The cult of mother goddesses is a folk traditional cult of the Vietnamese, which arose from very ancient times. The Vietnamese who practice it usually worship goddesses and gods, as well as historical figures or characters of legends who have served the Fatherland or had powerful power in temples and pagodas. The main significance of this cult is to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Vietnamese, who dream of family well-being, health, successful business, etc.

According to legend, in time immemorial, goddesses descended to earth from heaven and turned into different characters. They helped and protected people from epidemics and natural disasters, so the inhabitants respected and worshiped them very much. As we have already noted, in Vietnam there is also a widespread cult of worship of the country’s national heroes and people who have merits to the Fatherland, which echoes the cult of mother goddesses, reflects the high morality of the Vietnamese people “When you drink water, remember its source”, makes a great contribution to the strengthening patriotism, as well as cultivating in a person an understanding of the need to do good deeds. Currently, the cult of the mother goddesses of Vietnam is developing and becoming a cult of worship of the “three and four kingdoms.” Recently, this cult was included by UNESCO in the list of objects of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The performance of this ritual cult includes the offering of objects to the altar, the ritual dance “len-dong” and the ritual singing “chau-wan”. Every year on March 3rd according to the lunar calendar, the big religious festival of Fu Dai takes place in Nam Dinh province, which presents ritual costumes, music, folk singing, and dances, reflecting the rich cultural flavor of Vietnam, passed down from generation to generation.

Usually in Vietnam, locals as well as tourists can attend the ceremony of the cult of mother goddesses in pagodas or temples. For example, in Thien Chuc Pagoda in Hanoi, a ceremony of the cult of the four kingdoms was held, which was attended by many people. Vietnamese student Linh Ngoc from Russia shared her thoughts: “I lived in Russia since childhood, but my mother often told me about the culture and customs of Vietnam. The cult of mother goddesses seemed especially unusual and interesting to me. This summer I had the chance to personally attend a Four Kingdoms ceremony at the temple and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t expect that the event would take me so long considering that it started at 8 o’clock in the morning and ended only around two o’clock in the afternoon. I think children should attend these kinds of ritual events to have a chance to understand the Vietnamese cult of mother goddesses.”

And Mrs. Thanh Van noted: “In fact, these kinds of rituals are part of the culture that many Vietnamese people strive for more and more every day. These events are sacred, important, life-affirming for everyone. Attending a ritual is like watching a spiritual educational program.”.

Meanwhile, Ms. Kim Khanh says: “Today, in order to better understand the culture of Vietnam, I came here to this ceremony, which was held in an upbeat atmosphere. I especially liked how the priestess threw money to people who came for prosperity and success.”

The cult of mother goddesses is closely associated with the singing of "chow-wan", which is also called "hat-wan". This is one of the types of traditional singing of the Vietnamese people, recognized as an object of the country's intangible cultural heritage. The melody of "chow-wan" will take you through the entire history of the saints, making it clear to you what is being said and what characters are involved. Having been chanting “chau van” for 16 years, Phan Van Dat said that not only Vietnamese, but also many foreigners also love to watch the ceremony of the cult of the four kingdoms. He said: “The entire nation supports the tradition of singing “chow-wan.” In Vietnam, not only adults, but also children and foreigners study its unique features. Usually, foreigners living here listen to choir performances at famous tourist spots such as Bach Ma Temple and the temple located on Mamei Road, next to Dong Xuan Market.”

Currently, to promote the Vietnamese cult of mother goddesses, the play “Four Kingdoms” is being performed at the Con Nan (Worker) Theater on Chang Tien Street. These performances truly impress domestic and foreign tourists. Natasha Kornienko, who fell in love with this type of culture, said: “I have been living in Vietnam for 2 years now and studying Vietnamese culture. I have been interested in the religion of Vietnam for a long time: it is very diverse and controversial. A special place is occupied by the ceremony, which probably cannot be translated into Russian. It’s called “len-dong”. I started looking for literature and found quite a lot of information in both English-language books and Vietnamese scientific articles. One day I was lucky enough to attend a performance that was a retelling of this ceremony. It was called "The Four Kingdoms". The cult of the four mothers includes many different ceremonies, and the Len Dong ceremony is one of the most colorful and memorable. When I was at this performance, I was very surprised that there were very few spectators, but despite this, it seemed to me that the performance was very interesting. There was only one mother on stage. She had two assistants who helped her change clothes and decorate herself with various brooches, earrings and other jewelry. After she was dressed up, she danced a ritual dance and threw candy, treats, and some small money into the hall. This interested me very much. Then I learned from books that at real ceremonies held in temples, everything is done in much the same way. All this symbolizes the wish of happiness, success, prosperity and prosperity to everyone who is present at the ceremony. I really hope that in the near future I will have the opportunity to attend a real ceremony and see it all with my own eyes.”

It should be noted that the Vietnamese cult of mother goddesses is becoming increasingly widespread both among the Vietnamese, within the country, and among foreigners. If you are in Hanoi and want to learn more about the special features of this culture, then be sure to visit the Congnian Theater on Chang Tien Street.

The Viet are confident that all earthly elements are controlled by spirits and deities. Each of them has their own “sector of responsibility”, their own character and completely human passions, morals and problems.
The god of wind, rain, thunder appears in ancient legends and traditions in an understandable earthly image.

Gods of the Hearth

Kitchen gods (hearth gods) Than Bep look after the fire and wood in the hearth. In the previous earthly incarnation, these were three people. A woman and two men are participants in a tragic love triangle who die in a fire. After death, they appeared before the supreme god Ngoc Hoang, and were appointed Gods of the Hearth. They are tasked only with looking after the quality of food and order in the house, but also keeping track of the good and bad deeds of all family members throughout the year. On the twenty-third day of the last lunar month, the Than Bep trio ascends to Heaven and reports all their observations to Ngoc Hoang.

Keepers of the hearth have two faithful assistants. The first - carp - helps Than Bep get from the earthly world to the Heavenly Ruler. The second assistant, the spider, conveys messages to people from the gods. People perceive the appearance of a spider as another message from the deities. This could be a weather forecast or a harbinger of some news.

God of the earth Than Dat

In ancient legends, the God of the earth appears in the guise of a dragon or an old man. Than Dat lived underground, but was well aware of everything that was happening in the human world.

During the last seven days of the lunar year, Than Dat leaves the earth and goes to report to Ngoc Hoang. Earthly life freezes during this period. On the thirtieth day, the God of the earth returns, and everything around wakes up, as if after a dream. People do not dare do earthworks - plowing, cultivating gardens, or even burying anything in the ground. On the second day of the new year, a special ceremony is performed to receive the blessing of the God of the earth. Only after receiving permission did people decide to disturb the land.

Thunder God Than Set (Lord Sham)

Another character in Ngoc Hoang's retinue is the thunder god Than Set, the embodiment of the wrath of the Jade Ruler. The Vietnamese imagine him as a gentleman with a fierce face and an incredibly powerful voice.

Mr. Sham always used to walk around with a stone ax, with which he punished the guilty, striking them on the head. In winter, God rested, and on the second or third moon he woke up and began his cruel deeds.

Sometimes an innocent person fell under the hot hand and ax of Than Set and died. This angered Ngoc Hoang. The Supreme God scolded the Thunderer, immobilized him and sent the divine Rooster on him. Suffering from a powerful beak that struck blows all over his body, Mr. Sham begged for forgiveness from the Ruler. But since then I have always humbled myself at the sight of a rooster or the sound of a rooster crowing.

When a thunderstorm approaches, people imitate the crowing of a rooster to ward off the terrible God from their home.

