Indigenous cultural colors

In recent years, the belief of Mother Goddess Worship has appeared in many localities, especially in northern provinces. Among them, Nam Dinh province is considered one of the hubs with some 600 Mother Goddess Worship locations.

Preserving the belief of the Mother Goddess Worship in the integration context

The Worship of Mother Goddesses culminates in the “Hau dong” rite, through which it guides people to desires for a better, happier life, and gives them the strength to believe in goodness.

With unique and outstanding cultural values, in 2016, the Worship of Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms of the Vietnamese people was recognized by UNESCO and included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Mai, Head of religious studies at the Vietnam Academy of Social Science - said, "Compared to other types of official religions as well as folk culture that we often call beliefs in Vietnam, the belief of Mother Goddess Worship is very special, in relation to the subjects of practice or mediums, who are not those praying or worshipping the gods, but also those playing the role of gods and becoming gods”.

Preservation of national culture in integration context

In order to promote the value of practicing the Mother Goddess Worship, in late 2023, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinated with the People's Committee of Nam Dinh province to organize a conference and seminar on the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003-2023); and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Convention’s implementation on the practice of this belief.

Over the past 20 years, the Party, Government, localities and ethnic minorities have taken positive measures in protecting intangible cultural heritage according to the UNESCO's Convention 2003. For example, at the end of October 2023, the Thuong Ngan Mother Goddess Worship and New Rice Festival took place in October 2023 in the national cultural historical relic site of Dong Cuong Temple in Yen Bai Province.

To fully implement the protection of heritage elements that Vietnam has committed to UNESCO, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Le Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - said that Vietnam needs to complete the system of legal documents regulating and guiding intangible cultural heritage management and practice activities and regulations on the exploitation of the heritage. The direction, inspection, and supervision of heritage practices needs to be strengthened, while also fostering state management over the heritage elements, especially sacred and customary ones.

The Mother Goddess Worship activities held annually in many localities throughout the country hold important meanings, contributing to the development of spiritual cultural tourism and diaspora tourism, serving the religious needs of the local community, at the same time, preserving and promoting the value of the Mother Goddess Worship intangible cultural heritage, which is also protecting and promoting indigenous values and the positive meaning of the heritage in realizing great national unity in the process of building and protecting the country in the current context of increased integration.