Promote the values of the religious heritage of “Mau” worship (Mother Worship) in Lang Son

(LSO) – Currently, Lang Son owns a wide range of intangible heritages such as folk songs, festivals, beliefs, … including the belief of the Vietnamese Tam Phu (The Vietnamese systems of beliefs). In order to preserve and promote the values of the religious heritage, the provincial cultural department has done many various activities making great contribution to preserving the good cultural values ​​of beliefs, and passing traditional and historical values on the young generation.

According to the recorded historical documents, this belief has been existed in Lang Son since the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Since its birth, there has been a strong exchange and reception with indigenous beliefs and practices. Up to now, it is deeply rooted in the cultural and spiritual life of almost everyone of Xu Lang.

Mr. Hoang Van Pao, Chairman of Lang Son Cultural Heritage Association said that worshiping the Mother is a traditional cultural beauty of an agricultural civilizations like Vietnam, demonstrating the harmony between culture and morality, representing the traditions of respecting our ancestors and the roles of women.

The performance of “Co be thuong ngan”  or Mountainous Little Girl  by the artists of Lang Son city during the first Lang Son Folk Festival

In Lang Son, in parallel with the worship of Mau or Mother in temples and pagodas, the Tay and Nung  groups also worship Hoa mother (Me Bjoóc), which is a different feature of the Mother’s worship ritual of Lang Son’s culture compared with other.

Currently, according to the estimated statistics of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the whole province has got about 100 relics directly related to the rituals of worshiping Mother fully and partly scattered  in Lang Son city and some districts such as Huu Lung, Chi Lang and Cao Loc. Some typical places fully presenting the rituals of worship Mau in Lang Son are named as Mau Dong Dang Temple or “Mother temple” (located in Cao Loc), Ky Cung temple (located Lang Son city ).

In order to contribute to preserving and promoting the values of maternal religious heritage in Lang Son, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has already carried out different work. Specifically, in 2013, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism cooperated with the Center for Research and Religion of Vietnam to hold a ceremony in order to honor the National recognition award of Monuments for Cua Dong Temple and a scientific seminar on Rituals of Mother worshipping or Mau.  Along with that, the department has instructed traditional artisans to prepare dossiers to apply for the State President’s Award titled “Excellent Artist, People’s Artist”. Notably, a local artist was awarded in 2015. By 2020,  it is recorded that 3 other local artists submitted documents to apply for accreditation. From 2017 to 2019, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized 3 programs with the aim to exchange and perform cultural performances in Lang Son province, attracting 75 artisan participants from inside and outside the province. In addition, the department has intensified the promotion  activities to promote the values of maternal religious heritage to tourists from near and far in the province on the provincial tourist information page, and integrated into events such as cultural week, Sports and tourism week, Ky Cung – Ta Phu festival.

Despite the results achieved over the time of promoting this heritage, there are still a number of limitations which should be mentioned such as taking advantage of beliefs for profit, distorting, and deviating the values of beliefs. People’s understanding of beliefs and belief conservation activities are limited. Since intangible heritage is always in a dynamic state, handed down mainly by word of mouth and human activities, it is easy to be lost. Therefore, in order to preserve and promote these values, actions should be taken be careful and  based on thorough research.

Mr. Nguyen Phuc Ha, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated that in the coming time they would continue to report the situations of preserving and promoting these intangible heritages to the Provincial People’s Committee  aiming to receive support and leadership to  preserve the cultures and rituals of the Mau worship beliefs in the area of Lang Son. In addition, to promote  and introduce the values of the culture, they would continue to organize promotion performance shows on national and provincial important occasions  as well at the beginning of the year when  there are many festival take place in the whole the province. They also had plan to organize scientific workshops to encourage research and consult with researchers regarding  the value of this belief  aiming at  having a suitable conservation direction.

Promoting the values of maternal religious heritage in Lang Son is a practical and important task to preserve and pass  it on  the next generation.

“Mau Worship is a type of pure Vietnamese belief existed in Vietnam for a long  time and has been connected  with social changes. Following this belief, people worship more than 50 different saints, characterized by rituals of service and chanting. In December 2016, the Vietnamese worship of the Three Palaces (Tam Phu) was registered by UNESCO as the representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.