(VOVworld) - Mother Goddess Worship and trance rituals (or “hầu đồng”) are traditional religious practices in Vietnam, with the latter considered an art performance combined with music, singing, and dancing. Mother Goddess Worship and trance rituals, with their special cultural values, have stood the test of time and are part of the Vietnamese cultural heritages. Vietnam is completeing its dossiers for UNESCO recognition of these two rituals as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by 2013. Tô Tuấn reports…

The "Đạo Mẫu" religion refers to the worship of mother goddesses in Vietnam. In the beginning, goddesses worship depicted representations of nature like the goddess of the earth, water, and mountain. Later, princesses, queens, and female founders of craft villages were honored and worshipped by the local people as Mother goddesses. The image of the Mother goddess is very familiar in Vietnamese spiritual life. She is either a god with mysterious powers or a tolerent-hearted mother.Former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Cultural Studies, Professor Ngô Đức Thịnh told VOV: "Mother Goddesses are believed to create and control the universe while protecting humans and bringing them health, wealth, and prosperity. The more developed the society is, the more the Mother Goddess has bestowed health, wealth, and fortune upon the people."


Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh's temple
The universe is believed to be divided into three realms, distinguished by colors: Thiên Phủ or the Heaven, Địa Phủ or the Earth, and Thoải Phủ or the Ocean, which are symbolized by red, yellow, and white respectively. In some legends, Nhạc Phủ or the Mountains and Forests represented by the color green is also included to form four realms of the universe. A sanctuary to worship 3 or 4 Mother Goddesses, who control different realms, can be found in most of Vietnam’s pagodas. Trance is an especially important ritual accompaning the religion of Mother Goddess worship, and is now an art performance with dancing and chau van singing.
The spiritual trance ritual usually takes place at pagodas and temples in a very solemn atmostphere. Colorful offerings and flickering candles, making the main sanctuary a splendid stage, along with now-high-now-low music is very attractive to attendees. A selected medium, most of whom are often women or men disguised as women, become a different person as they now embody the deities’ spirits. Two to four assistants sit by the person challenging the spirit to facilitate different incarnations as the medium has to change her clothes and assessories with a red scarf on her head after each incarnation. With slow and fast sounds by traditional musical instruments, ancient stories and legends are sung while the medium incarnates into different deities or spirits such as a general, a mandarin, or a dancing lady. The spiritualist dances are varied in accordance with different incarnations, in which she performs. An attendee named Liên, who used to be an artist, says: "I was an artist and joined in many plays. When attending the trance, I feel that each incarnation is a play and each person channelling a spirit is an artist who can express fully the emotions of the character she portrays."
People who rendered great services to the nation are honored as deities through trance. The ritual also brings about an extensive collection of legends integrated with different art types including oral literature, songs, dances, and decoration. Domestic and international researchers say that Mother Goddess worship and the trance ritual are of great historical value in Vietnam, which represent the people’s creativity, the community’s strength and the country’s development.
To Tuan