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Khoa Pham

2/3/2015

RELI 100

Prof. Sparks

Vietnamese Mother of Goddess Religion Rituals

There is unlimited question that has been passing down in history around “What is religion” through many civilizations, languages, or races. ‘Author James Livingston mentions in his book that “religion is a universal and abiding dimension of human experience” (Livingston 3). Through the perspective of Vietnamese religion, we could somehow understand the basic definition of religion by looking to the Vietnamese Mother of Goddess that is the ambassador to connect the material world with the genies. They are marked in the propitiation of spirits of fortune to people that relates to the knowledge of Vietnamese history, moral, and gender equally.

Vietnamese religions are consisted of spiritual and natural habits which mainly affected from Chinese religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc. However, among them, the Mother of Goddess is combination between the rituals of religious belief and folk performance art. This is an indigenous and unique form because it embraces Vietnamese culture and the tradition of patriotism. The spirit medium is the tool to connect and communicate between human to genies by going into a trance. It is most notable ritual is the medium performance which is considered “anthropomorphic polytheism”.

The researcher, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung at Vietnamese Belief Research Center, says: “According to legends, there are 36 Genies who are stationed in different regions. The 36 Genies are arranged in a strict hierarchical order. They spiritually match with certain people who are believed to have the fate of serving the Genies”. (Lan Anh, 2014) In the Mother of Goddess religion, a medium is called either Mr. or Ms. in different incarnate. But, most of the gods are women because they are the representation of reproduction, caring, and protection. The religion makes the women, the mothers as the role models in order to express the desire to break away from feudalism thinking.

The ritual is a traditional custom so it is mostly performed during anniversaries, Lunar New Year, full moon festivals, etc. There is no exact reason why the Vietnamese have to perform the ritual on those days. It is just their instinctive action to do so when the time comes. Sacred places like pagodas, temples are ideal locations for medium performers because it is considered extremely serious and formal. All of these characteristics are “set us apart from other living species” (Livingston 3). Apparently, medium possession is a form of communication to the gods. People believe that the spirit possession on mediums can have the abilities to cure diseases, perform exorcize, give away luckiness, wealth, etc. When the gods possessed on the mediums, they are not themselves anymore but the representative of the god that incarnating. This is “worship of manlike but superhuman and semi-ethical beings” (Smith 278).

The medium ritual consists of four concepts: incarnating, trance, singing, and offering. The ritual normally lasts for about 2 to 6 hours. A month prior to the performance, the medium must not have any “impure” actions or habits such as sexual intercourse, eating meat, drinking, etc. in order to have a purify body. Before the rituals, the medium, no matter male or female, has to wear make up to fulfill the roles during the performance. All of these religious steps are developing and passing down through history for generations. In conclusion, all of these human characteristics “set us apart from other living species.” (Livingston 3).

During the ritual, there are many incarnations taking place once in a while. Depend on the role assume, the costumes of the medium may vary for instance: a general, a mandarin, or a dancing girl. The medium needs to have two to four assistants to help him/her to change outfits to match each individual god. They are well-dressed depending on the role assumes in a red turban and belt and green silk robe embroidered with dragons and phoenixes. One of specific example, when the god of war incarnating, the medium may wear outfit like armor and carry a sword to dance with. In another case, the medium could be possessed by female gods who usually dance with paper fans, flowers, scarves. Each session has its own particular theme and movement along with the music. Each of the session last around 20-30 minutes. The sessions have to be in order. From Mother of Goddess, to General Gods, Official Gods, Merchant Gods, and so on. The ritual could have up to 36 sessions; depend on how formal that particular day is. However, Professor Ngoc Duc Thinh who is Director of the Center for Research and Preservation of Vietnamese Folk Belief and Culture says: “Everyone conveys their wishes to the Mother Goddess through the mediums who incarnate different deities and genies in 36 sessions. Some mediums can perform only 20 sessions. The figure of 36 trance sessions is just symbolic” ( Janet, n.d).

Chau Van is the traditional folk music for this ritual. The singers must specially train for Chau Van because it required skills along with instruments such as drums, moon-shaped flutes, bells, and trumpets. The lyrics are mainly about praising the power of the gods, the beauty of heaven. All the assistants and audiences have to kneel down around the medium and also have to dance along. When the dance finish, the still incarnating medium gives away small bills to the audiences around the place for luckiness. The small bills technically would not make any differences in each of every audience’s life. However, those bills would fulfill and satisfy their spiritual beliefs, that they could gain wealth after that day. We human are unlike other animals; we have “other rational, moral, social, aesthetic, and religious needs that, strangely, have no limits and cannot easily be satisfied” (Livingston 10). After each session, the medium sits in front of a round mirror, cover his/her face with a red cloth in order to invite the next god to possess.

Religion is a phenomenal form of believe that have been passing down through history. There is no particular definition of religion because “no definition can claim permanence” (Livingston 8). In the most general definition, religion is defined as a result of all of the answers of the origin, the relationship between humanity and the universe; questions about the purpose and meaning of existence. As a believer in some certain religion, they would have no notion of what is called “religion” in their spiritual world. “Religion” is an assumed thought of non-religious people who define the world of those religious.

Work Cited

Livingston, James C. Anatomy of the Sacred. New Jersey: The College of William & Mary, 2009. Print.

Smith, Jonathan Z. “Religion, Religions, Religious” Critical Terms for Religious Studies (1998): 269-283. Print.

Hoskin, Janet. “MOTHER GODDESS RELIGION” . USC Dornsife, Retrieve from http://dornsife.usc.edu/transnational-religion/mother-goddess-religion/

Lan Anh.”Trance ritual in the worship of the Mother Goddess” ( Dec 19,2014), retrieve from http://vovworld.vn/en-US/Culture/Trance-ritual-in-the-worship-of-the-Mother-Goddess/295877.vov