spirits is very common; many believe that the traditions are important links to culture and history and are enjoyable, while others believe that failing to perform the proper rituals for one's ancestors will literally cause them to become hungry ghosts (). A 2002 Pew Research Center report claimed that 24% of the population of Vietnam view religion as "very important". Statistics Varied sources indicate very different statistics of religious groups in Vietnam Statistics controversy Government statistics of the religion in Vietnam, are counts of members of religious organization recognized by the government. Hence, this does not include people practicing folk religion, which is not recognized by government. Also, many people practice religion such as Buddhism without taking any membership of specific government organization. Official statistics from the 2019 Census, also not categorizing folk religion, indicates that Catholicism is the largest (organized) religion in Vietnam, surpassing Buddhism. While some other surveys reported 45-50 millions Buddhist living in Vietnam, the government statistics counts for 6.8 millions. It is the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, however, does not reports official statistics on its adherents. The great gaps in statistics on the number of Buddhist adherents is due to disagreement on the very criteria of what constitute a Buddhist. History The earliest forms of Vietnamese religious practice were animistic and totemic in nature. The decorations on Dong Son bronze drums, generally agreed to have ceremonial and possibly religious value, depict the figures of birds, leading historians to believe birds were objects of worship for the early Vietnamese. Dragons were another frequently recurring figure in Vietnamese art, arising from the veneration of Lạc Long Quân, a mythical dragon-king who is said to be the father of the Vietnamese people. The Golden Turtle God Kim Quy was said to appear to kings in times of crisis, notably to Lê Lợi, from whom he took the legendary sword Thuận Thiên after it had been dropped into Hoan Kiem Lake. Contact with Chinese civilization, and the introduction of the triple religion of Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, added a further ethical and moral dimension to the indigenous Vietnamese religion. A recent research using folkloristic computations has provided evidence on the existence of "cultural additivity" by examining the interaction of Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism throughout the history of Vietnam. Folk religions Scholars such as Toan Ánh (Tín ngưỡng Việt Nam 1991) have listed a resurgence in traditional belief in many local,