Wind God Than Zo

The God of the Wind has a strange appearance - he has no head, so he received the popular nickname Headless. He summons a light breeze or a storm with the help of a magic fan - depending on the command of the Jade Lord. The most dangerous for people is the union of Than Zo with the God of Rain and the God of Thunder.

One day, when Than Zo was not at home, his little mischievous son stole a magic fan and raised a strong wind in the human world. A gust of wind tore the sieve with the last grains of rice out of the hands of the poor peasant. In desperation, the old man cried out for justice and asked Ngoc Hoang for protection.

Having figured out what had happened, the Lord exiled the young mischief maker from Heaven to earth, first making him a simple shepherd, and later turning him into a tree capable of predicting the weather. From the flowers and leaves of this tree, people learned to understand when rain or a hurricane was expected. So the just Ngoc Hoang made the guy pay for the evil he brought.

Rice goddess Than Lua

The pampered and capricious beauty - the daughter of Ngoc Hoang - felt annoyed and dissatisfied for any reason. A wise father gave her a responsible assignment - to take care of saving people after a terrible flood, as a result of which all edible plants died.

Ngoc Hoang ordered his daughter-goddess to descend to earth and give people food. Than Lua allowed the rice grains that fell on the water-covered areas of the earth to germinate. Once the rice was ripened, people did not need to take care of anything - there was no need to reap, dry or peel the rice. He himself came to the house - all that was left was to put it in the pot.

The negligence and laziness of people, accustomed to light bread, soon angered the Goddess. She abolished all privileges and doomed her charges to hard work in the rice fields.

Rain God Than Mya

Than Mya appears in the rainy sky in the form of a dragon, and can appear to people in the form of a fish. At any time of the day, the Rain God can rise to the sky or descend to the bottom of the sea. It draws water from rivers and seas into its huge belly. Then it flies wherever it needs to go, often thousands of kilometers away, and spills water on forests, fields, and bushes so that everything around it grows and bears fruit.

The ancient Viet lived with the God of Rain in perfect harmony. Than Mya conscientiously brought benefits to everyone living on earth. Sometimes misunderstandings occurred, which caused complaints to the Heavenly Lord. It happened that the God of Rain was mistaken - he watered deserted remote areas and completely forgot to irrigate densely populated coastal areas.

