Current Issues in Mother Goddess Worship in Hung Yen and Some Solutions

even ordinary people. It is not only people in Vietnam, but also Mothers from other countries.

This has been demonstrated through the Mother Goddess worship activities at typical worshiping establishments of Hung Yen such as Ghenh Temple, Mother Goddess Temple, Thien Hau Temple and Bao Chau Temple. Here, people encounter the Mother Goddess worshiping rituals with unique characteristics of this type of belief and the Mother Goddess worship activities with many different forms of expression. Besides, there are also many solemn and solemn rituals and bustling festival activities with great support from the people. All of these have created the richness and uniqueness of Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen.

Chapter 3: ISSUES IN MOTHER GODDESS WORSHIP IN HUNG YEN TODAY AND SOME SOLUTIONS

3.1. Comments and issues raised in the Mother Goddess worship belief in Hung Yen today

3.1.1. Comments on the current status of Mother Goddess worship

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The activities of the Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen today are affected by current historical and social conditions. It is a combination of subjective and objective factors in social life. The Mother Goddess worship has become an indigenous folk belief. The festival of the Mother Goddess worship has attracted the attention of many agencies and departments throughout the country. Under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and patriotism, love for independence, freedom and democracy, our people have had love for all the precious cultural heritages left by their ancestors. Therefore, traditional cultural values ​​have been quickly restored and flourished everywhere.

Our country Vietnam is on the path of innovation and integration and Hung Yen is also in that process. Material life is increasingly improved, the spirit is comfortable so people have the conditions to take care of spiritual and religious activities. The Mother Goddess worship activities in Hung Yen today have not simple manifestations. The Mother Goddess worship is affected by many different causes in society and currently it exists in a state of movement, change, intertwined with traditional and modern factors, the negative and the positive.

- Worship rituals are increasingly modernized. The process of performing rituals is supported by modern equipment such as: sound systems, lighting, smoke machines... The Mother's palace is also decorated with colorful lights; Offerings and votive paper also have the shadow of modern items: Western wine, cigarettes, soft drinks, villas, cars, dollars, phones...

Hau Dong is becoming more and more popular in places of worship. In the Hau Dong ritual, there are cultural values ​​that need attention. For example, during the trance, the costumes and colors corresponding to the saints that possess the male and female mediums often wear such as: elaborate and diverse shirts, scarves, jewelry, etc. This is also a form of preserving the traditional costumes of the nation.

- The subjects of worship are rich and diverse in both composition and social status. In the past, the male and female mediums were mainly married people in rural areas. Nowadays, there are also unmarried young people, even students, intellectuals, civil servants, and public employees who "pull up chairs" to serve the Saints.

- The followers of Mother Goddess worship are increasingly rich and diverse in both quantity and composition and social status. In recent years, more and more people have come to Mother Goddess worship, mostly to pray for peace, success in career, promotion, etc.

Nowadays, in addition to worshiping their ancestors at home, people in Hung Yen also go to temples, pagodas and pagodas to worship the Mother Goddess, especially at the beginning of the year. Psychologically, some people believe that "if you worship, you will be blessed" , so they go to worship to feel comfortable mentally. There is a notion that business people are more "superstitious", this is not entirely true, because superstition is a common condition, occurring in all classes of people in society regardless of gender, ethnicity and class. In the past, only married women who worked in farming or trading came to places to worship the Mother Goddess. But now, many young men and women, students, civil servants, state employees and even officials with high ranks and positions in society also participate in the Mother Goddess worship. They participate in the rituals with spiritual purposes and their own wishes for a happy life, peace, fame, career, education...

- The places of worship in the province have now received much attention and contributions from the government, the people and the believers. Most of the places of worship have been preserved, renovated and built more spaciously than before. Specifically: the gates of the temples have been rebuilt, larger and more beautiful; the interiors have been renovated, painted, and equipped with new worship items, gilded altars, parallel sentences, etc. The Mother Goddess's palace is also more splendidly decorated than before.

-The Mother Goddess worship holds an important position in the spiritual life of the people in the province in particular and in the whole country in general.

The belief in Mother Goddess worship once again deepens the tradition of “When drinking water, remember its source” that our people have always worshiped for thousands of years. It is the worship of the people for those who have contributed to the country and the nation. This is the good morality of the Vietnamese people. That cultural trait is expressed at three cultural levels: Family, village, nation. Honoring Goddesses, Mother Goddesses in legends or Mother Goddesses in real life. It is due to the awareness of the origin, gratitude to the mother. It is not a religion, it is just a belief that brings faith to everyone, but it is a belief that is difficult to replace and develop as it is.

- A notable point that exists in festivals in general and Mother Goddess worship festivals in particular is that commercialism also appears in both the ritual and festival parts.

A reality that is happening at Mother Goddess worshiping establishments in Hung Yen today is that, taking advantage of the permission to restore and develop some traditional folk festivals, many places have "ceded" Mother Goddess worshiping places to places for superstition to exist. Many people rely on this policy to open Mother Goddess worshiping temples to worship for purposes other than common beliefs to seek personal gain, to get rich illegally, with all kinds of tricks from fortune telling, saints appearing, spirit possession, and establishing palaces. There are also places where, due to the lack of strict management by authorities, theft, arson, and extortion of festival-goers have occurred. Or there are places where

has turned the spaces around places of worship into business locations (parking, selling goods, etc.). In particular, currently in Hung Yen, there is a fairly common phenomenon in religious activities in general and Mother Goddess worship in particular, which is the phenomenon of "praying on behalf of" in places of worship. This "praying on behalf of" army can provide "full package" services from buying offerings, writing petitions, etc. when requested by worshipers.

