When the Marriage Customs of Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam Have Been Vulgarized

Abstract

The marriage customs of ethnic minorities in Vietnam including the sleeping together for courting, “husband catching”, “wife pulling”, consanguineous and levirate marriage contain the deep humane, social and cultural values in nature. But these marriage customs had been and have being exploited increasingly by both the “insiders” and “outsiders” in order to gain the pragmatic aims. So how have they been taken advantages and what have been consequences of this exploitation? The writing made clear two these questions. Through the practical situation of vulgarization of the marriage customs of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, the writing would like to indicate the pragmatism of people or cultural subjectives in making cultural change and to emphasize the necessary role of the instrumental approach in study of cultural continuity and change