Overview of Forms of Belief

- Worship nature (sun, moon, water, rain, wind, thunder, lightning...), crops (squash, rice, corn, beans...), livestock (buffalo, cow, pig...).

- Worshiping totems (bird, fish, tree, buffalo totems...), worshiping ancestors (national ancestors, tutelary gods, ancestors, grandparents).

- Worship of reproduction: genitals and sexual activities.

- Worshiping the Mother Goddesses: the Goddesses, the Four Mother Goddesses (heavenly palace, earthly palace, music palace (upper mountains), water palace (mother goddess), the Lady of the land and Thien Yana...

- Worship national heroes, local heroes, people with great contributions to the people and the country: Saint Giong, Saint Tran, Tan Vien Son Thanh, Ba Trung, Ly Ong Trong...

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From that worshipful consciousness, in communities, customs and rituals of nature worship, ancestor worship, Mother worship and fertility rituals are formed. These are very familiar rituals and customs to Vietnamese people all over the country. Each of these beliefs has its deep roots in the relationship between humans and those supernatural objects. For example, why do humans worship nature? Because in daily life and work, every hour and every day, nature is closely linked and controls the success - failure, good - bad, good - bad in human activities. It gives rise to fear or apprehension, admiration or worship, and from there people perceive nature as sacred, divine beings. People put nature on family altars or in temples. Nature becomes a symbol in worship beliefs, in the culture of each nation, in literature and art of many eras. It is also the common path for beliefs to permeate the culture or community life of many ethnic groups in the world, not just in Vietnam.

1.1.2. Overview of forms of belief

Vietnamese beliefs are expressed in many diverse and rich forms. Below are some common forms of beliefs in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people:

Fertility beliefs encompass a vast universality in the treasure trove of Vietnamese folk beliefs. For rice-growing agricultural residents, the symbols of yin and yang, earth and sky, mountains and water are the main factors that create the growth of all things, all blending together with natural vitality to survive and develop. In every era, people still have the desire to learn and grasp everything about the world around them. That practice has formed a diverse and rich belief system, including fertility beliefs, beliefs that express people's belief in the prayer for reproduction, development of the race, the wish for prosperous production, and bountiful harvests. Ancient people also believed that through intuition, sacred energy accumulated in nature or in each person has the ability to be transferred to livestock and crops. Therefore, fertility beliefs with many folk worship rituals are increasingly developing.

Fertility worship is an indigenous belief of agricultural countries. Fertility means many; Real means to grow and flourish. Fertility worship is expressed through the worship of reproduction and sexual intercourse. This belief originated very anciently, when people went from not understanding or misunderstanding the cause of reproduction to beginning to understand the origin of reproduction of all things and humans as the combination of male - female, male - female, yin - yang... That reproduction of all things makes life abundant, people gradually fill the earth, crowded and happy. Reproduction therefore becomes sacred, and discovering the exact cause of reproduction is a wonderful new discovery that people worship. From there, it is expressed in cultural activities in two ways: rituals of worshiping male and female genitals and worshiping sexual intercourse. That belief is expressed in signals and symbols: yin - yang; heaven - earth; round - square; even - odd; fruit - hole; Chung cake (Tét) - Giay cake; Areca mo - a pestle, mortar - pestle... These symbols have entered art through carvings of stone or wooden idols; present in games.

folk games such as tram, no nuong procession, phet playing, con throwing; entered folk literature with myths about male and female goddess couples such as Nu Oa - Tu Tuong, Ong Dung - Ba Da, Ong Duc - Mu Cai, Ong Thu Tha - Ba Thu Thien in which the genitals are described and exaggerated.

Ancestor worship is a type of traditional belief that is universal in our nation. “Vietnamese ancestor worship in a broad sense means worshiping four-level deities: Country (King Hung) - Village (village god, especially village god) - Clan (ancestor) - Ancestral family (3 generations or 5 generations). Or three levels: Country - Village - Family. Four-level deity worship is often seen in the Northern region, especially the Northern Delta, where Kinh people have settled for a long time. Three-level deity worship is often seen in areas where Kinh people have just reclaimed and established their lives, such as the mountainous regions of the North, the Central Highlands and some parts of the South” [21, p. 39]. Ancestors in a narrow sense are people of the same bloodline, such as father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather... who gave birth to us: Humans have ancestors/ Like trees have roots, like rivers have sources.

Ancestor worship has become a traditional custom, holding a very special position in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, and is one of the elements that create the national cultural identity. The belief in ancestor worship is very simple: believing that one's ancestors are sacred, they have passed away but still live with their descendants, they bless their descendants when they encounter disasters and difficulties; they rejoice when their descendants are lucky, encourage their descendants when they encounter good things and also reprimand their descendants when they do sinful things...

