The worship of Thien Hau Thanh Mau in Tay Ninh

During the process of cohabitation, the Vietnamese people considered Thien Hau Thanh Mau as the goddess of blessing for a prosperous, lucky, and peaceful life.

Thien Hau Holy Mother Festival at Thanh An Palace (Go Dau Ward)

In the 17th-18th centuries, the Chinese people set foot in Tay Ninh province along with the indigenous people to reclaim land, settle down, and expand trade. The Chinese people settled in Tay Ninh by two routes. From the Saigon - Cho Lon area along the national highway, they gradually moved north through the present-day Hoc Mon and Cu Chi areas, exploiting land from Trang Bang, up to Go Dau Ha to the foot of Ba Den mountain.

In addition, a group of Chinese people followed the Mekong River into Soai Rap estuary to Vung Gu area, then moved to do business at Bao Dinh canal (now in Long An ward, Tay Ninh province) and the two river basins of Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay to reclaim land, build streets, establish markets to make a living by doing business and trading, gradually marking their settlement in the new land, as evidence of the process of reclaiming land with the Vietnamese people.

The migration of Chinese people to Tay Ninh is not only a geographical movement but also a transmission and restructuring of traditional cultural values. In the cultural baggage they brought with them, the most prominent are the social institutions, unique customs and practices, along with a rich folk belief system, including ancestor worship rituals and gods from the birthplace to the new land together with the indigenous people to build and develop this place to become more and more prosperous.

Among those precious assets, the worship of Thien Hau Thanh Mau is a unique, prominent and representative feature of Chinese spiritual culture as well as the Vietnamese-Chinese cultural exchange.

Guangdong Assembly Hall (Tan Ninh Ward) worships Thien Hau Holy Mother

Currently, in Tay Ninh, there are Chinese religious establishments worshiping Thien Hau Thanh Mau such as: That Phu Assembly Hall, Nhi Phu Assembly Hall (Trang Bang ward); Thanh An Palace (Go Dau ward); Quang Dong Assembly Hall (Tan Ninh ward); Gia Gon Temple (Thanh Dien ward); Thien Hau Temple, Quan Thanh Temple (Long An ward); Ba Thien Hau Temple (Thu Thua commune); Ba Thien Hau Truong Dien Temple (Can Giuoc commune),...

The Vietnamese worship Lady Thien Hau together with Lady Chua Xu at the Ba O Rung Cay temple (Gia Loc ward).

During the cohabitation, the Vietnamese people considered Thien Hau Thanh Mau as the goddess of blessing for a prosperous, lucky, and peaceful life. She is worshiped together with other goddesses in the South in temples and pagodas such as Ba O Rung Cay temple (Gia Loc ward) worshiping Thien Hau and Ba Chua Xu; in the Ong Da lake area (Ben Cau commune) there is a temple worshiping Thien Hau and Ba Linh Son, Chua Xu, and Cuu Thien; Linh Son Phuoc Trung pagoda (Ba Den mountain) worships Thien Hau and Linh Son Thanh Mau, Dia Mau; An Phuoc pagoda (Ben Cau commune) worships Thien Hau and Linh Son Thanh Mau, Chua Xu; Thien Lam pagoda (Go Ken, Hoa Thanh ward) worships Thien Hau and Ba Linh Son, Ba Chua Xu, Dia Mau, Ngu Hanh Nuong Nuong with the title "Buddha Thien Hau"; Linh Phuoc pagoda (Tam Vu commune) worships Thien Hau Thanh Mau in the style of Buddha first, saint later;...

Thien Hau Holy Mother worshiped at Linh Son Phuoc Trung Pagoda (Ba Den Mountain)

In Long An ward alone, there is Thien Hau Tu - a temple worshiping Thien Hau Thanh Mau, the main deity, established by the Vietnamese people over a hundred years ago, located next to Quan Thanh Tu of the Chinese and Quan Phu temple. From cultural exchange, That Nuong is also understood as a combination of goddesses who have the role of protecting and blessing the residents, including Thien Hau Thanh Mau as in the two temples That Nuong (Ba Cay Giang Huong temple, 47/12 Nguyen Hue) and Thien Hau temple (alley 11, Hai Ba Trung street).

Lady Thien Hau is one of the Seven Goddesses worshiped at Ba An Thanh communal house (Ben Cau commune).

