The origin of the custom of worshiping the Four Holy Mothers
The presentations focused on highlighting a number of related issues, including reaching a consensus affirming that Con Temple is the origin and center of the worship of the Four Holy Mothers, a unique feature of Vietnamese maritime culture.
The legend of Con Temple and the worship of the Four Holy Mothers are mentioned in many books, both official history and folk legends. By connecting similar details and eliminating the discrepancies between books and legends, we can imagine the story as follows. Around the year 1279, the Mongol army gradually annexed the Southern Song Dynasty in China.
During a battle at Nhai Son, the Southern Song army was defeated. Left Prime Minister Luc Tu Phu hugged Emperor Di Binh (who was only about 8 years old at the time) and jumped into the sea to commit suicide. The Empress Dowager and three princesses (according to the story, the Empress Dowager, two princesses and a maid) hugged the mast and drifted to a temple by the sea, where they were rescued and raised by a monk. Several months later, when the Empress Dowager and the princesses regained their strength and their faces returned to their noble beauty, the monk was moved by worldly desires and expressed his desire to have an affair.
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The procession of the God of the Outer Con Temple in Quynh Phuong (Quynh Luu). Photo: Tran To |
Being rejected, the monk felt ashamed and threw himself into the sea. The Queen Mother of the Southern Song Dynasty thought that the monk had saved her life, and now the monk was dying because of her, so they threw themselves into the sea together. The bodies of the mother and her four children drifted to Can Hai Gate (Cua Con) in Phuong Can Commune (now Quynh Phuong Commune). Seeing that her face was still as fresh as when she was alive, the local people buried her. Seeing that she was very holy, they built a temple to worship her.
Since then, every time boats went out to sea and encountered big waves and strong winds, they would pass by here to pray for safety. In 1311, King Tran Anh Tong personally led his army to attack Champa, stopped at Can Hai gate, at night he dreamed of a goddess crying and saying: "I am a concubine of the Trieu Tong dynasty, forced by the enemy, drowned in the storm and drifted here, God appointed me as the Sea Goddess here for a long time, now seeing Your Majesty leading the army, I ask for your help to make a contribution" (Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu book).
Indeed, when the king marched, the sea was calm, he marched straight to Champa and captured the king of Champa alive. On the way back, passing Can Hai, the king ordered his officials to hold a thanksgiving ceremony and issued an edict for Phuong Can village to offer sacrifices four seasons. Later, when King Le Thanh Tong marched to attack Champa, he also stopped at Can Hai to pray for the goddess's protection. And the king-poet suddenly felt inspired and wrote the poem "Da nhap Xuong Cang thi" (Night entering Xuong Cang), which includes two lines:
Oi hill, blue shirt on the mountain,
The Holy Maiden was born from the water of the previous life.
(On the Hill Mountain Oh, the mountain air covers
(In front of the temple of the Holy Mother, the tide rises)
Returning victorious, King Le Thanh Tong did not forget to stop at Con Temple to thank the Saint's merits, and bestowed the title "Dai Can Thanh Nuong Quoc Quoc, Nam Hai Tu Vi Thuong Dang Than". At the same time, he composed the poem "Can Hai Mon Lu Hanh" (Staying at Can Hai seaport), which includes two lines:
Dream of Emperor Anh Tong in the Nine Provinces of the Peach Blossom Wind
Incense from the Holy Lady
(The storm woke me up early from the dream of King Anh Tong.
Incense smoke still lingers from the temple of the Holy Lady)
Since then, Con Temple has become more and more sacred, a spiritual place for the people of Phuong Can village to entrust their souls whenever they go out to sea. Boats from other places also come to burn incense and pray to the Four Holy Ladies for peace and prosperity. Every year, the people of Phuong Can organize the Con Temple Festival in early spring, a festival that lasts nearly a month.
The Con Temple Festival is attractive with games such as running, swimming with clams, swimming with poles, swimming with Golden Prize, swimming with Gieng Gia, swimming with Ong Coc... Each game is associated with a legend surrounding this most famous and sacred temple in Nghe An (Nhat Con, Nhi Qua, Bach Ma, Chieu Trung). The book Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi wrote about the Con Temple Festival: "This temple is often responsive. Every year in December, there is a boat racing festival, and many people come to watch."
Phuong Can village is increasingly prosperous, the population is growing, so there is a need to migrate to explore new lands. Whether going to the South or the North, Phuong Can people often choose similar locations to the old village (coastal or river mouths, sea mouths) to establish villages. Coming to the new land, generations of Phuong Can villagers never forget their homeland with the sacred temple, so they bring with them the customs of their homeland.
Not to mention people from other regions passing through Cua Con and seeing the sacred temple, they immediately asked for incense sticks to bring back to their village and built temples to worship. Thanks to that, the custom of worshiping the Four Holy Mothers has spread to many coastal villages across the country. These are Ninh Cuong Temple, Tong Hau Temple, Xa Ha Temple (Nam Dinh), Mau Temple (Hung Yen), Dai Lo Temple (old Ha Tay), and the temple in Sinh Tu Street (Hanoi). Then the coastal areas of Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Da Nang to the vast provinces of the Southern region all have temples to worship the Four Holy Mothers and Dai Can Holy Mother.
According to some documents, in Quynh Luu, besides Phuong Can village, there are about 30 other places worshiping the Four Holy Ladies. In the whole Thanh Hoa province, there are 81 villages worshiping the Four Holy Ladies. It is worth mentioning that the custom of worshiping the Four Holy Ladies spreads to any land, giving rise to new legends and miracles, but there are still many details that have certain connections with the legends in Phuong Can village and the miracles of Con Temple.
Due to the natural conditions between different regions, the achievements of the Four Holy Mothers also have slight changes to suit the living conditions, wishes and hopes of each region.
Thus, Phuong Can village (Quynh Phuong commune - Quynh Luu today) in particular, Nghe An in general can be proud to be the place where the custom of worshiping the Four Holy Ladies originated, a beautiful feature in the spiritual life of coastal residents. On the path of exchange and integration today, this cultural beauty needs to be respected, preserved and promoted further, contributing to building an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity...
Cong Kien
