Religion in Vietnam

Dirtbike Travel is specialized in organizing custom Vietnam motorcycle tours covering every destination in Vietnam. All of our trips are designed to suit every rider with different preferences such as  laidback sightseeing tours, intensive enduro tours and everything in between.

Today, we would like to introduce you about the main religions in Vietnam:

Buddhism
First introduced to Vietnam in the 2nd century, Buddhism became the most popular religion in Vietnam under the Ly dynasty (11th century) and it had a profound influence on people’s daily life. It was considered as official religion domination court affairs. Buddhism was preached broadly among the population and it enjoyed a profound influence on people’s daily life. If you travel to all regions in Vietnam, especially motorcycle tours Vietnam, you can see a lot of pagodas where they worship Buddha. 

Presently, over 70 percent of the population of Vietnam are either Buddhist or strongly influenced by Buddhist practices. On the special occasions, people always go to the pagodas to pray for luck, money, love, and happiness.

Catholicism
First introduced to Vietnam in the 17th century, but Catholicism was also very popular. Vietnam has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, China and Indonesia. According to Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population. There are 26 dioceses (including three archdioceses) with 2228 parishes and 2668 priests. The most densely – populated Catholic areas are Bui Chu – Phat Diem in the northern province of Ninh Binh and Ho Nai – Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province in the South.

Mother Worship (Tho Mau)
Mother is always the most beloved person to all people. Mother (Mẹ in Vietnamese) is pronounced Mau in Sino-script. The mother worship cult might be originated from the cult of the Goddess in ancient ages. But hardly anyone knows the mothers worship religion (tho mau). This is a very popular belief of an agricultural culture like Vietnam where nearly 80% population lives in rice cultivation. In North Vietnam, all famous pagodas, which are sanctuary dedicated to Mothers, is located near in the pagoda's area. The mothers are very distinctive: The Mother's forest wears green clothes; Mother's Water (Mau Thoai) who reigns World Water, wears white clothes; The Mother's Earth (Mau dia) with yellow dress; and the left is Mother Lieu Hanh, one the four immortal in Vietnamese culture.

Just a brief introduction of some main religions in Vietnam. Before or after the Vietnam motorbike tours, you can have a tour to visit many pagodas and temples in Hanoi to learn more about our religions.