Vietnamese Women, vol. 2 chapter 1, part 2: goddesses - lady ancestors - professions

from: Bao Tang Phu Nu Nam Bo: The Vietnamese Women. Vestiges & Landscapes. The Cultural-Historic (Di Tich Thang Canh Lich Su Van Hoa. Phu nu Viet Nam); Nha Xuat Ban Phu Nu 1999; volume 2: remains of goddesses - lady ancestors of different professions - mothers of famous persons (Di tich ve nu than, mau, ba to cac nganh nghe va me cac danh nhan)

1.11 The temple of the Salangane Island lady LÊ THI HUYÊN TRÂM

NOI ISLAND - BICH DAM HAMLET - KHANH HOA PROVINCE

Lady Lê Thi Huyên Trâm, the woman was raised to the high positions of the Salangane Island lady by the Khánh Hòa people and was told to be a woman admiral under the Tay Son reign who used to guard Hòn Tre sea zone. She repelled Nguyên Ánh navy three times in protection of the military base and logistics of the Tây Son insurrectionists.

Lady Lê Thi Huyên Trâm's ancestor was Mr. Lê Van
Ɖat, a mandarin under King Trân Minh Tông reign. On the way to escort Trân princess named Thánh Trân, to the home of her husband, king of Trao Oa (Indonesia), he discovered the Salangane Island with its big economic resources. Having returned, he asked the king to settle at Bích Ɖàm hamlet of Hòn Tre Island and became the ancestor of Vietnamese people here.

Her father Mr. Lê Van Quang was a Confucian scholar but very good at martial arts. When the Tây Son insurrection started, he followed Nguyên Huê and was entrusted the heavy responsibility of guarding the Salangane Island together with his daughter. When he died, he was honored by the local people as "Bao Yên Island lord".

After her father's death, she continued her father's duty. In 1713, she was killed in a violent naval battle with Nguyên Ánh army. The people built a small temple to worship her and extolled her as "Báo Yên Ɖao Chu Holy Mother".

Through many years, the temple was almost destroyed. In 1968, the workers collecting salangane's nest required their employer, Mr. Pham Gia Ky to rebuild the temple.

In 1992, Khánh Hòa salangane's nest exploiting Company had the temple renovated and had lady Lê Thi Huyên Trâm's statue created on her 199th funeral feast (p.24).

1.12 HO KROIH [a lady teaching weaving]

THE WEAVING FOUNDER OF THE GIA RAI & BAHNAR ETHNIC MINORITIES IN WESTERN HIGHLAND

According to legend, Ho Kroih was a lady who had strangely beautiful feet, but she had to live alone because she was the envy of villagers who kept away from her. Disappointed, she went into the deep forest to live and to become the friend of wild animals.

At fist, she still cut open the tree bark to make the clothing as people did in the village. But during the continuous rain, the tree bark was not able to protect herself, so she had an idea to use the animals skin for clothing for human beings.

One day, she entered the forest to dig up roots and collect bamboo shouts; when her basket was heavy, she looked for a place to have a rest and discovered a part of the forest full of white fruits. When she collected these fruits, they gave a feeling of pleasure, softness and lightness; so she used them as a pillow.

In her dream, she had a blouse made of these strange fruits. When she woke up, she had an idea to cut open the fruit, spin cotton and weave cloth.

Having the smooth and shining cloth, she was moved to think of the people in the village who had to cover themselves by ugly tree barks and to feel pity of wild animals who were skinned to make clothing.

She decided to come back to the village and taught the people to spin cotton and weave cloth.

The weaving profession was gradually formed and expanded from village to village of the Gia Rai and Bahnar ethnic minorities. Ho Kroih was beloved and respected by the people; she was considered the founder of the weaving profession from that time (p.27).

1.13 POH NAGAR Tower [and 3 little towers - lady Pho Nagar civilizing Champa people]

NHA TRANG CITY - KHANH HOA PROVINCE

Poh Nagar Tower includes a main tower and three auxiliary ones located on a hill near Huân Island, beside the National road No. 1 in Nha Trang city.

Located in the North-East, the main tower of 23 meters height; it was built in 817 to worship Lady Poh Nagar and her daughter.

According to the Champa history, Lady Pho Nagar had the merit to develop and civilize for the Champa people. The Vietnamese called her the respected name: Thiên Y Ana, "Diên Phi Chúa Ngoc". Her conferment was offered by the reigns as "Hông Nhân Phô Tê Linh Úng Thuong Dang Thân".

It is said that formerly, when the Champa people still lived dispersedly and wildly, Poksuk God in the Heavens sent her eldest daughter Mujuki (who became Poh Nagar later) to the Earth replacing him to reign over all beings.

Mujuki trained the people to do farming and fishing. In her 7 years of reign, there were many continuous natural disasters, she used to go to the North to mobilize aid. There she got married with the Crown Prince and had two children.

