Strengthening state management of Mother Goddess worship practices

(LĐ online) - Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just sent a document to the People's Committees of districts and cities requesting coordination to strengthen State management of the practice of the Mother Goddess Worship of the Vietnamese people in the province.

State management contributes to preserving the original humanistic values and spiritual cultural beauty of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship Heritage.

It clearly states that in 2016, the Vietnamese practice of worshipping the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Up to now, the worship of the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms has been widely spread in many localities in Lam Dong province.

However, currently, the Mother Goddess worship activities are showing signs of quite complicated developments such as: The practice of mediumship and opening of palaces is increasingly flourishing; costumes, props, literature, dances, and offerings for practicing beliefs are not suitable, deviating from the nature of the intangible cultural heritage of worshiping the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces; in some provinces and cities, there is a phenomenon of taking advantage of religious rituals to practice superstition, violating the law. This issue has been handled by the law and condemned by public opinion because it violates ethics, customs, and traditions, affecting people's beliefs and the spiritual life of the community.

In order to improve the effectiveness of state management, promptly inspect, rectify, prevent and resolutely handle cases of taking advantage of superstition, personal gain, and losing the humanistic values and spiritual beauty of beliefs, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism recommends that the People's Committees of districts and cities promote the dissemination of the heritage values of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship practice in appropriate forms; promote the proactive and positive role of the community in communes/villages/wards that practice Mother Goddess worship in protecting and promoting heritage; fight against and criticize manifestations of distorting, falsifying and transforming the good values of heritage; prevent and strictly handle the phenomenon of taking advantage of spirit mediumship, taking advantage of people's beliefs for personal gain and affecting the spiritual life of the community.

Integrating the content of protecting and promoting the value of the Heritage of the Three Palaces' worship of the Mother Goddesses with the content of cultural development activities, family, social activities with cultural development, physical education and sports in diverse forms, in the activities of building the National Movement to build a cultural life according to the current criteria of new rural construction.

Effectively implement the direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on rectifying the activities of Hau Dong in the practice of the Heritage of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship Practice, which specifically states that Hau Dong should only be held in places with Mother Goddess shrines or Mother Goddess worship relics; Hau Dong rituals should not be held in public areas as a type of tourism service or street music.

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