Before major religions were present in Vietnam, the people haddeveloped their own beliefs. As well as worshiping their ancestors,famous craftsmen and heroes who fought off foreign invaders, theyworship the Four Immortals, who include Tan Vien (the God of theMountain), Saint Giong, Chu Dong Tu and the Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh,all of whom had many unique features.
Tan Vienembodies the aspiration of triumph over natural disasters, especiallyfloods; Saint Giong represents the will to fight off foreign invaders;Chu Dong Tu symbolises love and Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh signifies arich spiritual life.
Legend in the northernDelta has it that Saint Tan Vien, also called Son Tinh, was the God ofthe Mountain who governed all the creatures on land. He often taughtpeople to grow crops, hunt animals, catch fish, practice martial artsand hold festivals. Opposite to Son Tinh was Thuy Tinh, the God of theSea, who governed all the living creatures in the sea. He was the Godwho was usually responsible for rising water levels that damaged crops,destroyed animals and drowned people.
The HungKing, who was the head of all the Vietnamese tribes, had a beautifuldaughter called Princess My Nuong. He organised a competition to choose ahusband for his daughter, which Son Tinh won and he subsequentlymarried My Nuong. The loser, Thuy Tinh, harboured a lot of resentmentagainst Son Tinh so every year he summoned floods along the coast andsent sea monsters to harm the people. Son Tinh, along with all the otherpeople and all the creatures on the land, resisted them with all theirmight. The higher the water level rose, the higher the mountain becameand Thuy Tinh was defeated.
Son Tinh’s struggleagainst Thuy Tinh reflects the history of a country with its backagainst the mountain and its face looking out to the sea that fightsnatural disasters around the year. Worshipping Saint Tan Vien is toworship and believe in human beings’ sacred strength, benevolence andrighteousness and the efforts they make to exist.
The practice has gone on for many years. About 250 BC, King An DuongVuong ordered the building of Saint Tan Vien Temple on Tan VienMountain , called Den Thuong (the Upper Temple ) in Ba Vi, a suburbandistrict of Hanoi. Every three years, on the fifteenth day of the firstlunar month, a grand festival takes place here, drawing tens ofthousands of people. The festival features a wide range of activitiessuch as the procession of the Saint tablet, the catching of 99 fish asofferings to the Saint, a procession of the Saint’s wife - My Nuong,cock dances, chess competitions and a ‘hat dum’ contest, a kind of folksinging, simultaneously sung by two groups of male and female singers.
On the festival day, the King himself went there orappointed a mandarin to offer incense. Nowadays, the Party, State andGovernment leaders often attend the festival at the main temple on BaVi Mountain .
Saint Giong, the secondimmortal, is a mythological epic of the great strength of the nationbefore the arrival of foreign invaders. According to legend, during thereign of the 6 th Hung King (1718-1631 BC), in Giong village (now PhuDong village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi ), there was a boy who couldnot speak even though he was three years old. Upon hearing that thecountry was in danger of being attacked by the En people from the north,he quickly grew up, raised his arms and turned into a valiant man. Herode an iron horse, wore iron armour and used an iron rod to fight theenemy. When his rod was broken, Giong picked up bunches of thorny bambooand used as a weapon. After he won, the hero took off his armour withno interest in honour or wealth. He quietly went to the top of Ve LinhMountain (now Sai Mountain in Hanoi ’s Soc Son district),overlooked his native land for the last time and then flew into heavenon his iron horse.
Recognising Giong’s merits, theHung King conferred him the title of ‘Phu Dong Thien Vuong’ (CelestialPrince of Phu Dong) and ordered the erection of a temple incommemoration of him on Ve Linh Mountain. Giong village was renamed PhuDong. Every year, on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month, thevillage holds a festival re-enacting the legend of Saint Giong withactivities such as military exercises and human chess competitions. In2010, the Giong Festival was recognised by the UN Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as an intangible culturalheritage of the mankind.
The third immortal, Chu DongTu, was born in Da Trach commune, Khoai Chau district, the northernprovince of Hung Yen. His parents died when he was very young. Helived by fishing and was so poor that didn’t even have a loincloth.
One day, when he saw the royal barge passing by with Princess TienDung, the daughter of the third Hung King, on board, he got very scaredand hid himself under the sand. Unexpectedly, the princess decided toerect a tent up on the shore so she could bathe. As the water trickledto the ground, it washed away some of the sand, exposing Chu Dong Tu inall his nakedness.
Tien Dung, who believed that theencounter was arranged by Heaven, fell in love with Chu Dong Tu andimmediately wanted to marry him.
