Hau Dong - a cultural beauty in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people

Essentially, a mediumship is a ritual of communicating with the gods through male and female mediums. When the gods possess the medium, they will perform rituals such as dancing, singing, chanting, preaching, etc.

It can be seen that currently there is no specific definition of what a spirit medium is, but this is just a concept to refer to the general spiritual state when the divine "enters" the body of the medium and through the body of the medium to express words, actions, and convey the intention.

Nowadays, Hau Dong has become an indispensable belief in people's lives, especially after the Lunar New Year which lasts until the end of the third and fourth lunar months. Hau Dong is often performed at temples where saints and gods are worshiped, which people call sacred temples. Hau Dong is so popular that if you go to sacred temples from the Central to the North on the first and second of each lunar month, they will be full of Hau Dong sessions.

Also because of the popularity deeply rooted in the spiritual life of the people and the uniqueness of the rituals in the spirit mediumship, on December 1, 2016 in Ethiopia, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially recognized "Practices related to the worship of the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms of the Vietnamese people" as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

According to many documents, the Mother Goddess worship was formed to meet the spiritual needs of people who depend heavily on nature, so over hundreds of years, Mother Goddess worship has become a beautiful cultural feature of the nation. "August is the death anniversary of father, March is the death anniversary of mother" has shown how important the Mother Goddess worship is in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. The Mother Goddess worship contains many profound humanistic and ethical values. It is an objective reflection of the nation's eternally good morality: "When drinking water, remember its source". In which, the image of the mother is honored in the central position. In addition, the Mother Goddess worship is also a combination of many beautiful folk cultural features such as: Music, language, knowledge, costumes... typically the Chau Van singing and Hau Dong rituals - a magical form of stage performance, full of sacredness.

Witnessing a spirit medium session at Dinh Do Quan Hoang Muoi Temple, we can see the interestingness of the rituals performed here. Spirit medium Cao Huy (alias Chi Minh Dao) said: To prepare a spirit medium session like this, we have to spend many days working hard. Because for the spirit medium session to have the necessary solemnity and sacredness, the performers must have the right mindset and be meticulous.

Thanh dong Cao Huy said: We always emphasize the preservation of traditional culture when performing the ritual of serving the spirit. When performing the spirit ceremony, we must prepare our costumes, appearance and demeanor properly, and every action must always be directed towards the word "Heart". When performing the spirit, we must do our best, bringing the most beautiful image to be both realistic and spiritual. We must let the audience see that this is a belief, a cultural beauty imbued with national identity, not a superstitious ritual.

“Everyone is born with origins, ancestors, and beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. However, in society, everyone has the right to freedom of belief, but they themselves must maintain the correct standards and norms of tradition, not misunderstand, distort, or degrade the spiritual cultural beauty of Mother Goddess worship and the ritual of spirit mediumship in a superstitious way. All of those beauties are the values ​​that the ritual of spirit mediumship and those who practice it like us always aim for,” said Thanh Dong Cao Huy.

For the spirit mediumship to truly be a beautiful feature in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, the most important thing is the way to implement the practice and the correct awareness of the people. "In order not to fall into superstition when practicing the Mother Goddess worship, followers need to equip themselves with knowledge about the history and formation of the belief and historical figures to better understand the nature and beauty of the belief" - Thanh dong Cao Huy expressed his opinion.