i don't know if theres differences in mien bac trung or nam, but for centralers, or most centralers we eat on the floor, sometimes we use table but mostly floor, and we most times sleep on the floor except now we don't because we are in the u.s. Who else's family here eats or sits on the floor?
EDIT: i mean who else keeps this tradition?

My families did half of the time

is it a tradition ?? My family (ies) sleep on beds when we used to live in Vietnam , maybe its because u lived in the country sides ?? cuz in the cities , i never seen ppl sleep on the floor ...

well i've always seen my relatives eat on the floor but with the whole family together. And in vietnam i saw one le hoi, and like they show the mandarins and stuff sitting on the floor drinking tea... i think the richer cities just lost the traditions cause they are rich and want to be like other countries.

i have a bum knee so if i sat on the floor eating, it would hizzurt baby. i can't hold on to a tradition that hizzurts me knee

haha when i was little and did something wrong my dad would make me kneel and cross my hands and hold my ears for like 2 hours, haha then afterwards i couldnt stand anymore for like a few minutes cuz my legs get numbed.

^ poor you, I was never really home to get punished.. I'm the youngest so naturally I'm more spoiled. :P

I guess my families don't keep the tradition then. We normally eat on the table, and sleep on the bed, and take naps on a hammock or tấm phản (now the couch :P). But when we have a big dinner and we don't have enough chairs then we'd eat on the floor, but I don't think that's keeping the tradition... I came from a small town in the central

i see, i guess my family is changing too, of course since we live in the u.s. we sleep more on beds, now, but still we sleep on the floor when we want too, and we still eat on the floor, well actually my dad made a small table so we can eat on but we still sit on the floor and eat off it, does this count.?.

my parents both came from central. my dads family ate on tables and slept on beds while my my slept on floors. i wouldnt go as far as saying its tradition. my mom says its just they didnt have any of those things to use. well her anyways, comeing from the poorest part of Hue.

No one in my family eats/sleeps on the floor. My grandfather needs to sleep on a wooden block as a pillow though...

hahaha my dad made me do that too when i was younger too! except he made me hold out my arms..it porbably lasted for lile 2 hours too..or maybe 1 hour? it sucked! lol

So you mean they sleep and sit on the floor like Japanese and Koreans? I never know that, it's interesting tho. Centraller are so different almost foreign. My family always sit at tables and sleep on beds. I went visit my relatives in the country side and they do the same thing.

I don't know if eating/sleeping on the floor would really be called a tradition, or if it's just something done out of necessity due to the living conditions in Vietnam. The houses in Vietnam tend to be small, while the family size is usually large (with typically over 7, 8 or more people in one household), so people would eat on the floor because the tables would take up more space; and it's more convenient.

Nowadays, more families in Vietnam are building larger houses, and adopting a higher standard of living; such as high-tech gas stoves instead of the old wood-and-fire method of cooking; better, more sanitary bathrooms; refrigeration of food; so some are also adopting the "tradition" of eating at the table, or at least, on a chair or an elevated platform. This is more prevalent now in the city and in the middle-upper class families; while in the countryside and the poorer families, the lifestyle is still simple and less luxurious.

But some consider eating on the floor more cozy, simple, fun, and even more comfortable, and prefer sitting in the lotus cross-legged position over sitting on a chair at the table, which feels more formal. When I was in Vietnam (and I am originally from the South), my family would eat sometimes at the table, and sometimes on the floor, since there were too many of us; but it was fun both ways. They could have gotten more tables and chairs to fit all of us, but we just chose to sit on the floor for a change.

But the beds in Vietnam I must say are mostly very uncomfortable. I don't know how people can sleep on just a piece of hard wood with no cushion every night! I tried it once or twice. The only good thing about it was it didn't make us hot, like the puffy bed with cushions do. I think my family in Vietnam would be considered pretty well-to-do, but some of my cousins still slept on the floor sometimes.

In general, people in Vietnam don't seem to be as picky about where to eat or sleep; and seem to be quite adaptive to different living conditions. It's a little different here; I think we have become accustomed to sleeping on a soft bed and eating at a table; having our own private room, with convenient showers and bathrooms even. But I wouldn't call it a lost of traditon, but a progression.

i squat most of the time

You know, I know some foreigners who are often in awe at how we Vietnamese can squat, for they find it very difficult to do. It's true though, we can squat so easily, and it becomes almost a very comfortable position for us to be in, that we do it often- lol, even while sitting on a chair.

