( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Since ancient times, when arriving on Ly Son Island, Vietnamese people have lived, integrated, and interacted with the indigenous Champa culture, including the custom of worshiping the snake god Naga. This is the god who protects water resources and helps the weather to be favorable.
In the minds of Ly Son people, when snakes appear in the deserted forest, where there are sacred temples and shrines, they believe that they are gods residing in the form of “snake”, so they should not throw stones, use sticks to attack, and should not loudly “curse the snake”. Some people also see snakes in temples and shrines, so they must go to the shrine to burn incense and pray to be blessed by the snake god for peace and not be punished.
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| The main gate leading to Dinh Dun - the place to worship the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong. |
For fishermen, when diving in the sea and encountering a sea snake, they call it a "deen". The deen is as big as a thumb, about 1m long, with many black and white spots on its skin. It is a rather poisonous sea snake. If bitten by one, it will be life-threatening. Ly Son people believe that if they encounter a sea snake at sea, they must not attack it, because in their minds, they consider the sea snake to be a variant of the water dragon, a "sea ghost" underwater, a sign of bad luck. There will be no fish or squid in this sea area, so they must move their boats elsewhere. Until the end of the fishing trip, fishermen must prepare offerings, betel, wine, boiled rooster, and fruit to bring to Dinh Dun to worship the snake god, called "cau tran" worship so that the bad luck will no longer exist.
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| The screen is located on the main axis of Dinh Dun, surrounded by many ancient banyan trees over a hundred years old. |
Dinh Dun is a place of worship for the residents of An Vinh village, which people call the snake god palace. Perhaps, when the Champa people were still residing on Ly Son island, they built this temple to worship the snake god Naga. Then Dinh Dun was abandoned and was taken over by the Vietnamese. The main deity worshiped at Dinh Dun is the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong (snake goddess). Dinh Dun has many ancient trees over a hundred years old, densely packed, creating a sacred and quiet space, making many people afraid to come. The elders said that when the villagers were performing a ceremony, they saw a strange snake, no one knew what kind of snake it was, and no one dared to attack it, because they thought it was a "god appearing" to protect the villagers. Some time later, a "mound of earth" appeared in the temple as an omen that it was a sacred land, so the villagers named this temple Dinh Dun. Initially, Dinh Dun was built with bricks, lime mortar mixed with molasses. Later, An Vinh villagers renovated it into a three-room house with a lean-to, with a traditional religious architectural style. In 2017, the villagers contributed money to renovate the entire Dinh Dun, including the main hall and the sanctuary in the ancient overlapping roof architecture style. The sanctuary is where the goddess statue is worshiped, with a Chinese deity and is chanted in the funeral oration: "U Linh Xa Nu Vuong, the original goddess, gave birth to a precious spirit to protect the goddess, and established a loyal and illusory Trung Dang goddess".
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There are many mysterious stories of the early days of land opening associated with Dinh Dun. Previously, Dinh Dun did not have a statue, the villagers had to pray to build a statue for the goddess, but because the virtue of the current celebrant was not enough, it did not come true. A few years later, a new celebrant took over, who was respected by the villagers, so when he responded, he allowed the statue to be sculpted. The statue of the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong at Dinh Dun was ordered to be made in Thua Thien Hue province, then brought back to be placed in the back palace. Since the statue was built, the villagers of An Vinh said that for many years, the goddess has blessed the harvest with bountiful harvests, especially the fishing industry, which often caught a lot of fish and shrimp.
Another noteworthy thing is that the worship of the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong plays a quite important role in the system of gods worshiped on the island. Because, in the important ceremonies taking place at the village communal house, in the funeral oration, the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong is invited before the Thunder God, the Fire God, the Jade Lan God of the South Sea, the God of Chua Chuong, the God of Duc Ngu, and many other gods.
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| Ly Son Cave. Photo: THANH PHUONG |
In the beliefs of the people of Ly Son island, sometimes U Linh Xa Nu Vuong is also the incarnation of the five elements of the Five Elements, called Kim, Moc, Thuy, Hoa, Tho, the five holy virtues of the gods. These are five natural elements that directly affect life, which are personified by the Vietnamese people and worshiped together with the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong to regulate and suppress all disasters, bringing a peaceful life to the people on the path of opening up land and establishing villages.
Through many changes of the times, life has changed a lot, but the custom of worshiping the goddess U Linh Xa Nu Vuong still plays an important role in the religious life of the people of Ly Son island.
Article and photos: VO MINH TUAN
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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/van-hoa/202502/tuc-tho-than-ran-tren-dao-ly-son-c1a334a/
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