ABOUT The huge peninsula with which Asia ends in the southeast has long been called Indochina. Vietnam, which has a territory stretching from north to south and occupies the eastern part of the peninsula, is, in a figurative expression, a “balcony on the Pacific Ocean.” This is a maritime country, and the sea plays an important role in the life of the Vietnamese. Vietnam is located in a tropical zone; the mercury never drops below plus ten. The monsoons blowing here determine the alternation of dry and rainy, hot and cooler seasons. Residents are constantly threatened by two disasters: drought and river floods.
Vietnam is a multinational country; its ethnic composition is compared to an unfolded fan, the center of which is the Vietnamese, who have rallied other nationalities around themselves.
There are many legends associated with the beginning of Vietnamese statehood and the first founding sovereigns. According to legend, the first ancestor of the Viet was Lac Long Kuan - the Lord Dragon Lac. In Vietnamese culture, echoes of the maternal-tribal structure of society are clearly felt: Sovereign Dragon Lak inherited his water essence from his mother, who was the daughter of a dragon - the ruler of Lake Dongting, located in China. His father was Kinh Duong Vuong - the Solar Ruler of Kinh. Lak Long Kuan granted his eldest son the title of Ruler Hung (Hung - Courageous) and handed over to him the government of the country. This happened four thousand years ago. Hung ascended the throne and established the name of the state - Wanlang (Country of Tattooed People). The emperors of all subsequent reigns were also called Hung Vuong - the Hung Sovereigns; there were eighteen of them.
In the 3rd century. BC e. The state of Aulak, successor to Vanlang, was formed. Having replaced the Hung sovereigns, it was headed by Thuc Phan, who received the throne name An Duong Vuong. The capital of Aulak was the Koloa-Ulitka fortress, a magnificent example of a fortification structure. To protect Koloa, formidable weapons were used at that time - crossbows, capable of simultaneously firing a large number of arrows with bronze tips. The state of Aulak was located mainly in what is now North Vietnam and northern Central Vietnam.
However, after some time, Chinese domination was established in the country, which lasted about a thousand years. The Vietnamese did not accept it; a series of uprisings testify to their desire to gain independence and freedom. Women also became the leaders of major rebel movements. Thus, a major uprising (40-43 AD) against the rule of the Chinese Han dynasty was led by the Trung sisters. Their mother was widowed at an early age and raised both daughters herself. Subsequently, she provided her daughters with great assistance in organizing the rebel forces. Among the Trung sisters' comrades there were many female military leaders. Things even got to the point of funny things. So, a certain person equipped a detachment of three hundred male rebels who took part in the uprising, dressed in women's dresses.
It should be noted that the Vietnamese were in close contact with neighboring peoples, many of whom are currently part of the national minorities of modern Vietnam (this especially applies to such nationalities as Meo, Muong, Lao, Banar, etc.). This long-term contact could not but lead to mutual cultural influence, which was manifested, in turn, in the commonality of some mythological plots, in the blurred boundaries between native Vietnamese works and works typical of other nationalities.
The idea of ​​cultural similarity between the peoples of Southeast Asia has long been expressed by scientists. The French scientist P. Mus outlined the ancient “monsoon zone”, which had a cultural commonality. This is a vast region that includes India, Indochina, Indonesia, its Oceanic fringe and, no doubt, South China. P. Mus considered the cult of the chthonic deity most characteristic of this region, embodying all the fertility of the earth, all its inexhaustible productive forces and materializing initially in the form of stone. The cult of mountains is probably associated with the cult of stone. The ancient Vietnamese believed that the state was protected by two mountains - Tan Vien - Canopy Mountain and Tamdao - Three Peaks. On Mount Tanvien lived the god of the mountains, and on Mount Tamdao lived a female deity. These were the sacred mountains of Wanglang - the father mountain and the mother mountain, one in the west, the other in the east. Four supernatural creatures: a phoenix, a dragon, a turtle, and a unicorn (replaced here by a horse-dragon).
Among the peoples of Southeast Asia there was a widespread legend about a wonderful sword. Thus, Ya. V. Chesnov, considering the cycle of myths about the sword, popular among the peoples of Eastern Indochina, notes that this cycle is characterized by a special combination of individual elements. The sword is correlated with the water element and the sky, has the essence of fire (sun) and is an instrument of dispensation. These main points are also characteristic of Vietnamese legends about the sword, mostly associated with the personality of Le Loy, who headed the army at the beginning of the 15th century. (1418-1428) fight against Chinese rule, restored the independence of Vietnam, founded a new Le dynasty and became its first emperor.
According to legend, Le Loy, armed with a wonderful sword, has the functions of an organizer who eliminates chaos (the domination of hostile forces) and restores space (the independence of the state). After defeating the enemies, the sword sank into Hoan Kiem Lake - the Lake of the Returned Sword, located in Hanoi. Subsequently, a certain sparkling object, identified by people with a sword, left this lake and disappeared. After the sword disappeared, disaster befell the country. This refers to the Taishon Rebellion (1788-1802), which was perceived by many contemporaries as a period of chaos. The disappearance of the wonderful weapon was a sign of future misfortunes.
Mythical ideas about the sword as a tool for ordering the cosmos can be seen in the Siamese ritual. During a period of possible flooding, a solemn procession led by the king approached the river and the ruler struck the water with a sword. This action was supposed to curb the water element - to prevent flooding. In addition, it was associated with a ceremony symbolizing fertilization. Researcher of myths and rituals of Southeast Asia E. Pore-Maspero suggests that ritual water games, similar to those at water festivals in Siam, were once held on the Lake of the Returned Sword in Hanoi. Perhaps the Vietnamese legends about the miraculous sword are a mythological description of this ritual.
The role of the organizer of the cosmos is sometimes played by Manjushri, the deity of the Buddhist pantheon, one of whose characteristic attributes, whether we are talking about his graphic images or the legends dedicated to him, is the sword in his right hand. In Tibetan iconography, this sword is fiery, flaming. In one of the illustrations for the Tangut xylograph of the 11th century. The Prajnaparamita Sutra depicts Manjushri pointing his sword at a serpent protruding from a well. It can be assumed that this refers to the curbing of the “water animal,” personifying the water element.
A legend in which Manjushri and his sword are associated with the “taming of water” is cited by the English researcher A. Getty. According to this legend, the territory where Nepal is now located was once the bottom of a lake inhabited by water monsters. Manjushri struck the southern shore of the lake several times with his sword, water flowed through the holes, and the bottom of the lake dried up. This is where Nepal was formed.
A version of the myth about how Manjushri created the earth from his own avatar, from a huge cosmic Golden Toad or Turtle, is given by L. Ya. Sternberg. So, once upon a time the moment came for the creation of the earth. Manjushri emerged from the depths of the Turtle, took on his own form, rose up and shot an arrow at it. The killed animal sank to the bottom, forming the foot of the earth. The hero of Vietnamese legend, Le Loy, also tried to pierce with an arrow a huge turtle that floated to the surface of the lake.
It can be assumed that the Buddhist figure of Manjushri the organizer overlapped with the mythological hero who creates the world from the water element with the help of a wonderful sword. This myth was probably popular among the peoples of Southeast Asia. Buddhism, spreading throughout Indochina, used local beliefs, and gave a Buddhist interpretation to local deities and events associated with them.
Buddhism played a big role in the cultural development of Vietnam. It is very likely that this religion was brought directly from India by sea. Chan Van Giap, a researcher of Vietnamese Buddhism, calls the early period - from the beginning of the 3rd century. until the end of the 7th century. - the triumph of Indian Buddhism. Along with Buddhism, some achievements of the cultures of India and Central Asia and their folklore also penetrated into Vietnam. At the end of the 6th century. In Vietnam, one of the Buddhist sects became widespread - Dhyana (Viet. Thien). By the 11th century. Buddhism flourished in Vietnam. The Thien school was of great importance for Vietnam; it was closely connected with Chinese dhyana - the Chan school. Buddhism, to a certain extent, was the collector and custodian of local folklore tradition. Some hagiographical stories, notes researcher of Vietnamese literature N.I. Nikulin, have a folk fairy-tale-mythological basis; a mythological-legendary archetype shines through the Buddhist plot.
In some legends, the characters of the Buddhist pantheon more closely resemble the evil spirits of local cults. For example, in the story “The Statue of Zya Lam from an Abandoned Pagoda,” the statue of Zya Lam, a Buddhist guardian spirit, turns out to be a kidnapper of other people’s wives. For this he is destroyed as a harmful demon.
A number of Vietnamese legends reflect the Buddhist idea of ​​rebirth. Thus, in the story “The Inner Teaching,” the strange illness of Emperor Le Than Tong (reigned 1619-1643) of the Le Dynasty was correlated with an unusual illness that once struck another emperor, Li Than Tong (reigned 1128-1138) of the Li Dynasty, which was believed , subsequently reborn as Le Than Tong.
Vietnam belongs to the countries of the Far Eastern cultural region. The proximity to the Chinese empire, political and cultural contacts with it shaped the characteristics of Vietnamese culture. Already in the era of dependence on China (111 BC - 939 AD), the Vietnamese mastered the Chinese hieroglyphic writing. Wenyan was written in Hanwan, the Vietnamese version of the Chinese literary language, until the 20th century. There was also an original writing system called Nom in Vietnam, created on the basis of Chinese characters. When it appeared is unknown; presumably, its origin dates back to the 10th-12th centuries. Along with language and writing, literature and ideology came to Vietnam, and above all, Confucianism. Already during the era of dependence, the country began to study Confucian canonical books. Confucianism was also propagated by Chinese governors, among whom Shi Jiu (Viet. Si Niep) (187-226).
