People who are devoted to Mother Goddess worship

With the desire to protect and promote the good values ​​of "The practice of worshipping the Mother Goddesses of the Vietnamese people" - a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity, Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Thi Duoc in Bac Son ward (Bim Son town) has spent decades to carry out this work.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc. Photo: Van Anh

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc said that she first learned about the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces from a medium. The melodious singing of the cung van and the graceful dancing of the medium left a deep impression on her. From then on, her desire to learn about the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces grew. She decided to quit her government job with a stable income to spend time reading documents about the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces. She traveled to temples and shrines, especially the big temples in the country to see the practice of the Mother Goddess worship. When she had a certain understanding and memorized the price van and price hau, she began her work as a Saint at the age of 33.

The worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Realms has spiritual elements, formed, developed and passed down through generations. Our ancestors skillfully combined and absorbed spiritual elements of other beliefs and religions such as ancestor worship, Buddhism, Confucianism and harmonized the cultural values ​​of other ethnic minorities, making the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Realms a symbol of cultural diversity, community cohesion and respect for other religions that accompany development. The saints worshiped in the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Realms are angels, legends honored by the community and there are also deities who are the incarnations of real historical figures.

For each stage, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc has a thorough understanding of the characteristics of the costumes, the requirements of the patterns, the steps of the ceremony, the dance... therefore the stages she performs are always performed with utmost care. Especially in each stage, she has strict requirements for the music.

“The dancer not only has a voice but also a certain understanding of culture. The singing must be in tune with the performers, and must be able to adapt and change to make the performers closer to the performers... The lyrics and dance must be in harmony and in sync with each other so that the audience can feel the content of the performers,” said Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc.

It is her deep understanding of beliefs and seriousness in the profession that has helped Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc's 45-year career as a medium to be recognized. She is one of the few artisans in Thanh Hoa who can skillfully perform 36 medium prices.

She was also honored to be invited to perform at many cultural exchange programs at home and abroad, such as performing at the Festival "Practicing the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Upper Realm" in Yen Bai; performing at the Festival "Vietnam - ASEAN Cultural Exchange" held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; in 2017, the artist was invited to the Russian Federation to perform Hau Dong and was honored to receive a reward from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam for her outstanding achievements in introducing and promoting the Hau Dong and Hat Van culture of the Vietnamese people...

At the age of 78, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc is still full of energy. She regularly participates in seminars and training courses on Mother Goddess religion with the desire to spread the beauty of Mother Goddess worship culture to the community. She is currently in the process of proposing to be awarded the title of People's Artist.

As a long-time and prestigious artisan, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc has passed on her craft to 112 students, many of whom have been recognized as artisans. Before teaching her students, she always guides them to learn, research and understand correctly the Mother Goddess worship. Each altar is taught by her according to the correct standards. She always teaches her students: "Thanh dong is a special profession, it must be done with the heart, if you have a good heart, you will surely do good things".

However, according to Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc, nowadays there are young mediums who come to the profession by superficially learning from the internet and then practicing their own performances, not following the standards of each stage. Those mediums have not absorbed the knowledge of their predecessors, lacking the element of transmission.

"Relevant departments and agencies need to regularly open training classes, promote and improve knowledge for mediums to help them properly perceive the good values ​​of Mother Goddess worship culture," Meritorious Artist Nguyen Thi Duoc hopes.

Van Anh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nguoi-nang-long-voi-tin-nguong-tho-mau-237904.htm