Worship Rituals and Festival Activities

During the Yuan Dynasty, she was given the title of Thien Phi. Later, during the Qing Dynasty, King Kangxi granted her the title of Thien Hau, and this title is still passed down to this day. The Chinese people worshiped her as the Goddess of the Sea, so wherever she migrated, they brought her sacred relics and built temples to worship her. Therefore, it is not surprising that along the coast of our country, there are many places with temples to worship Thien Hau.

According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 1,500 temples worldwide worshiping Her, including three large temples: The first is the Thien Hau Temple in My Chau Strait, Fujian Province; the second is the Ma To Temple in Bei Cang, Taiwan; the third is the Thien Hau Temple in Tianjin, China.

The Chinese came to Vietnam mainly by sea, so they always expected and believed in the protection of Thien Hau in their wandering journey. They brought the worship of this sea god to the places where they lived in the new land. Lam Tu Mac is the main sea god of the Fujian people. Wherever the Fujian people went, they built temples to worship her. And when the Fujian people migrated to Hung Yen, they built a temple in Bac Hoa Street, now Trung Trac Street, Hung Yen City. Thien Hau temples of the Chinese community are in many places such as: Tra Co, Hung Yen, Hoi An, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City, Ca Mau...

It can be said that the worshiped character is good, having the merit of saving people in difficult circumstances. That is also the wish of the good people. That is why Thien Hau temple has been respected and worshiped by the people from ancient times until now. That respect is not only from the ancient Fujian people who used to live here, but also from the time the indigenous Vietnamese residents have worshiped. And now the Chinese are no longer here, replaced by the Vietnamese, but the worship of the people of Hung Yen and neighboring areas towards Mau Lam Tu Mac is still full. That is the expression of the beauty and openness of the people of Pho Hien.

Through studying the objects of worship at Thien Hau Temple, we can see one thing. That is, the objects of worship at the temple are the same as at Mau Temple, both of which are worshiped by the people, both of which are from China. And they are accepted by Vietnamese people. It is easy to see that no matter who the object of worship is, even if the person being worshiped is from a foreign country, when they come, we accept them as long as they are people with noble virtues.

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Although both of these characters are of Chinese origin, we rarely see Chinese people worshipping or coming to the Mau Temple. On the other hand, the Thien Hau Temple was built and worshiped by the Chinese, but only when the Chinese no longer lived in this area did interest decrease somewhat. And now it is managed by the Vietnamese, but every year during the festival, many Chinese residents still come to attend.

Realizing one thing, through the miracles of the Mau Temple and Thien Hau Temple, for Mau Duong Quy Phi, although recorded in history books, there is a clear miracle. But the people who worship her are praising her loyalty to her country and her husband, which is a noble virtue worth praising. But Mau does not have a profound influence on the Chinese people. As for Mau Lam Tu Mac, although the miracle seems legendary, but for the seafaring people, especially the people of Fujian, she is the one who helped them escape death during the famine, Mau is the one who shows the way at sea. That is why Mau is respected and worshiped by the people.

The Queen Mother Tran Ma Chau is worshiped at Bao Chau Temple. Tran Ma Chau was the son of a mandarin named Thanh, who married Truong Thi Hoan. Both of them were from Lam Son, Luong Giang district, Thieu Thien prefecture, Ai district (present-day Thanh Hoa province). According to the genealogy, Tran Ma Chau was born on January 10, Canh Tuat year. He lost his mother when he was less than one year old and was raised by his wet nurse Son Lac. When

When he grew up, he was talented in strategy and poetry. Later, his father sent him to study with Mr. Ly, and he became a talented writer.

It is said that at that time, the enemy To Dinh had brought troops to invade our country. They were cruel and tyrannical, oppressing and exploiting our people terribly. They could not bear to sit and watch To Dinh massacre our people. Tran Ma Chau's father, the Chief of Nam Xuong district, together with Thi Sach, recruited troops to fight against To Dinh. However, because the enemy was too strong, the insurgents were suppressed, and the Chief committed suicide to avoid falling into the enemy's hands.

Hearing the news of her father's death, Ma Chau was filled with hatred for Su Ding. She recruited talented generals day and night, accumulated military provisions to avenge her father, and repay her debt to the country. Ma Chau cut her hair, disguised herself as a nun, and went to the temple to recruit strong and good soldiers and women. One day, when she arrived at Bao Chau village, everyone in the village followed her. In a short time, Ma Chau had gathered about 200 male and female generals as servants, practicing elite military tactics.

It is known that in Son Tay province, there were two sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, who were heroic women who were raising troops to fight against To Dinh to avenge her husband Thi Sach. Ma Chau brought troops to join forces with Trung Trac and Trung Nhi. Observing the terrain of Bao Chau at that time, which had many favorable points, Ma Chau decided to set up a military camp to prepare for a decisive battle with To Dinh.