In particular, in Ben Cau commune there is Ba An Thanh communal house, this is the only communal house in Tay Ninh that worships goddesses. The main deity in the communal house is That Tinh Nuong Nuong, outside the communal house there is a temple worshiping the statues of the goddesses Thien Hau Thanh Mau, Chua Xu Thanh Mau and Ngu Hanh Nuong Nuong. In the private homes of some Chinese and Vietnamese people, Thien Hau Thanh Mau is also worshiped to pray for peace and favorable business.

The anniversary of Thien Hau Thanh Mau has an important meaning in the folk beliefs of the Chinese community in general and Tay Ninh residents in particular. This is an occasion for the Chinese to express their gratitude to the goddess who protected their ancestors during their sea voyages and migration to Vietnam. It is also an occasion for local residents to pray for her protection for everything to be safe. The anniversary of Thien Hau Thanh Mau at Chinese assembly halls as well as Vietnamese temples in Tay Ninh are all held on March 23 (Agricultural calendar) according to the legend of Lam Mac Nuong's birthday.

At the communal houses, the Thien Hau Thanh Mau festival is celebrated according to traditional Chinese rituals. At Thanh An Palace (Go Dau Ward), the rituals in the festival are performed by Taoist priests from Khanh Van Nam Vien ( Ho Chi Minh City).

On the main day, the Chinese Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of the guild hall and the Chinese and Vietnamese communities come to offer incense before the altar of Thien Hau Thanh Mau, praying for national prosperity and people's safety, favorable weather, and for her blessings, peace, favorable business, and all things to go as planned,...

The Chinese in Tay Ninh still maintain the tradition of praying to the Goddess in Chinese, and also pray in Vietnamese so that everyone can understand. After the incense offering ceremony, there is a musical performance by Chinese bands, often from Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City, performing lion, dragon and lion dances, creating a unique and joyful atmosphere in the Goddess's festival. The annual Thien Hau Thanh Mau festival attracts a large number of visitors from both inside and outside the locality.

At Thien Hau Temple (Thu Thua Commune), from March 19 to 21 (Lunar calendar), monks from Long Vinh Pagoda (Thu Thua Commune) come to chant sutras for peace. On the night of March 22, nuns chant sutras in Chinese. Thien Hau Holy Mother and each deity worshiped in the temple have their own set of paper offerings. At 6 a.m. on March 23, they perform the incense offering and burning of paper offerings, completing the ceremony. Every year, during the festival, the Hoa Sen Song and Dance Troupe (of Chinese people, Cho Lon Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) is brought to perform.

Thien Hau Temple of the Vietnamese in Long An ward

From the cultural exchange between Vietnam and China, the rituals of worshiping the Lady in the South gradually appeared in the Thien Hau Thanh Mau ceremony at the communal houses, such as at Nhi Phu communal house (Trang Bang ward), where the Lady's ceremony is celebrated with the folk performance of Bong Roi.

At Ba Gia Gon Temple (Thanh Dien Ward), since the temple was first established, the Lady has been worshipped according to Southern folk rituals, with folk performances of the shadow, dancing with golden trays, congratulating, selling fortune, dancing with lions, lions, dragons, etc. In the verse of the shadow girl Pham Thi Bich Thuan worshipping at the Lady's temple, there is a passage: "Thien Hau Nuong Nuong ia ụ i a... I invite you to Thien Hau, then let her come, she returns to her seat at the golden temple... now she returns to her seat to bring peace, to bring wealth to the hundreds of families for eternity..." The shadow performance is both an offering to Thien Hau Holy Mother and brings joy to those who come to watch the worship, revealing the open-mindedness of the people in the Southern land.

Up to now, the worship of Thien Hau Thanh Mau has gradually developed and spread throughout the province with relics and festivals that have contributed to enriching the spiritual life and the responsibility of preserving and promoting the heritage values ​​of the Chinese and local people.

With the main driving force being the development of industry, trade and services, tourism is also an important part in the economic, cultural and social development of the province, contributing to building Tay Ninh into a "tourist center". This hundred-year heritage is the source for tourism development in Tay Ninh in types such as cultural tourism, thematic tourism, spiritual tourism (religion) and pilgrimages./.

Phi Thanh Phat - Minh Tri

Source: https://baolongan.vn/tin-nguong-tho-thien-hau-thanh-mau-o-tay-ninh-a206887.html