One day, as she was homesick and saddened by her husband's constant invasion to neighboring countries, she sailed to her homeland. When she came to Langari mountain near Huân Island in
Ɖai An village (Khánh Hòa province today), she ordered to break new land to make fields and gardens, and to build temples; at the same time, she proclaimed herself Poh Nagar (p.31).

1.14 Lady POH NAIR Mountain [Lady Poh Nagar with two sons as gods]

PHUOC LONG HAMLET - PHUOC NAM VILLAGE - NINH PHUOC DISTRICT - BINH THU ÂN PROVINCE

According to the legend of the Champa in Phan Rang, Lady Poh Nagar had two children. Both of them were gods worshipped by the Champa people. The daughter whose name was Poh Nair was a goddess who brought good deeds to the people and was considered the one who taught the Champa the weaving profession.

It is said that she led a religious life on a mountain and here she invented the weaving loom and the weaving profession. The Champa in Phan Rang believed in her and called the mountain where she lived Núi Bà (Lady Mountain). When the village was in disaster such as disease, drought the people came to the mountain to pray her. The Champa people believed that she was sacred and would help them.

At Huu Dúc hamlet, Ninh Phuóc district, there remains a temple worshipping to Lady Poh Nagar and her two children (p.34).

1.15 Holy Mother THIÊN HÂU Pagoda [goddess for calming storms in the sea]

Thiên Hâu Holy Mother who was worshipped scatteredly [from time to time] in HCM city and other provinces, is well-known as a sacred goddess to the Sino-Vietnamese.

The legend about Thiên Hâu Holy Mother was told that her real name was Mi Châu, her origin was in Bô Duong, Fujian (China). She was born in March 23, 1044 (Giàp Thân lunar year) under the period of King Song Renzong. She had practiced Buddhism since her childhood.

One day, when her father and two brothers took a boat trip to Jiangxi to sell salt, she stayed home with her mother to weave cloth. Suddenly, she closed tight her eyes, gritted tight her jaws, then her hands seemed to cling on to something. Seeing the strange thing, fearfully, her mother called loudly her name. Unexpectedly, it seemed that she woke up, then she was crying ad saying that she saw her father's boat was sunk by [a] storm; while she was catching her two brothers with her hands and nipping the corner of her father's shirt in her mouth, she heard her mother's sound; she opened her mouth to answer, so her father was taken away by the waves.

A few days later, having escaped from death, her brothers came back home and related the details of the sunk boat story as she did lately.

From that time, the story was told far and wide from mouth to mouth. When a boat was in a storm, seafarers prayed her to get out of danger. Later on, the people believed in her miracle. Before a journey, the sailors prayed her to have a good trip.

In Canh Dán lunar year (1110), she was nominated as "Thiên Hâu Goddess" under the Song dynasty. Her yearly funeral feast was on the 23th day of the third lunar month.

The custom to worshipping Holy Mother Thiên Hâu was quite popular in the South, especially in the coastal regions where live many Chinese (p.37).

1.16 AN NHON Ɖình [for four goddesses calming the sea]

26/3 STREET - GO VAP DISTRICT - HO CHI MINH CITY

[The center] An Nhon đình in [the location of] Gò Vâp is for the worship of the Four Goddesses who were also named Nam Hai Tu Vi Thánh Bà (The Four South Sea Goddesses) or Duc Thánh Mâu (Holly Mother).

The đình was formed in the period of settlers coming from the North. Perhaps they could not forget their hard trips by sea, so they created the đinh to worship the goddesses who saved the seafarers from big waves and strong winds and led them to this region.

These Four Goddesses were Empress Duong and her three princesses of king Tong De Bich (Tông Ɖê Bích) (China) who was defeated at Nhai Son. They were pursued by the Yuan troops down to the South where they committed suicide by throwing themselves in the sea. Their corpses drifted to Cua Côn estuary where they were salvaged and buried by the locals. The four goddesses were well-known for her miracles, so the villagers built the temple to worship them (Càn Hai temple - Quynh Phuong commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghê An province). They were appointed by Vietnamese kings as "Nam Hai Ɖai Can Thanh Nuong".

Every year, on the moon day of the eighth lunar month, the villagers celebrated the ceremony for making offerings and parading the royal appointment tablet of the Four Goddesses.

Formerly, the people extolled the goddesses for wishing to get safety in their trips by sea, nowadays it is the folk festival with the significance of the desire for the people's good health, prosperity and nation's peace. That is traditional beauty of the people living in An Nhon - Go Vap (p.45).

1.17 BA DEN Pagoda (BÀ ƉEN Pagoda) [Hindu monument for god Siva, Shiva]

45 TRUONG DNIH STREET - DISTRICT 1 - O CHI MINH CITY [former Saigon]

This is a pagoda of the Hindu in Saigon probably built in about 1885. When the French occupied the six Southern provinces, there were many recruited Indians, most of them from Bombay, came to work and settle in Saigon for long time. At that time, the first Indians living of former Saigon often lived and did business in the surrounding area of the Ben Than (Bên Thành) market of today and had religious activities of the Bombay Hindu. Due to this reason. Ba Den pagoda (Bà Ɖen pagoda) was founded.