But Hung King opposedthe marriage and intended to arrest Chu Dong Tu to punish him. Both ChuDong Tu and Tien Dung had to hide with local people and to earn aliving, they began a small business. After that, they met a Taoismhermit who taught them the superpower. When reaching the highest part ofthe path, they flew off to Heaven and were canonised.
Legend has it that Saint Chu Dong Tu was in control of things all alongand was present on earth to save mankind from its suffering and teachespeople to do business, fish and weave to have a good life.
The local people built a temple to worship him in Da Trach commune,Khoai Chau district. There they hold an annual ritual for a happy andprosperous life. The festival begins in the middle of the second lunarmonth with many traditional activities, including dragon dancing,singing and human chess competitions taking place.
Thefourth immortal is a woman. Legend has it that Lieu Hanh was formerly adaughter of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the Heavens. After sheaccidentally broke a beautiful vase made from jade, she was exiled tothe World of Human beings. She was saved by Lord Buddha and reincarnatedas a daughter of a Le family in Phu Giay, in Vu Ban district, Nam Dinhprovince. She was said to have the four virtues of an ideal woman,namely good housework skills, good appearance, proper speech and highmoral standing. She was also canonised and became a sacred saint, whoalways helps good people, especially women and children. The localpeople acknowledge her for her virtues and build temples to commemorateher in many different localities.
The legend of SaintLieu Hanh reflects the characteristics of Vietnamese women, talented,virtuous, and devoted to their families, faithfull and kind to the poor,who always defends the good and punishes the bad.
Sheis worshipped as ‘the sacred Mother Saint - the Mother of the people’.The tradition of worshipping the Saint shows how much respect theVietnamese people have for the great, powerful and righteous mother.
In her hometown, Phu Giay, people built a complex of temples tocommemorate her by. The well-known Phu Giay festival, held every yearfrom the first to the tenth day of the third lunar month, attracts manypeople. Activities to commemorate Saint Lieu Hanh are also held at Songtemple, in central Thanh Hoa province, on the third day of the thirdLunar month.
No one created the legend of the fourimmortals. The stories about them were built upon by many people overthe generations. The four immortals representing the four major aspectsof Vietnamese people’s lives were, have been and will always beworshipped. This is the uniqueness of Vietnamese people’s beliefs.-VNA
Next episode: Buddhism in Vietnamese people's spiritual lives
Previous episode: Vietnam, common home for beliefs and religions,
Tan Vienembodies the aspiration of triumph over natural disasters, especiallyfloods; Saint Giong represents the will to fight off foreign invaders;Chu Dong Tu symbolises love and Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh signifies arich spiritual life.
Legend in the northernDelta has it that Saint Tan Vien, also called Son Tinh, was the God ofthe Mountain who governed all the creatures on land. He often taughtpeople to grow crops, hunt animals, catch fish, practice martial artsand hold festivals. Opposite to Son Tinh was Thuy Tinh, the God of theSea, who governed all the living creatures in the sea. He was the Godwho was usually responsible for rising water levels that damaged crops,destroyed animals and drowned people.
The HungKing, who was the head of all the Vietnamese tribes, had a beautifuldaughter called Princess My Nuong. He organised a competition to choose ahusband for his daughter, which Son Tinh won and he subsequentlymarried My Nuong. The loser, Thuy Tinh, harboured a lot of resentmentagainst Son Tinh so every year he summoned floods along the coast andsent sea monsters to harm the people. Son Tinh, along with all the otherpeople and all the creatures on the land, resisted them with all theirmight. The higher the water level rose, the higher the mountain becameand Thuy Tinh was defeated.
Son Tinh’s struggleagainst Thuy Tinh reflects the history of a country with its backagainst the mountain and its face looking out to the sea that fightsnatural disasters around the year. Worshipping Saint Tan Vien is toworship and believe in human beings’ sacred strength, benevolence andrighteousness and the efforts they make to exist.
The practice has gone on for many years. About 250 BC, King An DuongVuong ordered the building of Saint Tan Vien Temple on Tan VienMountain , called Den Thuong (the Upper Temple ) in Ba Vi, a suburbandistrict of Hanoi. Every three years, on the fifteenth day of the firstlunar month, a grand festival takes place here, drawing tens ofthousands of people. The festival features a wide range of activitiessuch as the procession of the Saint tablet, the catching of 99 fish asofferings to the Saint, a procession of the Saint’s wife - My Nuong,cock dances, chess competitions and a ‘hat dum’ contest, a kind of folksinging, simultaneously sung by two groups of male and female singers.