With the strengthening of Confucianism, mythical characters turned into historical heroes, and events became tied to a specific time. The myth was thus included in the historical narrative. Vietnamese folklorist Nguyen Dong Thi gives examples of the transformation of Vietnamese myths under the influence of Confucianism. For example, the retinue of the mythical character Kinh Duong Vuong, the first ruler of the country of the South, included red evil demons sit kui, and according to the explanations of the Confuncians, it turned out that sit cuy is the name of the country in the south, subject to Kinh Duong Vuong. Or another example. Residents of the village of Kaoda in Hanam Province revered the spirit of the cobra ( ho mang). The belief may have gone back to ancient totemistic ideas. According to later explanations, it turned out that Ho Mang was a man who was comprehensively gifted, who distinguished himself under the emperor of the Thuk dynasty (257-208 BC) and received the rank of general.
The influence of Taoism is felt in the religious and mythological system of the Vietnamese. Thus, Yu-huang - the Lord of Jasper, who headed the Taoist pantheon in China, appears in Vietnamese folklore under the name Ngoc Hoang and appears as the supreme deity, usually restoring justice. His immediate circle consisted of spirits of all ranks who communicated with the world of people.
Under the influence of Taoism, the cult of Tran Hung Dao (13th century) developed, a famous Vietnamese commander who participated in repelling the Chinese-Mongol invasion. Since 1300, his Jasper ruler, on the left the deity of the Big Dipper, on the right - the constellation of the Southern Cross, the cult began to take shape on a national scale. Gradually accumulating the functions of minor guardian spirits, Tran Hung Dao was revered as the main protector of the state, and in the broader aspect of folk religion - as a universal protector against evil forces.
In Vietnam, cults of many spirits of the three worlds (sky, earth, water), dating back to ancient shamanism, were widespread. The central place in these cults was occupied by the divine mothers - Thanh Mau. Beliefs in mother goddesses - holy mothers, associated with matriarchy, have become widespread in Vietnam. These female deities were often anonymous, designated by general names: Thanh Mau - holy mother, Duc Ba - virtuous lady, Chua Ngoc - jasper princess.
The idea of ​​holy mothers was based on a very ancient belief in the mother goddess, who was the source of all life. Later, first three mother goddesses appeared, and then more of her avatars. All deities are presented as personifications of her qualities or as one of her local reincarnations. This is how many deities arose.
The mythology of the countless spirits of the three worlds was strongly influenced by the Taoist world of gods, organized like the Chinese empire. Ngoc Hoang, the Lord of Jasper, ruled; below were three divine mothers: the heavenly mother Lieu Hanh, the divine mother who controlled the water, and the divine mother of the upper regions, who reigned in the mountainous and forested areas.
This was followed by a complex hierarchy of deities subordinate to them: five great officials, four divine ladies, ten princes, twelve fairies, etc. The retinue included a huge number of all kinds of spirits, up to a large number of girls and boys who had outstanding abilities during their lifetime and died young.
The heroes of Vietnamese legends are Taoist hermits, they are usually associated with magical acts, various Taoist practices are mentioned: the art of spells, palmistry, the art of breathing, and often we talk about geomancy. The spread of Chinese geomancy in Vietnam is correlated with the name of Gao Pian, a Chinese military leader and poet who ruled in the 9th century. Vietnam. Subsequently, the development of geomancy in Vietnam was significantly influenced by Nguyen Duc Huyen, better known as Tao (XVII century). Taao became the protagonist of a number of legends.
Some characters from Vietnamese mythology also came from China. This is how the cult of the god of the hearth, which presumably took shape relatively late, in the 13th century, was borrowed. Vietnamese god of the hearth Tao Kuan (Chinese) Zao-jun) took care of the well-being of the family, helped in misfortunes, disasters, and also observed what was happening in the house, regularly reporting this to the heavenly ruler. A week before the New Year, Tao Kuan ascended to heaven and reported in detail to the Supreme Lord about what had happened during the year.
In Vietnamese mythology, the assistants of the Supreme Lord, who were in charge of the book of births and the book of deaths, were two deities, the twin brothers Nam-tao - the deity of the Southern Cross and Bac-dau - the deity of the Big Dipper. Perhaps they appeared not without the influence of late Chinese mythology, where the deity Dou-mu (the Mother of the Bucket), who is in charge of life and death and lives on the stars of the Big Dipper, is found. In Taoist writings, she has a husband, Dou-fu (Father of the Bucket), and nine star sons. Two of them are deities of the North and South Poles, one - in a white robe - is in charge of deaths, the other - in red - is in charge of births.
Please note that the Vietnamese interpretation of the Chinese plot includes an episode typical of Southeast Asian folklore. The mother of the twin brothers, who became pregnant only in old age, carried the fetus under her heart for sixty-nine months and gave birth to two large pieces of meat without arms, without legs, which after a hundred days turned into two strong, healthy young men. The Viet fairy tale "The Man as Round as a Coconut" tells how a woman gave birth to a piece of meat covered with hair and having eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears. Subsequently he turned into a beautiful young man. Tales about the so-called hero, “not promising”, are also found among other peoples of Southeast Asia, for example among the Chams (“Royal son-in-law Coconut Nut”), the Sedangs (“Young Pumpkin”), and the Thais (“Guy-Pumpkin”). Bag").
It must be said that Chinese civilization largely acted as a designer of Vietnamese material, which in many ways gravitated towards the traditions of Southeast Asia.
The oldest layer of mythological ideas of the Viet is made up of cosmogonic myths. This, for example, is the story of how a god, born in a chaotic mass, divided heaven and earth by erecting a huge pillar.
When the firmament rose above the earth and hardened, God broke the pillar and scattered stones and earth everywhere. Each thrown stone turned into a mountain or island, lumps of earth became hills and plateaus.
Then other deities appeared. They distributed responsibilities among themselves. Some rose to heaven, others remained on earth, and everyone set to work together: one created the stars, another dug rivers, the third crushed stones to create sand and gravel, the fourth planted trees. This is how the world was created.
In Vietnam, there are stories about mythical giant heroes who organized the earth's surface, built mountains, and laid out river beds. The goddess Ny Oa and the god Tu Tuong were of enormous stature and extraordinary strength. During the marriage competition, each of them built a huge mountain. Mount Ny Oa turned out to be higher, and Tu Tuong lost. The goddess destroyed his mountain and ordered another one to be built. Wanting to earn the approval of his girlfriend, Tu Tuong piled many mountains everywhere.
The origin of people is told in the myth of the Dragon Sovereign Lak and his wife Eu Ko. A year after the couple united, Eu Ko gave birth to a bundle containing one hundred eggs. After another seven days, the shells on the eggs cracked, and a boy came out of each one. According to myth, fifty sons of the Dragon Sovereign Lak became water deities, while the other fifty settled on land. According to another version of the myth, fifty sons settled on the plains and became Vietnamese, the rest went to the mountains, and from them came the small peoples of Vietnam.
The cultural heroes in Vietnam are the ancestors and various deities. Thus, Lak Long Kuan - Sovereign Dragon Lak taught people to plow and sow, and his wife, Eu Ko, taught them to plant mulberries and breed silkworm caterpillars. She told people about sugar cane and showed that it contains sweet juice.
People owe a lot to the god of the mountains - one of the fifty sons who went with the Sovereign Dragon Lak into the sea when the couple divided their offspring. He returned from the underwater kingdom and decided to live on land, settling on Mount Tanvien. The god of the mountains gave people fire, because previously everyone lived in darkness and cold. In addition, he told about plants such as corn, sweet potato, cassava, which became an excellent addition to rice, and taught people how to catch fish with a net and set traps for animals.
A number of myths and legends reveal connections with archaic ideas, primarily with totemism.
The choice of totem was largely determined by the economic activities of a particular tribe. Representatives of the La Viet ethnic group (3rd century BC), who lived in the Dong Son area and were experienced in navigation, revered as a totem one of the varieties of thrush, a bird that annually made long flights over the sea. The totem of the representatives of the same ethnic group, who inhabited the swampy areas in the Red River Valley, was a crocodile, a probable prototype of the mythical dragon.
The dragon was especially revered in Vietnam. It is not for nothing that the first ancestor of the Viet was considered to be Lac Long Kuan - the Lord Dragon Lac.
The turtle, according to the Vietnamese, protects the people and never leaves them in trouble. The Vietnamese also represented the god of the sea in the image of a giant turtle. A favorite character in Vietnamese mythology is the Golden Turtle, Kim Quy. She helped the ruler of the country, Aulak An Duong Vuong, build a fortress. It was probably no coincidence that An Duong Vuong turned to the turtle. For example, as G. G. Stratanovich notes, the ban on the use of turtle meat among the Thai peoples of Vietnam is explained as follows: Mother Turtle taught people to build houses with a roof in the shape of an inverted boat (i.e., in the shape of its own shell), the turtle - constant protector of people before deities and spirits.
The Golden Turtle is associated with mythological ideas about miraculous weapons. She once left An Duong Vuong as a gift her own claw, from which they made a trigger for a magic crossbow. The Golden Turtle is also mentioned in the legends about the wonderful sword associated with Le Loi.