Here, Ma Chau recruited about 1,300 soldiers and brought them to Hat Giang to meet Trung Trac and perform a ceremony to worship the gods of heaven and earth for help... Trung Vuong and Princess Ma Chau led the left army, the female general guard led the main army straight to To Dinh fort. After many decisive battles, To Dinh was defeated, the enemy army fled. Trung Nu captured more than 60 cities, restored the Southern state, and unified the country. Trung Trac appointed Ma Chau as "Chief of the Royal Guard of No Cac" and rewarded him with a lot of gold and silver, and at the same time allowed him to stay in Bao Chau.

After three years of Trung Vuong's reign, the Han Dynasty continued to send troops to invade our country... Trung Vuong and thirty thousand elite soldiers went to fight, Ma Chau was ordered to lead the army to declare war on the enemy. The enemy surrounded her on all sides, the princess mounted her horse and fought fiercely, but for more than half a day she did not win... Seeing that the situation was in danger of defeat, Ma Chau mounted her horse to break the siege, opened a bloody path and ran straight to Bao Chau, where she died. That day was the third day of the third lunar month, and was later awarded the title "Supreme God of Fortune".

Deeply grateful for the heroic sacrifice of the female general who sacrificed herself for the people and the country against the Han Dynasty, the people of Bao Chau throughout the ages have revered her as the Holy Mother and built temples to worship her quite early in history. The Trung Sisters and their female generals, including Tran Ma Chau, are examples of women who are indomitable, loyal and full of heroic spirit. Tran Ma Chau is such a personality, the Bao Chau temple relic bears the echoes of the Mother Goddess worship, but the object is the Mother Goddess with the spirit of a hero who has contributed to the country, it further shows the diversity in the objects of the Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen in particular and Vietnam in general.

With the object being women, the Mother Goddess worship also partly reflects the relationship between people and society through the desire to liberate people in general and women in particular from the constraints and control of social institutions, especially the feudal social regime in Vietnam with its harsh rites. In that society, women had to suffer hardship and injustice, they were completely helpless in the social context at that time. Therefore, they could only seek forms of belief to express their desire to overcome harsh social relationships, liberate themselves and move towards a happy life. At the same time, the subject of Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen has a female general, which is a strong testament to the tradition of patriotism and resistance against foreign invaders of the Vietnamese people.

2.3. Subject and time of worship

2.3.1. Subject of worship

People with “high destiny” or those who are “benefited” by the Saints are called “Thanh Dong” and need to “take a chair” to serve the Saints, so that the souls of the gods and saints can enter them during the ritual. “Dong” is a Chinese word referring to a boy under 15 years old with a pure, innocent, and natural nature for the gods to enter [72, p. 86]. Later, people gradually took girls, women, and even men to replace the teenagers. To this day, people still often call those who are possessed by the Spirits “Mr. Dong” and “Mrs. Dong”. They are more diverse in terms of social position and profession. If in the past they were freelancers, now, those who serve the Spirits include intellectuals, civil servants, and public employees. They are the bridges between the gods and humans, between the fairy world and the mundane world. The male and female mediums play an extremely important role in the ritual of going into a trance. They are the ones who help the gods convey their teachings through their mortal bodies.

According to the explanation of the Mother Goddess worshipers, everyone has a foundation, but the degree of good or bad (heavy or light) is different. If the foundation is good, life will be peaceful, happy, and favorable; if the foundation is bad (heavy foundation), life will be difficult, arduous, and encounter many disadvantages. People with "medium foundation" are people born in the world but have a destiny in the heavenly palace, a fate of the sky and the moon, children of the Four Palaces. They are people who have been chosen by the Saints, sooner or later, depending on the foundation of each person, they will be taken by the Saints to work as soldiers in the fields. If they do not present themselves to serve, they will be tortured by the Saints. Many people with such high foundations and heavy fates, because they do not know to go to the Saints' door to call and pray, are tortured in all kinds of ways: they are sick but cannot be cured because they do not know what disease they have, they are tortured to the point of being crazy, their career is difficult, their relationships are difficult to come true... but if they know to go to the Saints' door, they bow their heads and obey, not daring to

If you do it wrong, everything will be different, illness will be gone, health, peace, success and fame will be achieved.

For the followers of the Mother Goddess religion, Hau Dong is a way to reach a perfect, pure world. It is an opportunity for people to integrate with the gods. According to them, all the difficulties, misfortunes and sufferings in life are resolved when coming to the Mother Goddess, being in contact with and immersing themselves in the world of the gods. This is also their desire to escape from the complicated society with its deadlocked life to reach a brighter life.