On the festival day, the King himself went there orappointed a mandarin to offer incense. Nowadays, the Party, State andGovernment leaders often attend the festival at the main temple on BaVi Mountain .
Saint Giong, the secondimmortal, is a mythological epic of the great strength of the nationbefore the arrival of foreign invaders. According to legend, during thereign of the 6 th Hung King (1718-1631 BC), in Giong village (now PhuDong village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi ), there was a boy who couldnot speak even though he was three years old. Upon hearing that thecountry was in danger of being attacked by the En people from the north,he quickly grew up, raised his arms and turned into a valiant man. Herode an iron horse, wore iron armour and used an iron rod to fight theenemy. When his rod was broken, Giong picked up bunches of thorny bambooand used as a weapon. After he won, the hero took off his armour withno interest in honour or wealth. He quietly went to the top of Ve LinhMountain (now Sai Mountain in Hanoi ’s Soc Son district),overlooked his native land for the last time and then flew into heavenon his iron horse.
Recognising Giong’s merits, theHung King conferred him the title of ‘Phu Dong Thien Vuong’ (CelestialPrince of Phu Dong) and ordered the erection of a temple incommemoration of him on Ve Linh Mountain. Giong village was renamed PhuDong. Every year, on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month, thevillage holds a festival re-enacting the legend of Saint Giong withactivities such as military exercises and human chess competitions. In2010, the Giong Festival was recognised by the UN Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as an intangible culturalheritage of the mankind.
The third immortal, Chu DongTu, was born in Da Trach commune, Khoai Chau district, the northernprovince of Hung Yen. His parents died when he was very young. Helived by fishing and was so poor that didn’t even have a loincloth.
One day, when he saw the royal barge passing by with Princess TienDung, the daughter of the third Hung King, on board, he got very scaredand hid himself under the sand. Unexpectedly, the princess decided toerect a tent up on the shore so she could bathe. As the water trickledto the ground, it washed away some of the sand, exposing Chu Dong Tu inall his nakedness.
Tien Dung, who believed that theencounter was arranged by Heaven, fell in love with Chu Dong Tu andimmediately wanted to marry him.
But Hung King opposedthe marriage and intended to arrest Chu Dong Tu to punish him. Both ChuDong Tu and Tien Dung had to hide with local people and to earn aliving, they began a small business. After that, they met a Taoismhermit who taught them the superpower. When reaching the highest part ofthe path, they flew off to Heaven and were canonised.
Legend has it that Saint Chu Dong Tu was in control of things all alongand was present on earth to save mankind from its suffering and teachespeople to do business, fish and weave to have a good life.
The local people built a temple to worship him in Da Trach commune,Khoai Chau district. There they hold an annual ritual for a happy andprosperous life. The festival begins in the middle of the second lunarmonth with many traditional activities, including dragon dancing,singing and human chess competitions taking place.
Thefourth immortal is a woman. Legend has it that Lieu Hanh was formerly adaughter of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the Heavens. After sheaccidentally broke a beautiful vase made from jade, she was exiled tothe World of Human beings. She was saved by Lord Buddha and reincarnatedas a daughter of a Le family in Phu Giay, in Vu Ban district, Nam Dinhprovince. She was said to have the four virtues of an ideal woman,namely good housework skills, good appearance, proper speech and highmoral standing. She was also canonised and became a sacred saint, whoalways helps good people, especially women and children. The localpeople acknowledge her for her virtues and build temples to commemorateher in many different localities.
The legend of SaintLieu Hanh reflects the characteristics of Vietnamese women, talented,virtuous, and devoted to their families, faithfull and kind to the poor,who always defends the good and punishes the bad.
Sheis worshipped as ‘the sacred Mother Saint - the Mother of the people’.The tradition of worshipping the Saint shows how much respect theVietnamese people have for the great, powerful and righteous mother.
In her hometown, Phu Giay, people built a complex of temples tocommemorate her by. The well-known Phu Giay festival, held every yearfrom the first to the tenth day of the third lunar month, attracts manypeople. Activities to commemorate Saint Lieu Hanh are also held at Songtemple, in central Thanh Hoa province, on the third day of the thirdLunar month.
No one created the legend of the fourimmortals. The stories about them were built upon by many people overthe generations. The four immortals representing the four major aspectsof Vietnamese people’s lives were, have been and will always beworshipped. This is the uniqueness of Vietnamese people’s beliefs.-VNA
Next episode: Buddhism in Vietnamese people's spiritual lives
Previous episode: Vietnam, common home for beliefs and religions,
