Email this article Female spirits of the male cult: tutelary goddesses in the South of modern Vietnam (based on the fieldwork in the city of Vung Tau)
- Authors: Gordienko E.V.1
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Affiliations:
- Russian State University for the Humanities
- Issue: Vol 6, No 1 (2022)
- Pages: 63-72
- Section: Scientific researches
- URL: https://ogarev-online.ru/2618-9453/article/view/97146
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.54631/VS.2022.61-97146
- ID: 97146
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Abstract
This article discusses the pantheon in the temple of female spirits (Miếu Ngũ Hành) located in the city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam according to my fieldworks during 2018. The spirits are more various than spirits of pantheon in traditional forms of worship in the north of Vietnam. The inhabitants of Vung Tau worship some deities borrowed from neighbors: the Cham and Khmer goddesses, and female deities embodying the five elements of the Chinese religious system (wu xing). A feature of the temple is the female divine service, although usually women perform an auxiliary role in ceremonies in honor of tutelary spirits, and in traditional Vietnam they were not allowed to the altars at all. According to the community house territory plan (beginning of the 19th century) the participation of women in ceremonies was originally assumed and, what is important, allowed by the authorities.
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##article.viewOnOriginalSite##About the authors
Elena V. Gordienko
Russian State University for the Humanities
Author for correspondence.
Email: gordylena@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3922-7686
https://rggu.academia.edu/ElenaGordienko
Postgraduate student at the Center for the Study of Religion, Student
Russian Federation, 6, build. 5, off. 1123, Miusskaya square, Moscow, 125993References
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Fig. 1. Temple of the goddesses of the five elements on the territory Thang Tam communal house, city of Vung Tau. Photo by the author, March 2018
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Fig. 2. The main altars of the temple of the goddesses of the five elements. Thang Tam communal house, city of Vung Tau. Photo by the author, March 2018
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Fig. 3. Demonstration of the royal decree dedicated to a female spirit (mid-19th century) after the ceremony at Thang Tam communal house in Vung Tau. Photo by the author, April 2018.
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Fig. 4. Festive ceremony in front of the altars in the temple of the goddesses of the five elements on the territory of Thang Tam communal house in Vung Tau. Photo by the author, November 2018
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Fig. 5a. Buildings of a common communal in the north of modern Vietnam. Source: [Nguyễn Văn Khoan 1930:114].
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Fig. 5b. Buildings of Thang Tam communal house house in the city of Vung Tau. Plan drawn by author
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