Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship
Explore below to learn more about this traditional folk religion widely practiced across Vietnam.
ABSTRACT
Dao Mau is a centuries-old Vietnamese folk religion centering on the worship of mother goddesses. In this decentralized religion, mediums commune directly with spirits. Mediums perform spirit possession rituals, called len dong, and practice ritual healing of yin illnesses. In the 20th century, religious practices were prohibited under communist rule, yet spirit worship and folk religion continued to be practiced in secret. Since 1987, the religion has gained popularity and has been practiced publicly. Today, Dao Mau is primarily practiced through rituals, from spirit possessions in temples to burning incense at home, and through the creation of relics and idols.
DAO MAU THROUGH TIME
THE SUBSIDY PERIOD
MOTHER GODDESS WORSHIP TODAY
"The Viet have never stopped believing in the existence of spirits."
Nguyen Thi Hien
SOURCES
Gennep, Arnold Van. The Rites of Passage. London: Routledge, 2004.
Hien, Nguyen Thi. 2007. “’Seats for spirits to sit upon’: Becoming a spirit medium in contemporary Vietnam.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 38 (3): 541-558.
Hien, Nguyen Thi. 2008. “Yin Illness: Its Diagnosis and Healing within Len Dong (Spirit Possession) Rituals of the Viet.” Asian Ethnology 67 (2): 305-321.
Kendall, Laurel, Thị Thanh Tâm Vũ, and Thị Thu Hương Nguyễn. "Three Goddesses in and out of Their Shrine." Asian Ethnology67, no. 2 (2008): 219-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163774.
Knecht, Peter. "Spirits without Borders. Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age (Book Review)." Anthropos 107, no. 2 (2012): 611-13.
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. 2011. Living Folklore, 2nd Edition: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan: Utah State University Press.