OI VIETNAM 29
All the Ladies
Dao Mau, the worship of Mau (the
Mother Goddess), is an important part
of Vietnam’s folk culture and identity.
Although its historical origins are not
clear, many scholars believe its roots go
back to prehistory when the Vietnamese
worshipped nature and its manifestations.
It may have originated in the farmlands
where people worshipped the heavens
for favorable weather; worshipped earth
for bountiful harvest; worshipped water
to avoid disastrous floods and lastly
worshipped the country’s highlands
because it provided defense against
northern invaders (China and Mongolia).
The Mother Goddess religion is
based on the worship of goddesses.
These goddesses are the Lady of the
Kingdom, Thien Y A Na (The Lady of the
Realm), Ba Chua Xu (The Lady of the
Storehouse), Ba Chua Kho and Princess
Lieu Hanh. It is associated with spirit
mediumship rituals—known in Vietnam
as len dong, hau bong or hau dong. It is
also practiced in other parts of Asia, such
as Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Dao Mau can be described as a
syncretic religion mixing elements of
Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism,
with substantial influences from other
indigenous religions of Vietnam. Each
domain, or realm, to which the spirits
are assigned, have a specific color, and
determine the color of the mediums'
costumes, headdress and even ritual
implements. The color red is assigned to
the domain of Heaven, the yellow to the
Earth domain, the white to the Water
domain and the green to the Mountains
and Forests domain.
Since Dao Mau was born in the
oral tradition, it does not exist in
written form. The tradition lived on for
millennia, passing from generation to
generation through ritual, ceremonies,
songs and dances and poetry.
The basic difference between Dao
Mau and other religious traditions
(including shamanistic beliefs) is that it
is not concerned with life after death, but
with life now. It is essentially a woman’s
religion, and is concerned with people’s
success, health, material benefits and
good fortune during their time on earth,
rather than in the afterlife.
In contrast with other universal
religions, the cult of Mother
Goddesses has neither a structured
doctrine nor an organized clergy. It
is grounded in daily life’s tribulations
and contentments, and is concerned
with the here and now of people's
existence, which explains its appeal to
the younger generation. It also extols
Vietnamese traditional values, virtues
and naturally, its history and culture.
Hau Dong is one of the primary rituals
of the Dao Mau religion and embodies
the worship of mother goddesses in
Vietnam. It is technically a ritual of spirit
mediumship and literally means “receiving
the incarnations of spirits” in Vietnamese.
There are variations of the term, such
as len dong (“mounting the medium”
or “going into a trance”), and hau bong
(“servicing the spirits”).
The religious buoyancy of the past
two decades in Vietnam increased the
opportunities for earning an income
from mediumship. Many mediums make
a reasonable income from their religious
work and depending on their marketing
acumen can become quite wealthy.
The ritual of Hau Dong takes between
two to seven hours, and must start by
submitting petitions to Buddha and to
the spirits of Dao Mau for the ceremony
to proceed. This is carried out by a spirit
priest (thay cung) capable of reading and
writing the petitions in archaic Sino-Vietnamese language. These men (as they
always are) are Buddhist "masters" who
were brought to Buddhist temples at a
young age, and are taught the ancient
Vietnamese characters along with written
Chinese, but remain laymen throughout
their lives.
The ceremonial rites start with
mediums sitting at the center of the area
in front of the altars, surrounded by at
least two assistants (hau dang). Dressed
in simple white satin pajamas, they light
incense sticks, chew on betel leaf-areca
wads, and may smoke. They often close
their eyes and sway to the rhythm of the
chau van music.