People flock to get rid of bad luck for... cars

(Baonghean.vn) -Every January, tens of thousands of tourists gather at the sacred temples of Nghe An to visit, pray for wealth and fortune. In addition, many people also bring their cars to ward off bad luck and 'purify' them at a high price..

Previously, the ritual of cleansing and consecration was only for mascots with eyes such as Pixiu, three-legged toads, foxes, etc., or houses. However, in recent years, as the number of cars has increased sharply, services for this type of vehicle have also been introduced to temples and pagodas. In the picture is a photo taken at Hoang Muoi Temple. Although it was only early in the morning, there were already many cars waiting for their turn to be cleansed and consecrated at the beginning of the year.

A tray of offerings was prepared by a stall at Hoang Muoi Temple for customers to conduct the "cleansing" ceremony for a car from Vinh City. The car's "cleansing" ceremony is performed by many small groups of people working at the temple, they are closely linked together through the stages of buying offerings, writing petitions, making offerings and worshiping. The car owner only needs to bring the car and prepare an amount of about 5 million VND to pay.

The next important step is to write the petition. There are two main types of petitions: one for cars (clearly stating the owner's full name, hometown and license plate number) and the other for praying for the driver's safety. When asked by customers which deity the petition and offerings will be offered to, the "masters" only explain that there are 13 gods, but they do not remember which ones.

The ceremony is divided into 2 trays, displaying lots of gold money, coffins, fruits, candies, boiled eggs, white salt, paper horses...

Then a tray of offerings was brought into the main shrine of the temple to perform a prayer ceremony for the car owner.

The remaining ceremony is arranged next to the car to purify or remove bad luck right in front of the temple gate.

The monks performed a ceremony to ask the gods to protect the car so it would always be safe and sound.

Sprinkle wine water - a water considered "magic water" to effectively exorcise evil spirits from cars.

Water is sprinkled on all parts inside and outside the car, especially the wheels are "taken care of" most carefully.

Once completed, all offerings will be burned.

The amulets are kept and hidden carefully in the car to ensure the safety of the car. According to the "masters" at Hoang Muoi temple, at the end and beginning of the year, the number of customers who want to remove bad luck and purify their cars is very large, sometimes up to dozens of cars, although the amount of money to pay is quite large, ranging from 4 to 6 million VND.

These days, many tourists still come here to perform many spiritual activities. Most of them still contain the beauty of Vietnamese culture. However, we also need to be alert to avoid falling into superstition, causing damage, wasting time and money like the car exorcism that many people are doing.

Thanh Quynh