The crane was also revered as a water deity. Thus, in the state of Wanglang, the head of the water spirits was the Great Sovereign White Crane of the Three Rivers; people usually called him the Holy Crane. There are many legends that say that the White Crane of Three Rivers was called Tho Len - the lord of the earth. There is a story telling about the excesses of the White Crane, which turned into an evil spirit. He built a nest in a huge sandal tree, caught people and ate them. They could not get rid of such a misfortune for a long time, and only a stately, handsome young man who emerged from the river managed to end the demonic situation.
Let us also note that Bat Hak - White Crane - is the ancient name of one of the branches of the Red River, which flowed through the county that bore the same name.
Some animals were associated with certain elements, for example, a toad with water. Images of a toad are found on drums used during prayers for rain. This amphibian takes precedence among the visual motifs of the Dong Son culture (3.0-2.5 thousand years ago).
The story “How the Toad Sued the Sky” presents a toad who, thanks to his own resourcefulness and dexterity, managed to fulfill the orders of the animals and even enlist heavenly support for future times. If the need for rain subsequently arose, she no longer had to make the tedious journey to Heaven - she only had to shout a few times. It’s not for nothing that there was a saying in Vietnam: “A toad will pierce the sky with three screams, let alone people.”
The characters of Vietnamese myths were not only animals, but also plants. Thus, the cult of trees was popular in Vietnam, and they are discussed in a number of stories. One of the legends says that after his birth, the Lord Dragon Lak existed in the form of a piece of wood, the color of which resembled a bird’s egg. His mother let him swim on the waves. The fishermen caught a log, and the master carved a statue of Long Kuan from it.
The consort of the earth god, who appeared in a dream to Emperor Li Than Tong, also resided in a tree trunk floating on the waves.
Probably, according to the beliefs of the Viet, trees were good and harmful: those associated with good spirits often floated in the water, and harmful ones grew on land. One of the feats performed by the first ancestors was the destruction of the werewolf - the spirit of the tree, which at first was a huge sandalwood tree. How many thousands of years this tree grew is unknown, but then it dried up, rotted and turned into an evil spirit that possessed many witchcraft spells and harmed people. Kinh Duong Vuong managed to defeat him.
Animism was also an essential component of the religious views of the Viet, who believed in the existence of a huge number of spirits inhabiting the entire world around them.
One of the most popular myths in Vietnamese culture is the myth of the struggle between the mountain deity and the water deity. It tells how the deity of the mountains and the deity of the waters once wooed the daughter of the ruler Hung Vuong, and preference was given to the deity of the mountains. The deity of the waters, angry, went to Mount Tanvien, where his enemy had taken refuge, but was unable to capture it. Since then, both gods have hated each other and every year they fight on the eighth or ninth moon. Researchers believe that this myth is etiological in nature and explains the causes of typhoons and floods in North Vietnam.
In “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” by Wu Kuin and Kieu Fu (XV century) there is a legend “The Spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox.” It mentions a people whom the Vietnamese called Man - Ivarvars. They settled at the foot of Mount Tan Vien and worshiped the powerful god of this mountain, who taught them to plant rice and weave white clothes. This god was called that - Man in White Robes. In the western part of Thang Long (modern Hanoi) there used to be a small hill where, according to legend, a fox with nine tails lived in a cave. She turned into a god in white robes and lured young men and women into her lair. By order of the Dragon Sovereign, the fox was exterminated, her cave was flooded with water, and the reservoir that formed on the site of the cave was called the Fox's Corpse - this is the Western Lake. Nearby was placed the idol of Kimngyu, which pacified the evil spell.
According to the famous French researcher E. Poret-Maspero, the legend about the fox from “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” has a totemic character. The researcher also draws attention to the fact that Mount Tanvien is associated with the story of the struggle between the god of the mountains, who settled on this mountain, and the god of water, who, together with all the water creatures, attacked it. This is reminiscent, says E. Pore-Maspero, of the myth of the Dragon Sovereign who opposed the fox.
Let us note that the legend included in the collection “Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” tells about a fox who lived in a cave on a hill not far from the capital. He is an evil werewolf who has taken the guise of the beneficial owner of Mount Tanvien - Man in White Robes. The owner of water, the dragon, punished the evil fox by flooding him with water. The antagonists here are the fox from the mountain cave and the owner of the water. The god of Mount Tanvien himself is mentioned only at the beginning as a cultural hero - a character who endowed people with different skills. Thus, the mountain god Tanvien and the fox are associated with the mountain and are represented as antipodes. Perhaps, initially there was one deity of the mountain, combining two principles - life and death, good and evil. Subsequently, two characters began to correspond to these two principles - bearers of opposite qualities.
A fox could act as the god of the mountain, with whom the owner of the water, the dragon, was at enmity. This character, as a rule, is endowed with the traits of a malicious creature. Over time, the master of water, destroying the fox, was replaced by a Taoist deity - the Lord of the Northern Sky.
Probably in Vietnam there was a cycle of myths about the struggle between two masters of the elements, and in one case the winner and bearer of life - the cosmos - is the master of the mountain, in the other - the master of water.
The cult of ancestors, as well as the cult of deified real personalities that developed on its basis, became widespread in Vietnam. They were revered mainly by those who during their lifetime rendered great services to the country, the sovereign, the village or, according to legend, became famous after their death for performing good deeds. Many of them became patron spirits of villages (communities).
Some stories, particularly those of a biographical nature, end with the message that after death the hero was deified. Then we are no longer talking about his otherworldly activities. This, for example, happened to the famous geomancer Taao.
In other stories, the characters are already deified real persons, that is, the stories are told about the actions they committed after death. The spirits of ancient Vietnamese heroes, who became patrons of communities, take part in people's lives and determine their destinies. Thus, the spirit of the semi-legendary hero Li Ong Chong helped Tran Nguyen Hanh to learn the heavenly secret that Le Loi would become the emperor, and Nguyen Chai would become his assistant. And the spirit of another hero, Fu Dong, appeared to a certain student to scold him for doubting his holiness.
Vietnamese myths and legends have not been sufficiently studied, obviously due to the difficulties of reconstruction. After all, for many centuries myths were processed “to suit history” and already in this form were included in literary works. Mythological characters were turned into historical heroes, and their activities were associated with certain years of the reign of the Vietnamese sovereigns and included in the flow of historical events.
Among the earliest works containing myths and legends, we note the collection of Buddhist biographies “The Collection of Eminent Righteous Men from the Thien Garden,” dating back to the 13th century. Mythological materials are also contained in the collection “On the Spirits of the Land of Viet,” compiled from stories written by Ly Te Xuyen in the 14th century. These stories are stories of the origin and deeds of this or that spirit. Accounts of amazing events can be found in “Dreams of the Southern Elder” by Ho Nguyen Trung (15th century). Many myths and legends are included in “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” by Wu Quyin and Kieu Fu (XV century). It should also be noted that such medieval works containing folklore material as “Long records of stories about the amazing” by Nguyen Du (XV century), “Records made hastily at leisure” by Vu Phuong De (XVIII century), “Records made during rain" by Pham Dinh Ho (XIX century), "Notes on how mulberry plantings turn into a blue sea" by Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An (XIX century). Myths and legends were included in historical chronicles, for example, in the “Brief History of Viet” (XIII century), in the annals of Ngo Chi Lien “Complete Collection of Historical Notes about the Great Viet” (XV century). The historical-epic poem of the 17th century should also be mentioned. "The Book of the Heavenly South" by an unknown author.
A number of works of Vietnamese narrative folklore are in Russian translations. For example, “Fairy Tales and Legends of Vietnam” was published (Moscow, 1958). In "Tales of the Peoples of the East" (M., 1962) there is a section devoted to Vietnamese fairy tales; later "Tales of the Peoples of Vietnam" (M., 1970) was published. A selective translation of myths and legends from various medieval collections of prose was carried out by M. Tkachev, who published them in a book called “Lord of the Demons of the Night” (M., 1969).
The sources of the texts translated by the author and included in this book were the collections: “On the Spirits of the Land of Viet” by Ly Te Xuyen, “Amazing Events of the Land of Lin Nam” by Vu Quyinh and Kieu Phu, “Dreams of the Southern Elder” by Ho Nguyen Trung, “True Records of Lam Son "(XV century; some scientists attribute the monument to Nguyen Chai, others consider the author to be Le Loy), "Notes on how mulberry plantings turn into a blue sea" by Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An, "Records made during the rain" by Pham Dinh Ho. In addition, myths and stories published by contemporary Vietnamese authors were used.
In section I - "Myths" - we talk about the creation of the world, about deities, masters of the elements who control nature. Section II - "From Myth to Tradition" - talks about legendary rulers who are endowed with the functions of mythical characters, for example, cultural heroes. Section III - "Legends" - is devoted to amazing events, the protagonists of which are often famous historical characters.

