Preserving the beauty of Mother Goddess worship

(Baonghean) - “The practice of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship” has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. To preserve, conserve and promote the value of this heritage, it is necessary to promptly correct and eliminate deviant, unsightly and unattractive manifestations.

Honoring the Mother Goddess

Mother Goddess worship is a pure Vietnamese folk belief that has existed since prehistoric times, changing to adapt to changes in society. From the very beginning, Vietnamese people have used the image of the mother to honor, worship and entrust their faith. The mother is also nature. Over time, the image of the Mother Goddess tends to be "historicized", "localized" and "humanized", gradually associated with many legends that have contributed to the country, loved the people, and even associated with real characters.

The Mother Goddess worship religion aims at life, real faith with the desire for health, wealth, luck of all social classes... Worshiping human gods, the Mother Goddess worship religion also honors the tradition of patriotism, the spirit of returning to the origin, carrying the morality of "When drinking water, remember the source, when eating fruit, remember the person who planted the tree"; Honoring the spirit of solidarity, community awareness through the image of "co co, bong cau"; Honoring the beauty of Vietnamese women in tradition.

The ritual of spirit mediumship at Ong Hoang Muoi temple.

During the process of formation and transformation, the Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship has integrated unique cultural and artistic values. A typical example is the performance of the spirit mediumship (hau dong) ritual. Hau dong integrates many art forms, in which the most prominent is the unique singing style.

This singing style makes the spirit mediumship ritual lively and attractive thanks to the sound of strings, drums, and accompanying music, along with the lyrics recalling the stories and achievements of the saints and the way the characters and scenery are decorated, directly affecting the audience, conveying the very unique traditional cultural values ​​of the Vietnamese people.

In our country, the practice of Mother Goddess worship was once banned. The reason is that in many places, the ritual of spirit mediumship was transformed into superstition; many people took advantage of Mother Goddess religion to "sell gods and saints". In the years after the renovation, building a socialist culture imbued with national identity, Mother Goddess religion was restored and developed rapidly and strongly.

The reason why Mother Goddess religion has developed strongly is because this is a purely Vietnamese belief that comes from spiritual needs. However, before and after the "Practice of Mother Goddess worship of the Vietnamese people" was honored by UNESCO, Mother Goddess religion has been, is and will continue to face the risk of not being protected and promoted properly.

Rectification to preserve heritage

Located far from the center of the palace and temple in the Northern region, the people of Nghe An have always attached great importance to the worship of Mother Goddesses. Along the vertical and horizontal axis of the terrain, from Hoang Mai to Vinh city, from Cua Lo to Ky Son, there are temples and places of worship of Mother Goddesses everywhere. These are Con temple, Hoang Muoi temple, Hong Son temple, Cua temple, Ngoc Dien temple, Pu Nha Thau temple...

Currently, there are no statistics on places of worship, but according to the late Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao, in Quynh Luu district alone, there are more than 30 places of worship of the Four Holy Ladies.

Compared to other Mother Goddess worshiping places in the province, Ong Hoang Muoi Temple (Hung Nguyen District) is the most famous. During major festivals such as the beginning of the year, the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month and the 10th day of the 10th lunar month, Ong Hoang Muoi Temple has tens of thousands of people coming to burn incense, pray and practice Mother Goddess worship.

According to the management board of Hoang Muoi Temple, each year the temple welcomes about 400 - 500 groups of mediums to practice their beliefs, mainly from the northern provinces. Some groups include male and female mediums, some do not.

Also worshiping Quan Hoang Muoi, but Hong Son temple has fewer visitors, perhaps due to landscape reasons and limited space conditions for practicing the religion.

Many people who come to practice their beliefs at the temple bring too much votive paper, incense and candles.

However, the practice of beliefs at Ong Hoang Muoi Temple and Hong Son Temple currently has many distorted and offensive manifestations: Scenes of jostling to pray for blessings; burning too much votive paper, causing environmental pollution; many people are too extravagant with incense, lights, and offerings, praying for things that are not in accordance with morality, contrary to the belief of worshiping the Mother Goddess with only simple and sincere ceremonies; some rituals of the spirit mediumship in the blessing part, instead of symbolic incense and flowers, have been distorted and replaced with money and gold, distorting the original good meaning.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Khanh - Deputy Manager of Ong Hoang Muoi Temple admitted the current situation: "Before the association and temple came to perform the ritual of Hau Dong, the temple management board also reminded but it was not effective. In reality, it is very difficult to manage closely because belief is a very delicate and sensitive matter."

To preserve and promote the good values ​​of the practice of Mother Goddess worship, there is much to be done. There should be specific regulations and unified standards for performing rituals. In addition, the responsibility of cultural management agencies, especially at the local level, should be further strengthened.

In addition, further promote education so that people understand and appreciate religious heritage, thereby behaving appropriately - especially those who directly practice religion, in praising good things and condemning acts of distortion, profiteering, and applying and promoting its value in artistic life...

Regarding the “sensitive” factors in the management of places of worship, Prof. To Ngoc Thanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association suggested: “The management of activities related to Mother Goddess worship at temples and shrines is not a new issue. It has been raised for decades, but the authorities have not yet agreed on a model and management method. When it comes to the spiritual aspect, we need to strictly maintain the customs and standards of our ancestors.”

Thanh Son