Festival honouring Mother Goddess of Forest worship to be held
A festival for practices related to folk beliefs in Mother Goddess of Forest will debut at Dong Cuong Temple in northern Yen Bai province on May 20-21 in celebration of Visit Vietnam Year 2017.
A practitioner is performing "len dong" (“going into a trance”), a spirit ritual involving music, singing, dance and costumes. (Photo: VNA)
Yen Bai (VNA) – A festival for practices related to folk beliefs in Mother Goddess of Forestwill debut at Dong Cuong Temple in northern Yen Bai province on May 20-21 incelebration of Visit Vietnam Year 2017 – Lao Cai – Northwest.
The event will bringtogether practitioners of Mother Goddess worship from all over the country andfeature a variety of activities.
One of thefestival’s highlights will be the practice of “len dong” (“going into atrance”), a spirit ritual in which practitioners become mediums for 36 differentdeities, involving a number of artistic elements, such as music, singing, danceand costumes.
The festival willhost a carnival where local performers and practitioners will recreate theMother Goddess worship and hold a trade fair to promote local cinnamonproducts.
Photos and paintingsdepicting traditional practices of worshipping Mother Goddesses and otherrituals of ethnic minority groups in the region will also be on show, includinga complete set of worship paintings of the Dao ethnic minority people,displayed for the first time.
According to Tran ThuyLuu from the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the festivalwill be held at at Dong Cuong Temple, an important historic and cultural relicfor Mother Goddess worship.
It is well-known asa sacred temple located close to the bank of the Hong (Red) River where theMother Goddess of Forest was reborn and lived. It also worships several ethnicminority heroes during the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400) who scarified their livesin battles against Mongol invasions.
The Mother Goddess of Forest is among the MotherGoddesses of the Three Realms in the Viet beliefs who look after heaven, waterand mountains and forests.-VNA
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A practitioner is performing "len dong" (“going into a trance”), a spirit ritual involving music, singing, dance and costumes. (Photo: VNA) 