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Myths and legends of Vietnam

The huge peninsula with which Asia ends in the southeast has long been called Indochina. Vietnam, which has a territory stretching from north to south and occupies the eastern part of the peninsula, is, in a figurative expression, a “balcony on the Pacific Ocean.” This is a maritime country, and the sea plays an important role in the life of the Vietnamese. Vietnam is located in a tropical zone; the mercury never drops below plus ten. The monsoons blowing here determine the alternation of dry and rainy, hot and cooler seasons. Residents are constantly threatened by two disasters: drought and river floods.

Vietnam is a multinational country; its ethnic composition is compared to an unfolded fan, the center of which is the Vietnamese, who have rallied other nationalities around themselves. There are many legends associated with the beginning of Vietnamese statehood and the first founding sovereigns. According to legend, the first ancestor of the Viet was Lac Long Quan - the Lord Dragon Lac. In Vietnamese culture, echoes of the maternal-tribal system of society are clearly felt: Lord Dragon Lak inherited his water essence from his mother, who was the daughter of a dragon - the lord of Lake Dongting, located in China. His father was Kinh Duong Vuong - the Solar Ruler of Kinh. Lak Long Kuan granted his eldest son the title of Ruler Hung (Hung - Courageous) and handed over to him the government of the country. This happened four thousand years ago. Hung ascended the throne and established the name of the state - Wanlang (Country of Tattooed People). The emperors of all subsequent reigns were also called Hung Vuong - the Hung Sovereigns; there were eighteen of them. In the 3rd century. BC e. The state of Aulak, successor to Vanlang, was formed. Having replaced the Hung sovereigns, it was headed by Thuc Phan, who received the throne name An Duong Vuong. The capital of Aulak was the Koloa-Ulitka fortress, a magnificent example of a fortification structure. To protect Koloa, formidable weapons were used at that time - crossbows, capable of simultaneously firing a large number of arrows with bronze tips.

The state of Aulak was located mainly in what is now North Vietnam and northern Central Vietnam. However, after some time, Chinese domination was established in the country, which lasted about a thousand years. The Vietnamese did not accept it; a series of uprisings testify to their desire to gain independence and freedom. Women also became the leaders of major rebel movements. Thus, a major uprising (40-43 AD) against the rule of the Chinese Han dynasty was led by the Trung sisters. Their mother was widowed at an early age and raised both daughters herself. Subsequently, she provided her daughters with great assistance in organizing the rebel forces. Among the Trung sisters' comrades there were many female military leaders. Things even got to the point of funny things. So, a certain person equipped a detachment of three hundred male rebels who took part in the uprising, dressed in women's dresses. It should be noted that the Vietnamese were in close contact with neighboring peoples, many of whom are currently part of the national minorities of modern Vietnam (this especially applies to such nationalities as Meo, Muong, Lao, Banar, etc.). This long-term contact could not but lead to mutual cultural influence, which was manifested, in turn, in the commonality of some mythological plots, in the blurred boundaries between native Vietnamese works and works typical of other nationalities.

The idea of ​​cultural similarity between the peoples of Southeast Asia has long been expressed by scientists. The French scientist P. Mus outlined the ancient “monsoon zone”, which had a cultural commonality. This is a vast region that includes India, Indochina, Indonesia, its Oceanic fringe and, no doubt, South China. P. Mus considered the cult of the chthonic deity most characteristic of this region, embodying all the fertility of the earth, all its inexhaustible productive forces and materializing initially in the form of stone. The cult of mountains is probably associated with the cult of stone. The ancient Vietnamese believed that the state was protected by two mountains - Tan Vien - Canopy Mountain and Tamdao - Three Peaks. On Mount Tanvien lived the god of the mountains, and on Mount Tamdao lived a female deity. These were the sacred mountains of Wanglang - the father mountain and the mother mountain, one in the west, the other in the east. Four supernatural creatures: a phoenix, a dragon, a turtle, and a unicorn (replaced here by a horse-dragon). Among the peoples of Southeast Asia there was a widespread legend about a wonderful sword. Thus, Ya. V. Chesnov, considering the cycle of myths about the sword, popular among the peoples of Eastern Indochina, notes that this cycle is characterized by a special combination of individual elements. The sword is correlated with the water element and the sky, has the essence of fire (sun) and is an instrument of dispensation. These main points are also characteristic of Vietnamese legends about the sword, mostly associated with the personality of Le Loy, who headed the army at the beginning of the 15th century. (1418-1428) fight against Chinese rule, restored the independence of Vietnam, founded a new Le dynasty and became its first emperor. According to legend, Le Loy, armed with a wonderful sword, has the functions of an organizer who eliminates chaos (the domination of hostile forces) and restores space (the independence of the state). After defeating the enemies, the sword sank into Hoan Kiem Lake, the Lake of the Returned Sword, located in Hanoi. Subsequently, a certain sparkling object, identified by people with a sword, left this lake and disappeared. After the sword disappeared, disaster befell the country. This refers to the Taishon Rebellion (1788–1802), which was perceived by many contemporaries as a period of chaos. The disappearance of the wonderful weapon was a sign of future misfortunes. Mythical ideas about the sword as a tool for ordering the cosmos can be seen in the Siamese ritual. During a period of possible flooding, a solemn procession led by the king approached the river and the ruler struck the water with a sword. This action was supposed to curb the water element - to prevent flooding. In addition, it was associated with a ceremony symbolizing fertilization. Researcher of myths and rituals of Southeast Asia E. Pore-Maspero suggests that ritual water games, similar to those at water festivals in Siam, were once held on the Lake of the Returned Sword in Hanoi.

Perhaps the Vietnamese legends about the miraculous sword are a mythological description of this ritual. The role of the organizer of the cosmos is sometimes played by Manjushri, the deity of the Buddhist pantheon, one of whose characteristic attributes, whether we are talking about his graphic images or the legends dedicated to him, is the sword in his right hand. In Tibetan iconography, this sword is fiery, flaming. In one of the illustrations for the Tangut xylograph of the 11th century. The Prajnaparamita Sutra depicts Manjushri pointing his sword at a serpent protruding from a well. It can be assumed that this refers to the curbing of the “water animal,” personifying the water element. A legend in which Manjushri and his sword are associated with the “taming of water” is cited by the English researcher A. Getty. According to this legend, the territory where Nepal is now located was once the bottom of a lake inhabited by water monsters. Manjushri struck the southern shore of the lake several times with his sword, water flowed through the holes, and the bottom of the lake dried up. This is where Nepal was formed. A version of the myth about how Manjushri created the earth from his own avatar, from a huge cosmic Golden Toad or Turtle, is given by L. Ya. Sternberg. So, once upon a time the moment came for the creation of the earth. Manjushri emerged from the depths of the Turtle, took on his own form, rose up and shot an arrow at it. The killed animal sank to the bottom, forming the foot of the earth. The hero of Vietnamese legend, Le Loy, also tried to pierce with an arrow a huge turtle that floated to the surface of the lake. It can be assumed that the Buddhist figure of Manjushri the organizer overlapped with the mythological hero who creates the world from the water element with the help of a wonderful sword. This myth was probably popular among the peoples of Southeast Asia. Buddhism, spreading throughout Indochina, used local beliefs, and gave a Buddhist interpretation to local deities and events associated with them. Buddhism played a big role in the cultural development of Vietnam. It is very likely that this religion was brought directly from India by sea. Chan Van Giap, a researcher of Vietnamese Buddhism, calls the early period - from the beginning of the 3rd century. until the end of the 7th century. - the triumph of Indian Buddhism. Along with Buddhism, some achievements of the cultures of India and Central Asia and their folklore also penetrated into Vietnam. At the end of the 6th century. In Vietnam, one of the Buddhist sects became widespread - Dhyana (Vietnamese Thien). By the 11th century. Buddhism flourished in Vietnam. The Thien school was of great importance for Vietnam; it was closely connected with the Chinese style of dhyana - the Chan school. Buddhism, to a certain extent, was the collector and custodian of local folklore tradition. Some hagiographical stories, notes researcher of Vietnamese literature N.I. Nikulin, have a folk fairy-tale-mythological basis; a mythological-legendary archetype shines through the Buddhist plot. In some legends, the characters of the Buddhist pantheon more closely resemble the evil spirits of local cults. For example, in the story “The Statue of Zya Lam from an Abandoned Pagoda,” the statue of Zya Lam, a Buddhist guardian spirit, turns out to be a kidnapper of other people’s wives. For this he is destroyed as a harmful demon. A number of Vietnamese legends reflect the Buddhist idea of ​​rebirth. Thus, in the story “The Inner Teaching,” the strange illness of Emperor Le Than Tong (reigned 1619–1643) of the Le Dynasty was correlated with an unusual illness that once struck another emperor, Li Than Tong (reigned 1128–1138) of the Li Dynasty, who was believed to , subsequently reborn as Le Than Tong. Vietnam belongs to the countries of the Far Eastern cultural region.