*Edit*

But I myself don't do that. I sit on the chair the way we're supposed to sit. Only sometimes, when there is no chair, then I squat. hehe.. Also, I heard squatting is good for stretching our back and spinal cord.

I've seen some Vietnamese (mostly guys) squatting. I think not only in squatting, but they can also walk very quickly and lightly as well, and duck, make turns quickly too. lol- another special talent we seem to have.

actually sitting and stuff is a tradition, i asked one of my friends in vietnam and he said most of the people from the north and central sit on the floor still today, and they are like medium class people, or at least on a table that they made especially for sitting on.

i've seen old pictures and there like these furnitures, wooden table where we sit on. its like designed with good architecture to. But for southerners i think they changed the tradition probably being more influenced by the french people?

iono.... guessing. The tables hmm, kinda look like those tables in the one korean music video filmed in vietnam... where that man kneels and prays on, like that but made for sitting and to eat on.

I think that is something similar to koreans and japanese yea... because i heard that people from vietnam who came there to study, its more easier for them to get used to, because the culture and tradition of koreans and stuff are similar, its weird cause the two countries rarely even met in the past.

shiet, doesnt it hurt.... haha

i used to sneak away when he sleeps though. lol.

Yea, I know what you mean , some of my Viet friends can squat all day, almost... damn, but if I tried it, I'd fall on the back of my head... ----

^Now that is a TRUE viet I even see girls squatting, like today at college I saw this girl who looked viet squatting on the bench(instead of sitting) and smoking.

Disgraceful

haha

yeh it didn't look very nice maybe she's those tomboy types

actually that's truee right there...most vietnamese sit and eat one the floor cause they're poor and/or there are too many people...its not really a tradition..but alsoo some people do think that sitting on the flooor is more comfortable...that's why those "special" tables were made....but yeah...

my uncle is a very traditional man...and when he built the mansion in vn he furnished it with tables and chairs and stuff....if it wuz a tradition he wouldn't have done dat...so yeah...and my dad also did da same thing..

oh yeah..btw...squatting is easy...what are yall talkin bout? lolz...comes natural to me...

I was squating in gym class a few years ago for like 5 minutes. These white girls were staring at me and were like "How the hell do you do that?!"

Asian and Caucasians have different bone structure

I don't usually eat with my family during dinners. I'd be taking all my food and rice and put it on a tray and take it too my room.

Somehow I don't like the Asian way of eating where eveybody eat out of the same dishes (saliva, hence germs). Also, I don't feel comfortable eating in front of other people.

i squat at church almost every weekend since there are not enough seats, but luckily i am catholic so i get to stand up here and there

i have to sleep on the floor when hurricane charley hit orlando cause there was no power and sleeping on the floor is cooler
but other then that i sleep on the bed and eat where ever

like this...hahaha...

Man , that is amazing

what is so amazing about it???

whered you get the pic of that chick, i wanna see how she looks not how she squats... lol..

The north sits with Chairs and table just like normal people.

oh, shut up, don't stir things up in here.

haha northerners actually sit on the floor the most, from what i've seen.

There are still plenty rich people who sit that way in vietnam right now because they want to keep their tradition, so its not because a lot of vietnamese people are poor or its cozy.

I think im sure that its a tradition or custom, whatever...
because my parents are the most traditional people ever, we still have those really weird traditional parties and everything we do is old style, we make our own buddha shrine for our house and they know exactly what way it should face for goodluck and stuff, and they know all the years of the animals by mind and who matches with who for marriage, and how the myths of a bad marriage will happen because of the peoples birth dates.

It's just starting to change recently...you guys probably haven't seen or did any of it cause of WESTERN influence for about 300 years, french and now america too ....iono LOL

Unless they are poor, they won't sit on the floor, provided they have proper furnitures.
I go back to Vietnam every year man.

http://www.vnn.vn/vanhoa/dienanh/2004/07/219196/

here a picture... click to enlarge
that kind of table you see?
they dont look poor to me

yupp i agree wit CUONG...



das not tradition..das SUPERSTITION

very funny

so by what your saying, you think A LOT of vietnamese are rich??
Like people said vietnamese people had been poor for years, and by being poor then they must adopted sitting on the floor and used it as a tradition...
IF you say IF they are rich then they sit on chairs and table then i guess MOST of the population in vietnam sits on floor, because they are average or just plain poor.