Kim Quach

I come a family of those who have traveled all the way from Vietnam to America by boat. They lived rough lives in Vietnam and came to America in order to get away from that. Because of this, my parents are stricter than those who were born and raised in America (they're not too strict where they do expect us to get our work done and to be on task, but to also have fun in our free time). In our culture, we have to treat every adult with respect, no matter the differences in culture/race/gender. And if we do not treat adults with respect, there will be consequences (nothing bad, just a scolding or two to help us understand). Besides age, we also have to respect people as a whole and not just because of their age.

We have a Moon Festival (like the Mid Autumn Festival celebrated in China) where we celebrate with mooncakes and, a New Years Festival called Tết where we celebrate the New Year with Múa lân (Lion Dance) and tons of music. We have varieties of foods (like Phở, Bún bò Huế, and bánh cuốn, among many others).

There's music genres like dân ca, quan họ, hát chầu văn, ca trù, hò, and hát xẩm (which are the more traditional and older forms of Vietnamese music). The more modern ones are v-pop, rock and heavy metal, hip hop, and etc.

Besides the art of music, there is the art of Vietnam. Paintings (Silk Paintings) made to depict aspects of Vietnam and the beauty of the country, but to also represent the hardships that come with residing in Vietnam.

I'm not much of an explainer or a talker, but I hope this gives you at least a little bit of insight on my culture and traditions.