The proximity to the Chinese empire, political and cultural contacts with it shaped the characteristics of Vietnamese culture. Already in the era of dependence on China (111 BC - 939 AD), the Vietnamese mastered the Chinese hieroglyphic writing. Wenyan was written in Hanwan, the Vietnamese version of the Chinese literary language, until the 20th century. There was also an original writing system called Nom in Vietnam, created on the basis of Chinese characters. When it appeared is unknown; presumably, its origin dates back to the 10th-12th centuries. Along with language and writing, literature and ideology came to Vietnam, and above all, Confucianism. Already during the era of dependence, the country began to study Confucian canonical books. Confucianism was also propagated by Chinese governors, among whom Shi Jiu (Vietnamese Si Niep) (187-226) was the most active. With the strengthening of Confucianism, mythical characters turned into historical heroes, and events became tied to a specific time. The myth was thus included in the historical narrative. Vietnamese folklorist Nguyen Dong Thi gives examples of the transformation of Vietnamese myths under the influence of Confucianism. So, for example, the retinue of the mythical character Kinh Duong Vuong, the first ruler of the country of the South, included the red evil demons Sit Qui, and according to the explanations of the Confuncians, it turned out that Sit Cuy is the name of the country in the south, subject to Kinh Duong Vuong. Or another example. The people of Kaoda village in Hanam province worshiped the cobra spirit (ho mang). The belief may have gone back to ancient totemistic ideas. According to later explanations, it turned out that Ho Mang was a multi-talented person who distinguished himself under the emperor of the Thuk dynasty (257-208 BC) and received the rank of general. The influence of Taoism is felt in the religious and mythological system of the Vietnamese. Thus, Yu-huang - the Lord of Jasper, who headed the Taoist pantheon in China, appears in Vietnamese folklore under the name Ngoc Hoang and appears as the supreme deity, usually restoring justice. His immediate circle consisted of spirits of all ranks who communicated with the world of people. Under the influence of Taoism, the cult of Tran Hung Dao (13th century) developed, a famous Vietnamese commander who participated in repelling the Chinese-Mongol invasion. Since 1300, his Jasper ruler, on the left the deity of the Big Dipper, on the right - the constellation of the Southern Cross, the cult began to take shape on a national scale. Gradually accumulating the functions of minor guardian spirits, Tran Hung Dao was revered as the main protector of the state, and in the broader aspect of folk religion - as a universal protector against evil forces.

In Vietnam, cults of many spirits of the three worlds (sky, earth, water), dating back to ancient shamanism, were widespread. The central place in these cults was occupied by the divine mothers - Thanh Mau. Beliefs in mother goddesses—holy mothers—associated with matriarchy have become widespread in Vietnam. These female deities were often anonymous, designated by general names: Thanh Mau - holy mother, Duc Ba - virtuous lady, Chua Ngoc - jasper princess. The idea of ​​holy mothers was based on a very ancient belief in the mother goddess, who was the source of all life. Later, first three mother goddesses appeared, and then more of her avatars. All deities are presented as personifications of her qualities or as one of her local reincarnations. This is how many deities arose. The mythology of the countless spirits of the three worlds was strongly influenced by the Taoist world of gods, organized like the Chinese empire. Ngoc Hoang, the Lord of Jasper, ruled; below were three divine mothers: the heavenly mother Lieu Hanh, the divine mother who controlled the water, and the divine mother of the upper regions, who reigned in the mountainous and forested areas. This was followed by a complex hierarchy of deities subordinate to them: five great officials, four divine ladies, ten princes, twelve fairies, etc. The retinue included a huge number of all kinds of spirits, up to a large number of girls and boys who had outstanding abilities during their lifetime and died young. The heroes of Vietnamese legends are Taoist hermits, they are usually associated with magical acts, various Taoist practices are mentioned: the art of spells, palmistry, the art of breathing, and often we talk about geomancy.

The spread of Chinese geomancy in Vietnam is correlated with the name of Gao Pian, a Chinese military leader and poet who ruled in the 9th century. Vietnam. Subsequently, the development of geomancy in Vietnam was significantly influenced by Nguyen Duc Huyen, better known as Tao (XVII century). Taao became the protagonist of a number of legends. Some characters from Vietnamese mythology also came from China. This is how the cult of the god of the hearth, which presumably took shape relatively late, in the 13th century, was borrowed. The Vietnamese god of the hearth, Tao Kuan (Chinese: Tsao-jun), took care of the well-being of the family, helped in misfortunes, disasters, and also monitored what was happening in the house, regularly reporting this to the heavenly ruler. A week before the New Year, Tao Kuan ascended to heaven and reported in detail to the Supreme Lord about what had happened during the year. In Vietnamese mythology, the assistants of the Supreme Lord, who were in charge of the book of births and the book of deaths, were two deities, the twin brothers Nam-tao - the deity of the Southern Cross and Bac-dau - the deity of the Big Dipper. Perhaps they appeared not without the influence of late Chinese mythology, where the deity Dou-mu (the Mother of the Bucket), who is in charge of life and death and lives on the stars of the Big Dipper, is found. In Taoist writings, she has a husband, Dou-fu (Father of the Bucket), and nine star sons. Two of them are deities of the North and South Poles, one - in a white robe - is in charge of deaths, the other - in red - is in charge of births. Please note that the Vietnamese interpretation of the Chinese plot includes an episode typical of Southeast Asian folklore. The mother of the twin brothers, who became pregnant only in old age, carried the fetus under her heart for sixty-nine months and gave birth to two large pieces of meat without arms, without legs, which after a hundred days turned into two strong, healthy young men. The Viet fairy tale "The Man as Round as a Coconut" tells how a woman gave birth to a piece of meat covered with hair and having eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears. Subsequently he turned into a beautiful young man. Tales about the so-called hero, “not promising”, are also found among other peoples of Southeast Asia, for example among the Chams (“Royal son-in-law Coconut Nut”), the Sedangs (“Young Pumpkin”), and the Thais (“Guy-Pumpkin”). Bag"). It must be said that Chinese civilization largely acted as a designer of Vietnamese material, which in many ways gravitated towards the traditions of Southeast Asia. The oldest layer of mythological ideas of the Viet is made up of cosmogonic myths. This, for example, is the story of how a god, born in a chaotic mass, divided heaven and earth by erecting a huge pillar. When the firmament rose above the earth and hardened, God broke the pillar and scattered stones and earth everywhere. Each thrown stone turned into a mountain or island, lumps of earth became hills and plateaus. Then other deities appeared. They distributed responsibilities among themselves. Some rose to heaven, others remained on earth, and everyone set to work together: one created the stars, another dug rivers, the third crushed stones to create sand and gravel, the fourth planted trees. This is how the world was created.