In addition, there are also "professional" hau dong and hau bong teams that have become "service" teams that go to places to ask for chau at the mediums, reducing the sacredness of its unique spiritual stage form, polluting the cultural environment. On the other hand, these "professional" teams have arbitrary colors of costumes that do not follow any rules. Moreover, when they perform the ritual of worship or hau, their voices sound like those of a cheo or tuong actor, making the Hau dong ceremony of the Mother Goddess worship lose its solemnity and be far from traditional beliefs.

3.1.2. Issues raised in Mother Goddess worship

Besides the positive values ​​that the Mother Goddess worship brings to the spiritual life of Hung Yen people, there are still existing problems that need timely solutions to ensure the cultural beliefs. The process of developing a market economy has brought about its negative aspects: The polarization between rich and poor, the difference in living standards between the current population classes are some of the many causes affecting fairness in the enjoyment of spiritual and cultural values. The consequence of this is the difference in moral concepts, lifestyles... which affects good customs and traditions, disregarding traditional cultural values. Besides positive manifestations, there are also negative manifestations such as: burning votive paper, fortune telling, spirit possession to ward off bad luck...

- The Mother Goddess worship is tending to become a form of spiritual service. Besides creating convenience for those in need to seek

Model, it also leads to certain negative aspects. In Hung Yen, many male and female mediums today have integrated many supernatural abilities to meet the different spiritual needs of believers: fortune telling, exorcism, demon extermination, feng shui, date and time, even healing... Although they do not have many such abilities, these worship subjects still tacitly perform, turning the sacred place into a place to trade gods and saints for money.

- Worship rituals, typically the Hau Dong ritual, are being commercialized. In the past, people went to places of worship with the desire to receive a simple ceremony or pray for fame, career... when they had a need and did not care much about money, "just a red scarf was enough to be able to Hau Dong, the lucky gifts were some fruits, candy or small symbolic coins" [76, p. 155]. But now, the Dong men and Dong women often require the cost for each ritual depending on the nature of the ritual and the economic capacity of the believer. For example, performing the Cut-off-predetermined relationship ceremony, Di cung hoan so, Paying off the debt to the mandarin, and the Cau Cong Danh ceremony cost tens of millions of dong.

The male and female mediums also earn some extra money by preparing certain rituals for believers, such as: buying offerings, votive paper, food, etc. if believers have a need. So how should the issue of the Hau Dong ritual be evaluated and treated?

- A large number of believers still have a wrong perception about the rituals of the Mother Goddess worship as well as the abilities of the male and female mediums. When facing any difficulties in life, these believers often seek out the male and female mediums to see if there will be any limitations this year, if their land or house will be disturbed, if there will be any ghosts following them, etc. Then, they perform all kinds of rituals according to the advice of the male and female mediums, leading to a waste of money and property while the difficulties are still not resolved.

- Most places of worship are completely entrusted to the local authorities, without close supervision or direct management from the authorities at all levels, departments, and organizations in charge.

The practice of burning votive paper still exists and is spreading on a larger scale and at an increasing rate. In the past, believers simply burned money and gold, but today, they buy all kinds of votive paper: houses, cars, phones, computers, laptops, dollars, etc. to burn on every occasion. Even the amount of votive paper spent on a ceremony can reach tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dong.

- Society is increasingly developing, communication relations are expanding, market economy is increasingly spreading into the system of beliefs and religions. The Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen is actually deformed, gradually moving away from the original phenomenon of Mother Goddess worship. The worship content in Mother Goddess worship is very rich, related to the subjects of the ceremony and the "Festival" part in the Mother Goddess worship festival is somewhat more obscure than the "Ceremony" part and this is also the basis for superstitious elements to have the opportunity to develop.

During the festival activities in Hung Yen, there are also scammers. They cheat believers and tourists with activities such as fortune telling, physiognomy, etc. Besides, within the festival, there are also some business entities "ripping off" tourists. Robberies still occur during the festival...

A researcher wrote about the Mother Goddess worship belief as follows: “Like any other religion or belief, in addition to ethical and cultural values, in the process of its existence and development, anti-ethical and anti-cultural phenomena also arise and parasitize… However, those dusts and rubbish still cannot cover up the beautiful symbol of the Mother Goddess” [72, p. 430]. In that situation, what must the Party, the State, localities, sectors and organizations as well as the people do to restore those values?

cultural values ​​and true spiritual values ​​of Mother Goddess worship and eliminate negative factors that arise?

3.2. Some solutions to preserve and promote traditional values ​​in Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen today

3.2.1. General solution

First , actively propagate the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's policies and laws on respecting freedom of belief and freedom of non-belief.

The purpose of this measure is to contribute to raising awareness, helping people understand that:

First, every citizen has the right to freedom of belief and freedom of non-belief, religion, to follow or not to follow any religion.

Second, resolutely and severely handle those who take advantage of freedom of belief and religion to disrupt political and social stability, disturb public order, and divide national unity...

Belief is an essential spiritual need of a part of the population, it is and will exist with the Vietnamese people in the process of building a democratic, civilized, modern, rich and beautiful Vietnam. Freedom of belief has been determined since the early years of the nation's founding and is expressed in the 1946 Constitution, as well as later the content of freedom of belief has been expanded, continued to be recognized and developed in the Constitutions. In recent years, there have been a number of legal documents continuing to concretize the ideas of our Constitution on belief and religion such as: Resolution No. 25

-NQ/TW dated March 12, 2003 of the Central Executive Committee of the Party; Ordinance on Belief and Religion of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (2004).

In addition, we must have plans and measures to disseminate legal and sub-legal documents to the people so that they understand the Party's policies and the State's laws.