Horses in Vietnamese Culture: From Tradition to New Era

The year 2026 is the year of the horse. Belonging to the Fire element in the five elements, the horse represents endurance, enthusiasm, and readiness to break through. In East Asian culture, especially in Vietnam, the horse also carries the meaning of aspiration to rise, the spirit of freedom, strong vitality, and the humanistic depth of the nation.

The horse represents speed and endurance, reflecting Vietnam’s determination to move forward in the digital era

The horse holds a special position in the system of the 12 zodiac animals, corresponding to the Horse branch. The Hour of the Horse (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) is the brightest time of the day; the Month of the Horse (the fifth lunar month) is the peak of summer, when heaven, earth, and people reach a state of fullness. Therefore, the horse is associated with energy, development, harmony, and fulfillment.

From language, beliefs, literature, and art to daily life, the image of the horse has always accompanied Vietnamese culture as a symbol rich in meaning, flexible, and enduring. Among domestic animals close to humans, the horse has served not only as a means of transport, labor, or warfare but has also carried abundant spiritual meaning and high symbolic value. The horse is linked with movement, speed, strength, the spirit of conquest, and the desire to reach far. For this reason, the image of the horse early became a symbol of life energy, dynamism, endurance, and loyalty. At communal houses, temples, and pagodas, the image of a pair of wooden horses, usually one white horse and one red horse, is solemnly worshiped on both sides of the altar. That symmetry shows not only dignity and sanctity but also symbolizes the balance of yin and yang, the harmony of the universe, and the sacred order toward which humans aspire.

The horse has long been a familiar image in Vietnamese cultural and artistic life, appearing widely in proverbs, idioms, folk verses, and especially in poetry. The image of the horse enters the literary world with a liberal and romantic beauty yet always containing deep reflection. Each work portrays a distinct shade of this symbol, at times suggesting loneliness, at times reflecting the hardship of earning a living, and at other times opening the desire for escape and the flight of the artistic soul. In music, the presence of the horse appears clearly through the cheerful and emotional folk melody Ly Ngua O. Vietnamese children also grow up with nursery rhymes carrying the image of the horse, making this symbol a familiar part of childhood memory.

In the legend of Saint Giong, the image of the horse becomes even more sacred and powerful. The iron horse that Saint Giong rode was not only a means of battle but also a symbol of extraordinary strength and the resilient spirit of the nation.

The horse has also become a familiar motif in Vietnamese traditional architecture and fine arts, especially in folk painting traditions such as Dong Ho and Hang Trong. In ancient architectural works, horse images are often carved on communal houses, temples, and shrines as symbols of strength, loyalty, and protective spirit.

The image of the horse has been closely attached to the daily life of Vietnamese people since ancient times. The horse once served as a means of travel, an assistant in labor, a transporter of goods, and a companion in battles, connected with many historical stories. The sound of horse hooves, the graceful form, and the endurance of this animal have left deep marks in the memory of many generations, creating an image both familiar and rich in meaning in the Vietnamese mind.

In the era of national rise, the image of the horse carries many similarities with the spiritual strength toward which the country is moving. The horse is a symbol of speed, endurance, and the ability to overcome obstacles, qualities of a Vietnam striving to break through in the era of integration and digital transformation. Like horse hooves galloping on long roads, Vietnam today is accelerating strongly, overcoming challenges, affirming the aspiration to rise and conquer new heights in the future.

By Quynh Chi, Vietnam Business Forum