Folk Art and Crafts

Lullabies and Their Value in Vietnam Ancient History

Lullabies are an important cultural trait in Vietnam ancient history. A great number of Vietnamese generations have grown up listening to them and handed them down to their descendants.

The concept about lullabies of the Vietnamese

Lullabies is a traditional and habitual type of music in Vietnam. It is also an extraordinary folk art form in the music collection of the Vietnamese and carries noble human values. The lullaby appears the earliest among all types of folk songs because it is closely related to the image of mothers.

The nursery rhymes are smooth, simple, and gentle songs that can lull babies to sleep. That is why lullaby songs, which have a strong connection to the first years of a child, are different from other folk songs. Another thing making it distinctive is that lullabies derived from the love of mothers, grandmothers, and even sisters for their children or siblings.

Hence, all of their rhymes are lyrical and always leave remarkable impressions in a child’s mind. In Vietnam ancient history, the melody of lullabies has often been considered a path bringing people back to their childhood. And it can do that in a natural and invisible way.

Special characteristics in the Vietnamese lullaby

  • It is original from children’s songs

In the old times in Vietnam, most of the lyrics in nursery rhymes were original from folk songs, children’s songs, or poems. They are spread through by word from grandmothers to mothers and passed down from generation to generation. Thus, these songs are diverse in lyrics. Almost all families have an exclusive lullaby for their babies.

Furthermore, because the folk songs and poems reflect the most common pictures of the countryside in Vietnam, the lyrics of nursery rhymes help children be aware of the world. All of the images of the moonlight, bamboo-bridge, storks, paddy fields, the river wharves, and the boats create the initial concepts about the country that the babies are living in.

Also, lullabies can imprint the language on their mind and assist them to learn how to speak Vietnamese quicker. Although time lapses away, the rhymes always stay somewhere in children’s brain and become an inevitable memory.

  • It varies from region to region

You can find lullabies almost everywhere in Vietnam. And they are different in each region. In Northern Vietnam, the nursery rhymes are often about working and family life. Most of them are allegoric with beautiful lyrics and imply numerous emotions of the singers.

The lullabies in Central Vietnam have more complicated and subtle melodies than those in Northern Vietnam. Perhaps, it is due to the challenges that the citizens have to overcome in Vietnam ancient history. The tune of nursery rhymes usually sounds sad and vague. It describes the love of singers to their country and hometown.

storks searching for food on the field

Storks searching for food on the field (Source: Google)

Unlike the lullabies from Northern and Central Vietnam, the rhymes from Southern Vietnam reveal the fervency, liberality, and unselfishness in the character of local people. They often disclose the confidence of the singers for their children, people around them, and themselves.

  • Lullabies sung by mothers have a tremendous effect on their child

A child in the womb can start hearing his mother’s voice in the fourth month. Moreover, he can nearly distinguish between sounds and music, fast and slow rhythms, and high and low pitches. Therefore, his mother’s voice has a significant effect on him because it is directly transmitted to the uterus.

So when the mother sings a lullaby, the baby’s mind will gradually change. The nursery rhyme is the coherence as well as the love that connects an adult with a child. It helps him feel the warmth and humanity. By singing lullabies, a mother can show her child the spiritual values that an entire community has summarized.


Lullabies affect a child (Source: Google)

Have lullabies been preserved until today?

Unfortunately, lullabies only seem to appear in Vietnam ancient history. Today, women are busier juggling work and family. As a result, many young Vietnamese mothers do not attach special importance to lulling their babies to sleep by nursery rhymes.

Some of them even assume that the child will grow up healthy and smart when listening to various types of music or watching television programmes. This is not true. The lyrics of lullabies can be similar to ordinary folk songs but the singing voice of the mother is crucial. It shows her emotions, care, and compassion to the baby. And the baby will have a sense of flesh and blood with his family.

Khanh Huyen





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