The annual festival featuring the worship of ‘Mau Thoai’ (Mother Goddess of Water), is taking place in Hoa Xuan Ward, Cam Le District, Da Nang from 25 and 27 March.  This interesting event has attracted a great deal of attention from locals and visitors.

The releasing of doves to wish for peace, happiness and prosperity throughout the year

This is the four time the festival has been held in the city, with the total organising cost being covered by the general public.

Mau Thoai is amongst the Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms who represent deities from heaven, water, and mountains, and forests, and have been closely associated with historical and mythical figures.

One of the 3-day festival’s highlights was the practice of ‘Len dong’, otherwise known as ‘hau dong’ or ‘hau bong’ (‘to mount the medium’ or ‘to go into a trance’), a spirit ritual in which practitioners become mediums for 36 different deities who take over their bodies, and carry out actions in the human world.

The process is normally aided by musicians and singers of ‘chau van’, or invocation singing, who perform invocation songs to induce a trance in the practitioner, preparing them for incarnation.

Besides traditional rituals, there were a wide range of exciting cultural activities during the festival, including the displays of traditional Vietnamese dishes and artifacts about the beliefs practiced in the central region over historical periods.

Viet Nam’s traditional religious practice of the worshipping of Mother Goddesses has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Currently, about 3,000 local residents practice this time-honoured faith.