Religion of the Vietnamese people

The religions of Vietnam are mixed and not often clear-cut. The Vietnamese mostly confess Buddhism; they do likely practice Confucian and Taoist principles, people worship and a little animism, and superstition as well. Buddha is the most popular religion in Vietnam and, to certain extent, the strong influence of Buddhism and their religion is tradition and culturally practice. As an effect of that, Vietnamese people have a tradition of respecting teachers, elders and authorities and being responsible to their families and society.  Other than Buddhism, Christianity, introduced to the country in the 1600s is an important religion and has a large following- mostly Catholic; Islam has its believer too, mainly amongst the Chams of the central coast.

       Confucianism was introduced into Vietnam early during the Chinese rule, and has maintained much of its influence since that time. In 1072, there was a temple dedicated to Confucius and his leading 72 disciples. Located in Hanoi, this temple was called the Temple of Literature. In Saigon, at the Botanical Gardens, there is a temple dedicated to Confucius called the Temple of Souvenirs. This is the site of Confucius' birthday celebration which is solemnly honored each year.