This belief was formed with the great role of Confucianism. From the foundation, Confucianism's rational concept of metaphysics is to recognize the existence of souls and spirits, but does not focus on thinking about them, respecting spirits and keeping them at a distance. However, when it comes to daily life, the dead are worshiped as living people (death is like birth) , that is, to consider the dead as still present in front of us with full consciousness and feelings of the living and especially with the ability to do many things.

which the living are limited. The highest form of ancestor worship is that the representatives of Confucianism, or using Confucianism as the basis for building a system of ruling power, advocated honoring those who had meritorious deeds and virtues while alive by granting posthumous names, solemn ceremonies during funerals, and giving money and fields for their descendants to worship. It cannot be said that this was a political trick to buy the loyalty of the subjects, but it must be thought that the court itself also shared a belief that the souls of the subjects were always by the king's side to help him as they were when he was alive.

When talking about Confucianism, we must talk about filial piety. Children worship their parents not only while they are alive, but even when a high-ranking official in the royal court has a parent in mourning, he must ask for leave to mourn, sometimes even building a hut next to the grave to be close to the deceased parent's spirit. Nowadays, we consider it old-fashioned because we only look at the phenomenon; but in fact, it is also seen as very similar to the origin of the ghost worship custom of some tribes still living recently in the highlands or plateaus, when a relative dies, they are placed in a coffin made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, placed in the corner of the house, so that when they come in and out morning and night, they are still as close as when they were alive. A long time later, they are buried.

The concept that the dead go to another world and still live as they did when they were alive, although their status may change, so relatives must take care of the deceased so that life in the new world is not difficult or lacking. Burial is therefore a universal practice not only among the Vietnamese people, but also among many other peoples in the world since ancient times and still exists today, although there have been some changes in details. With the characteristics of polytheistic agricultural residents, Vietnamese families often worship many gods. Besides worshiping ancestors and Buddha, people also worship their Aunts and Uncles, who are relatives who died young or died at sacred hours.

Most Vietnamese families worship their grandparents and ancestors. Ancestor worship at home is usually carried out year-round, originating from the concept of

Although they have passed away, their souls are always with their descendants. They not only worship on important occasions such as funerals, death anniversaries, weddings... or on holidays such as Lunar New Year, Thanh Minh, Han Thuc, Doan Ngo... on Soc (first day of the month) and Vong (full moon) days according to the lunar cycle, but their descendants also respectfully inform them of all their joys and sorrows: birth, illness, exams, passing exams, lawsuits, disagreements, marriage... Descendants respectfully invite them to enjoy the first fruits of the season, and to thank their ancestors when they have good fortune and luck. It can be said that in the minds of the living, ancestors are immortal. Vietnamese people burn incense and perform ceremonies to worship their ancestors to report and ask for their blessings, or to express gratitude when work is successful. The nature of Vietnamese ancestor worship comes from the belief that the living and the dead are closely connected and support each other. Descendants visit and pray to their ancestors. Ancestors protect and guide future generations, so the death anniversary is to carry out the exchange between the positive and negative whistles.

Nowadays, our people's lives have improved significantly, most families have upgraded their houses. Thanks to that, the space for ancestor worship has also become more spacious and diverse. The ancestral altar is always placed in the highest, cleanest and most solemn place in the house (the middle room for a one-story house, the top floor for a multi-story house). In some families, the altar position is arranged according to regulations, for example, the Saint Master is worshiped in the corner of the house, the Patriarch is worshiped in the yard, the Lady and the Manh are worshiped on the lower side of the ancestral altar... Among the gods worshiped at home, there is usually no god arranged on the same level as the ancestors.

In general, every family altar has the following main worship items: tablet, incense bowl, lamp plate, flower vase, wine cup, fruit tray, etc. In ordinary families, worship items are often made of wood or porcelain, while in wealthy families, worship items are often made of bronze. The ancestral altar of the eldest branch is more complicated than the second branch, the eldest branch is more complicated than the second branch, the second child's family, the youngest child only worships in memory, so the altar arrangement is also simpler than the eldest child's.

In addition, because of the need to make a living, many families have to migrate to work elsewhere, but they still worship their ancestors and their altars are called ancestral altars. Ancestral altars are a type of altar that people who live far from their hometowns and have little opportunity to return to their eldest son's house on New Year's Eve and death anniversaries set up. In the past, ancestral altars were not a major custom because most people lived and made a living in their hometowns, with only a few special cases called "biet quan" and "li huong". Nowadays, ancestral altars are used quite commonly because the rate of people living and working far from their hometowns is increasing.

