When Traveling to Vietnam, Why Should You Avoid Taking Photos with ‘Three People’?
This is a stopping point that Shanshan three girls love to live, love photography, love travel, and love food.
When a traveler goes to an unfamiliar country or region for travel, they need to prepare many things, and one of them is to understand the local customs, including diet, clothing, residence, wedding, festivals, taboos, etiquette… etc., because customs are the behavior patterns and norms that local people commonly follow. When traveling, only by respecting local customs can you gain the respect of others.
In May last year, we had a trip to Vietnam. Before departure, we all learned some of the local customs, such as taking off shoes when entering a house, otherwise it would be considered disrespectful to the host; don't touch anyone's head arbitrarily; southerners of Vietnam believe that the left hand is unclean, so don't use the left hand to salute, eat, give gifts, and receive gifts; when there are green branches hanging at the village entrance, it's a forbidden sign, and outsiders cannot enter… etc. In the information we learned, one item particularly attracted the attention of several of our fellow travelers: we, as photography lovers, learned that Vietnamese people dislike taking photos with three people. We all reminded each other to be careful not to accidentally violate the taboo.
When traveling to a place, it's inevitable to take photos and keep memories, sometimes with local people. According to the information we consulted, Vietnamese people are taboo about taking photos with three people. If there are three people taking photos, the Vietnamese people will generally refuse, especially the older Vietnamese people, who absolutely will not take three people together. The reason for the taboo is said to be passed down from their ancestors, saying that the person in the middle is bad, they will be possessed by ghosts or caught by ghosts, or other accidents will happen.
According to Vietnamese customs, '3' is a number used for gods, and ordinary people should avoid it. The word '3' has a special meaning in Vietnamese, such as 'Tam nhan bat dong hanh' means that three people should not travel together; 'cho di ngay bay, cho ve ngay ba' means that in the lunar calendar, do not go out on the seventh day, do not return home on the third day.
So, when taking photos with three people, there are methods to resolve this taboo. Here are some suggestions: 1. Change to a two-person photo; 2. Invite more people to take a photo together; 3. Find a doll to take a photo with… In short, avoid 'three' when taking photos with local people.
During this trip, we started in Ho Chi Minh City and traveled around Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hoi An,, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. We don't know whether it's because we remembered this custom or whether we only went to tourist attractions where we didn't encounter the scene of being refused to take photos. The entire experience of playing in the local area felt friendly and enthusiastic. We hope to have the opportunity to visit Vietnam again in the future.
So, have you been to Vietnam? Do you know what customs Vietnam has? Do you know the meaning of '3' in Vietnam? Do you know that Vietnamese people dislike taking photos with three people? What methods did you use when you went to Vietnam to take photos with local people when you encountered a situation of taking three people together? Welcome everyone to leave a comment and share!