2.3.2. Worship time

- Daily

On a normal day, at Mother Goddess worshiping establishments, the temple caretakers will perform worship duties (changing water, lighting incense, praying, etc.). According to the caretakers, this work is an indispensable habit for them every day.

On the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, most of the locals come to burn incense and pray to the Mother Goddess for health, luck and smooth progress in their current and future work. Occasionally, there are also visitors from far away who come to pray for peace, fame and career.

Some believers, when they have important matters to attend: weddings, buying or building houses, applying for jobs, etc., also go to the temple to burn incense and pray to the Mother Goddess for protection, guidance, and direction, regardless of holidays or regular days.

- Festival day (party day)

During the spring festival and the autumn festival, the places of worship are decorated splendidly. On this occasion, not only are there many local believers, but there are also many groups of visitors from far away coming to participate in the festival. Usually, believers go to the festival in groups, offering beautiful offerings to the Mother Goddess, with priests presenting petitions and praying before the Mother Goddess.

During these days, the atmosphere of worship and festivals at places of worship is extremely bustling. People inside and outside the province all come to Mother Goddess to pray for their wishes. At the same time, they join in the festival to feel the jubilant atmosphere here.

During the feast days, the Hau Dong rituals take place continuously. Every day, there are male and female mediums participating in serving the Saints. Moreover, the rituals are also carefully prepared, splendid and attract many more followers than usual.

2.4. Worship rituals and festival activities

2.4.1. Worship rituals

The activities of the Mother Goddess worship in Hung Yen take place annually with many typical rituals of this belief at all Mother Goddess worship sites in the province, carrying a profound spiritual element. Here are some typical rituals:

The Incense Ceremony is another ritual in the Mother Goddess worship, which is also performed in Hung Yen. The Incense Ceremony, also known as the Incense Bowl Ceremony, is the ceremony of picking up and placing the incense bowl to worship the holy gods who are the Mother Goddess's servants for those who are sick because of their heavy fate, in order to pray for their recovery and health. This ceremony is held at the Mother Goddess's gate. After picking up, the incense bowl is placed at the Mother Goddess's gate and on the first and fifteenth days of each month, one must come to burn incense and make offerings at the Mother Goddess's gate.

According to the elders in many Mother Temples, this concept holds that every person when born and living on earth is ruled by the Holy Mother. When a person is sick, it means that he is ruled by a certain god or by all the gods. That is, the Gods have appointed that person as a servant and cannot refuse, if he refuses, he will suffer many disasters. Therefore, if one wants to be cured, one must go to the Mother Temple - that is, worship the god who is ruling. If the fate is serious, the sick person must carry more incense bowls. And the sick person believes that after praying, he will

passed so when we come to the Mother Goddess temple in Hung Yen, there are many small incense bowls in front of the temple door. This is a form of worship to cure diseases with superstitious and fanatic nature that needs to be prevented. But it is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess worship activities in Hung Yen.

The Hau Dong ceremony, also known as Len Dong or Hau Bong, is a ritual that is present in all activities of the Mother Goddess worship. In Hung Yen, this ritual is also clearly shown in the Mother Goddess worship relics of the province. It is shown in many aspects in the annual ceremonies of the temple festivals.

According to researcher Ngo Duc Thinh in Vietnamese Mother Goddess Religion, "the main ritual of worshiping the Mother Goddesses of the Four Palaces is the same as that of some other Mother Goddesses. It is the ritual of entering the souls of the Saints of the Three Palaces and Four Palaces into the bodies of male and female mediums, which is the re-enactment of the images of the Saints, in order to give messages, cure diseases, and bestow blessings on the Mother Goddess followers" [72, p. 85].

In Hung Yen, Hau Dong sessions take place vigorously at communal houses, temples, and pagodas that worship the Mother Goddess. This activity has contributed to preserving and maintaining the unique cultural values of the Mother Goddess worship. It reflects the current status of spirit possession activities in this area. Spirit possession is an activity held on many occasions during the year to satisfy the needs of followers of the Mother Goddess worship and the need for spirit possession of the male and female mediums. They are people with "roots", receiving blessings from the saints to spirit possession or spirit possession to help people cure "illnesses". Depending on each male and female medium, when they feel closest to the gods, they will decide to spirit possession during the day or at night.

In communal houses, temples and pagodas in the area around the Crescent Lake, spirit possession activities take place regularly, the most typical of which is the Mau Temple. Based on the records of Mr. Nguyen Trong Nga, of the Mau Temple Relic Management Board in recent years, especially in 2014 and early 2015, spirit possession activities take place regularly at the temple. The temple is not the organizer, but the registered male and female mediums are the organizers, the

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