The goddess worshipped in the pagoda is Sri Maryamanne of Siva sect. In the pagoda, there are many carved bas reliefs representing different embodiments of God Siva (Shiva).

Although this was the worshipping place of the Hindu, there were many Vietnamese, mainly women, usually came here to make offerings.

To them, they prayed to goddess Maryamanne as to their own holy mother.

Nowadays, the descendants of the Vietnamese people who used to live in the Ba Den pagoda area remain preserving their ancestors' habit for making offerings in the pagoda on the moon day or the first day of every lunar month (p.47).

1.18 PHUOC HAI Pagoda [for Lady Kim Huê and 12 mother statues]

73 MAI THI LUU STREET - DISTRICT 1 - HO CHI MINH CITY [HCMC, former Saigon]

It is also called Ngoc Hoàng pagoda (The God Pagoda) which was founded by Luu Minh coming from China in 1892. The pagoda was renovated 4 times. The Ngoc Hoàng pagoda precinct is rather large; on the roof, there are many pictures of lotus blossoms.

The ornate figures on the pagoda's tree entrance gate and main door are the images of fairies offering flowers. Inside, there is a small chamber to worship Lady Kim Huê and the 12 Goddesses statues which are made of Cây Mai ceramics from the early years of the 20th century. The statues of Goddesses appear the folk style and symbolize the mother role of women. The 12 statues are in different sitting positions, some are bathing or carrying children, some are also carrying two children in their arms, while two others are playing the game of "closing the eyes and seeking each other" below. This is the worshipping chamber in Phuoc Hai pagoda where childless women usually come to pray for their heir mostly (p.49).

1.19 Lady LE THI DIEN's Pond (Lê Thi ƉIÊN's Pond) [good educator and poet]

TAN THANH VILLAGE - CAN GIUOC DISTRICT - LONG AN PROVINCE

Lady Le Thi Dien (Lê Thi Ɖiên), born in 1835 at Can Giuoc, was the wife of the patriot poet Nguyên Dinh Chiêu in the Southern region. She was a lady who took care the housework, brought up the children and helped her husband to open the school, to do medicine, to create famous poems such as "Luc Van Tien", "Van Te Nghia Si Can Giuoc".

She was also a good mother who educated her children to become useful people for the country, her eldest daughter Nguyên Thi Huong was a famous poet in Ba Tri land (Ben Tre province); her son Nguyen Dinh Chuc (Nguyên Ɖình Chúc) and her daughter Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen (Nguyên Thi Kim Xuyên) were also poets; her other son Nguyen Dinh Chiem (Nguyê Ɖình Chiêm) was the writer of the classical drama "Phan Trang Lau" and "Nam Tong Thanh". Another daughter Nguyen Thi Ngoc Khue whose writer name was Suong Nguyet Anh, became a famous poet, the first woman journalist who was the editor of the newspaper "Nu Gioi Chung!" published in 1918.

When old scholar teacher Chiêu moved to Ton Thanh Pagoda (nowadays of Can Giuoc district), she both took care of her six children brand, she made Chinese ink, folded the paper and took note the writings for her husband. Beside her housework, she was also interested in social affairs; she mobilized the people of Tan Thanh village to dig a pond containing water for their uses. To be moved by her humanity, the villagers used her name to call the pond: Le Thi Dien pond (Lê Thi Ɖiên pond).

1.20 BA CO'S Tomb (BÀ CÔ'S Tomb) [military studies - arrested adoptive mother]

TO TRE HAMLET - LONG THUAN VILLAGE - GO CONG WOTN - TIEN GIANG PROVINCE

Nobody knew her real name and age. She was only known as Vo Tanh's adoptive mother. To be an orphan since his childhood, Vo Tanh lived with his adoptive mother. Having been in wartime, he and his adoptive mother had come to live in Go Tre region since he was 9, 10 years old. His mother did a small business to bring him up.

Having grown up, Vo Tanh was keen on training martial art and studying military strategy. The Go Cong people very much admired him. The reputation of Vo Tanh's talent was known by Dong Dinh Vuong Nguyen Lu, one of the Tay Son movement's leaders who sent men to convince him to follow them several times, but Vo Tanh refused firmly.

Angered by Vo Tanh's refusal, Nguyen Lu ordered his troops to seize Vo Tanh; however, they failed because of the villagers' warning to him. The soldiers arrested his adoptive mother in desire for investigating to find out his hiding place. She endured all fortunes in silence to protect her son. Finally, due to old age and poor health, she was unable to bear the sufferings, she got sick and passed away (p.55).

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