Ancestor worship has simple and practical content, not as extreme as many other religions. Therefore, it is easily secularized to become a way of life, a custom, deeply rooted in the subconscious of each person. By worshiping ancestors, the previous generation sets an example for the next generation not only because of their responsibility to their parents but also to educate their children and grandchildren to pass on their lineage. It is also a reminder of the origin: with the morality of "remembering the source of water" , ancestor worship is sincerely derived from filial piety and gratitude, which has been deeply ingrained in the subconscious of each person since childhood: A tree has roots to grow green branches / Water has a source to have wide seas and deep rivers / Where do people come from? / There is a father, there is a mother, then there is me.

Over the centuries, the way and concept of ancestor worship of Vietnamese people in general and Hung Yen people in particular have changed a lot, but the greatest meaning remains the same: considering ancestor worship as one of the ethical principles of being human, a form of expressing filial piety and gratitude of descendants towards their parents.

Among the forms of belief, the belief in worshipping the village's tutelary god originated from China and was introduced to Vietnam during the period of Chinese domination. However, because the scale and structure of ancient Chinese villages are different from those of ancient Vietnamese villages, the belief in worshipping the tutelary god of ancient Vietnamese villages is also different from that of ancient Chinese villages. When speaking of

As for Thanh Hoang, we can understand that it is a name from the Chinese period, referring to a guardian deity, but protecting a city or citadel, because "Thanh" is a rampart and "Hoang" is a deep moat surrounding the rampart. Thanh Hoang in Vietnam is Thanh Hoang of the village, the guardian deity of the village, often associated with a communal house. Thanh Hoang of ancient Vietnamese villages is a person - according to legend - who has contributed to the people and the country in the resistance wars against foreign invaders, or a person who has contributed to founding the village, has contributed to teaching a certain profession to the villagers, or is a good mandarin (and some evil gods - but this number is not many).

Many villages worship Thanh Hoang, which is actually a natural power (such as river god, mountain god, thunder god, lightning god, cloud god, rain god); some villages worship historical figures as Thanh Hoang of their village, who are national heroes, who have contributed to repelling foreign invaders and regaining independence for the nation, such as: Ba Trung, Ba Trieu, Le Hoan, Duong Dinh Nghe, Le Van Thinh, To Hien Thanh, Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Nhat Duat... Some villages worship Northern mandarins who once ruled our country as Thanh Hoang such as: Trieu Da, Si Nhiep, Cao Bien, Dao Hoang...

In the early period, Thanh Hoang was worshiped in temples (or shrines). Later, he was worshiped in both temples and the village communal house's harem. Because it was where Thanh Hoang resided, not everyone could freely come to the temple or shrine and the village communal house's harem; on the other hand, worshiping Thanh Hoang was a very important matter for the village and had to be done every day. Therefore, the village had to have a person in charge of the work. That person was Mr. Dam (also known as Cai Dam, Quan Dam). Mr. Dam enjoyed some rights stipulated by the village (such as being allowed to cultivate a certain area of rice fields to serve the worship of Thanh Hoang...), but he also had to follow some very strict taboos that if violated, would be severely punished by the village (such as during the entire time he was Mr. Dam, he was not allowed to be close to his wife, not allowed to touch unclean things, not allowed to go outside barefoot, not allowed to have a bare head, not allowed to attend funerals and not allowed to eat at funerals...).

The village's Thanh Hoang worship ceremony is a series of very strict village regulations, from the selection of the main celebrant, assistant celebrant, the eastern and western celebrants, to the movements, gestures, clothing... of those participating in the ceremony and the order of these people's movements during the ceremony. The village also regulates how many movements there are in the ceremony, starting from the "Khoi chinh co" section to "Te tat", what sentences the eastern celebrant chants, what sentences the main celebrant chants, where each position in the ceremony stands... All of these are carefully recorded in the village's ritual.

After the Procession and Sacrifice Ceremony of the Thanh Hoang, there are competitions, performances, and folk games. The competitions, performances, and folk games in the festival always have content describing the history or achievements of the Thanh Hoang. The locations of the processions, sacrifices, and performances are the communal houses and temples (or shrines) of the village: Each village's bell is rung by the village / Each village's Saint is worshiped by the village .

In addition to the above forms of belief, Mother worship also plays a great role in forming the rich belief system of the nation. Vietnamese Mother worship is an indigenous belief with foreign influences from Taoism, a belief that worships Mother as an idol with the power to reproduce, protect and shelter people. The belief that has been gendered in the image of the Mother is where Vietnamese women have placed their aspirations for liberation from the prejudices and constraints of the harsh feudal Confucian society.

Through the forms of belief, Vietnamese people have expressed their views on human beings, on the relationship between humans and nature and society. In the Fertility belief, the philosophy of yin and yang harmony is expressed, and at the same time, the relationship between humans and nature is also expressed. It is not a vulgar phenomenon but the eternal desire for food and clothing of the residents who always have to "look to the sky, look to the water, look to the clouds" to do agriculture;

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