religion. Some tell me their family has no religion (atheist). Of the religions in Vietnam, Buddhism is the dominant religion. Then, the next most popular religion is Catholic, although it is a small percentage of the total population. Out of about 86 million Vietnamese, about 6 million are Catholic. There is also a significant Baptist minority, called the 'Tin Lanh' in Vietnamese.

I saw many Catholic Church building on the bus trip from Saigon in the south to my destination in north Vietnam. I took photos of them as the bus went past. I have not seen any Baptist Churches yet, though. 

Some of the locals that told me they 'had no religion' said their families still exchanged gifts on Christmas Day. Others said they do not. But, it seemed they do not have trees in their homes. I have visited a few homes of some of the Vietnamese I have met and have not seen a Christmas tree yet . Some of them are Catholic, so I know they celebrate Christmas. I think maybe it's for economic reasons some of them do not put up trees. Also, the places they live are so small and crowded maybe there is just not room for a tree.

The best I can tell the Vietnamese word for Christ is "Chua Kito".

There are holiday decorations around town where tourists spend their time. But, up and down the 'ordinary' streets, I have not seen any lights or any type of decorations in the businesses or homes. Walking around Hue (where I am spending Christmas) you would not even know it is the Christmas season.

The restaurants and places that do put up decorations seem to make them by hand. I see cardboard, wood, paint, saws and building tools laid out on the sidewalk in front of places while the employees make the holiday decorations. When they are finished a few days later they have a really nice display . It's fun watching their ideas come together over a few days. Their finished decorations are to be proud of. I noticed the same thing happened for halloween when I was here before. 

My hotel just put up a tree in the lobby. Most of the customers are foreigners. The hotel I was in before this one, though, did not have a tree or any Christmas decorations.

Walking down one of the small streets I hear "Jingle Bells" playing. I know what the song is by the music. The words are in Vietnamese. One evening sitting in a coffee shop with Vietnamese friends, a Christmas song was playing. My Vietnamese friends thought it was being sung by an American group. 

The song was "Jingle Bell Rock". They said they did not understand many of the words. It was not a native English speaking group singing, though. The people singing were not from the U.S., England, Australia or any other native English speaking country . The words were in English but it was easy to tell the singers were of some country where English was a 2nd language. The words were clear and they were doing a good job with the Christmas song, but the accent was that of a non-English speaking country. When the song finished the music went back to regular Vietnamese music.

The holiday is very low-key, compared to western countries. There is not the mad rush and anxiety to buy the right present for those you love and those that might unexpectedly give you something. It actually seems like any other time there, except for the occasional decoration. The main thing for the locals seems to be spending the time with their family.

The university students that stop me (to speak English with them), if the subject of Christmas comes up, will ask me to help with the pronunciation of the word. They know what the Vietnamese word for Christmas is, but they have trouble pronouncing 'r" s. So, Christmas takes some practice for them . Imagine me trying to teach them to say my name with 2 of the dreaded "r"s.

We walked past one of the few 'fast food' places I see here. It is called Lotteria. It is similar to a McDonalds or other fast food place in America. No one I have been with have eaten the western style burgers and fries here. I think because of the cost. But, on the window is written "Merry Chistmas" -- no 'r". Maybe it was spelled by an American High School student!

A couple of years ago, on my first visit to Hanoi, my Vietnamese guide pointed to a cardboard Santa and said "Santa Clown". Santa is called 'Ông già Noel' (it means Christmas old man).

Vietnamese people like to give presents of food at Christmas. Other Christmas presents aren't very common, although some young people like to exchange Christmas cards.

Another funny thing about the holidays is the way they always say it . We would say something like "what will you do on Christmas?". But, they would say "what you do Merry Christmas?". They always say Merry Christmas, not just Christmas.

The same goes for New Years. They will say "You stay here Happy New Year?", instead of "Will you stay here for New Years?".
 
I think it is because these are English words and they see them written on signs. The banners always say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year". Because the signs are greetings, not the name of the holidays, they always include 'Merry' and 'Happy'.

So, the Vietnamese think the Merry and Happy is part of the holiday names for Christmas and New Year! "What your family do on Merry Christmas?" "Miss family on Merry Christmas?" (These are things that makes traveling so much fun!)
 
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Hanoi have bigger Christmas celebrations from what I hear. Like in America, much of it is secular and not religious. Maybe other cities and regions of Vietnam celebrate differently. But, I like the smaller cities and that is where I will spend the holidays and this is what I know of Merry Christmas in Hue, Vietnam.

MAY YOUR RICE BOWL BE FULL ON MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY AND ON HAPPY NEW YEAR!