In Vietnam, there are stories about mythical giant heroes who organized the earth's surface, built mountains, and laid out river beds. The goddess Ny Oa and the god Tu Tuong were of enormous stature and extraordinary strength. During the marriage competition, each of them built a huge mountain. Mount Ny Oa turned out to be higher, and Tu Tuong lost. The goddess destroyed his mountain and ordered another one to be built. Wanting to earn the approval of his girlfriend, Tu Tuong piled many mountains everywhere. The origin of people is told in the myth of the Dragon Sovereign Lak and his wife Eu Ko. A year after the couple united, Eu Ko gave birth to a bundle containing one hundred eggs. After another seven days, the shells on the eggs cracked, and a boy came out of each one. According to myth, fifty sons of the Dragon Sovereign Lak became water deities, while the other fifty settled on land. According to another version of the myth, fifty sons settled on the plains and became Vietnamese, the rest went to the mountains, and from them came the small peoples of Vietnam. The cultural heroes in Vietnam are the ancestors and various deities. Thus, Lak Long Kuan - Sovereign Dragon Lak taught people to plow and sow, and his wife, Eu Ko, taught them to plant mulberries and breed silkworm caterpillars. She told people about sugar cane and showed that it contains sweet juice. People owe a lot to the god of the mountains - one of the fifty sons who went with the Lord Dragon Lak into the sea when the couple divided their offspring. He returned from the underwater kingdom and decided to live on land, settling on Mount Tanvien. The god of the mountains gave people fire, because previously everyone lived in darkness and cold. In addition, he told about plants such as corn, sweet potato, cassava, which became an excellent addition to rice, and taught people how to catch fish with a net and set traps for animals. A number of myths and legends reveal connections with archaic ideas, primarily with totemism. The choice of totem was largely determined by the economic activities of a particular tribe. Representatives of the La Viet ethnic group (3rd century BC), who lived in the Dong Son area and were experienced in navigation, revered as a totem one of the varieties of thrush, a bird that annually made long flights over the sea. The totem of the representatives of the same ethnic group, who inhabited the swampy areas in the Red River Valley, was a crocodile, a probable prototype of the mythical dragon. The dragon was especially revered in Vietnam. It is not for nothing that the first ancestor of the Viets was considered to be Lac Long Kuan - the Lord Dragon Lac. The turtle, according to the Vietnamese, protects the people and never leaves them in trouble. The Vietnamese also represented the god of the sea in the image of a giant turtle. A favorite character in Vietnamese mythology is the Golden Turtle, Kim Quy. She helped the ruler of the country, Aulak An Duong Vuong, build a fortress. It was probably no coincidence that An Duong Vuong turned to the turtle. For example, as G. G. Stratanovich notes, the ban on the use of turtle meat among the Thai peoples of Vietnam is explained as follows: Mother Turtle taught people to build houses with a roof in the shape of an inverted boat (i.e., in the shape of its own shell), the turtle - constant protector of people before deities and spirits. The Golden Turtle is associated with mythological ideas about miraculous weapons. She once left An Duong Vuong as a gift her own claw, from which they made a trigger for a magic crossbow. The Golden Turtle is also mentioned in the legends about the wonderful sword associated with Le Loi.

The crane was also revered as a water deity. Thus, in the state of Wanglang, the head of the water spirits was the Great Sovereign White Crane of the Three Rivers; people usually called him the Holy Crane. There are many legends that say that the White Crane of Three Rivers was called Tho Len - the lord of the earth. There is a story telling about the excesses of the White Crane, which turned into an evil spirit. He built a nest in a huge sandal tree, caught people and ate them. They could not get rid of such a misfortune for a long time, and only a stately, handsome young man who emerged from the river managed to end the demonic situation. Note also that Bat Hak - White Crane - is the ancient name of one of the branches of the Red River, which flowed through the county that bore the same name. Some animals were associated with certain elements, for example, a toad with water. Images of a toad are found on drums used during prayers for rain. This amphibian takes precedence among the visual motifs of the Dong Son culture (3.0-2.5 thousand years ago). The story “How the Toad Sued the Sky” presents a toad who, thanks to his own resourcefulness and dexterity, managed to fulfill the orders of the animals and even enlist heavenly support for future times. If the need for rain subsequently arose, she no longer had to make the tedious journey to Heaven - she only had to shout a few times. It’s not for nothing that there was a saying in Vietnam: “A toad will pierce the sky with three screams, let alone people.”

The characters of Vietnamese myths were not only animals, but also plants. Thus, the cult of trees was popular in Vietnam, and they are discussed in a number of stories. One of the legends says that after his birth, the Lord Dragon Lak existed in the form of a piece of wood, the color of which resembled a bird’s egg. His mother let him swim on the waves. The fishermen caught a log, and the master carved a statue of Long Kuan from it. The consort of the earth god, who appeared in a dream to Emperor Li Than Tong, also resided in a tree trunk floating on the waves. Probably, according to the beliefs of the Viet, trees were good and harmful: those associated with good spirits often floated in the water, and harmful ones grew on land. One of the feats performed by the first ancestors was the destruction of the werewolf - the spirit of the tree, which at first was a huge sandalwood tree. It is unknown how many thousands of years this tree grew, but then it dried up, rotted and turned into an evil spirit that possessed many witchcraft spells and harmed people. Kinh Duong Vuong managed to defeat him. Animism was also an essential component of the religious views of the Viet, who believed in the existence of a huge number of spirits inhabiting the entire world around them. One of the most popular myths in Vietnamese culture is the myth of the struggle between the mountain deity and the water deity. It tells how the deity of the mountains and the deity of the waters once wooed the daughter of the ruler Hung Vuong, and preference was given to the deity of the mountains. The deity of the waters, angry, went to Mount Tanvien, where his enemy had taken refuge, but was unable to capture it. Since then, both gods have hated each other and every year they fight on the eighth or ninth moon. Researchers believe that this myth is etiological in nature and explains the causes of typhoons and floods in North Vietnam. In “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” by Wu Kuin and Kieu Fu (XV century) there is a legend “The Spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox.” It mentions a people whom the Vietnamese called Man - Ivarvars. They settled at the foot of Mount Tan Vien and worshiped the powerful god of this mountain, who taught them to plant rice and weave white clothes. This god was called that - Man in White Robes. In the western part of Thang Long (modern Hanoi) there used to be a small hill where, according to legend, a fox with nine tails lived in a cave. She turned into a god in white robes and lured young men and women into her lair. By order of the Dragon Sovereign, the fox was exterminated, her cave was flooded with water, and the reservoir that formed on the site of the cave was called the Fox's Corpse - this is the Western Lake. Nearby was placed the idol of Kimngyu, which pacified the evil spell. According to the famous French researcher E. Poret-Maspero, the legend about the fox from “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” has a totemic character. The researcher also draws attention to the fact that Mount Tanvien is associated with the story of the struggle between the god of the mountains, who settled on this mountain, and the god of water, who, together with all the water creatures, attacked it. This is reminiscent, says E. Pore-Maspero, of the myth of the Dragon Sovereign who opposed the fox. Let us note that the legend included in the collection “Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” tells about a fox who lived in a cave on a hill not far from the capital. He is an evil werewolf who has taken the guise of the beneficial owner of Mount Tanvien - Man in White Robes. The owner of water, the dragon, punished the evil fox by flooding him with water. The antagonists here are the fox from the mountain cave and the owner of the water. The god of Mount Tanvien himself is mentioned only at the beginning as a cultural hero - a character who endowed people with different skills. Thus, the mountain god Tanvien and the fox are associated with the mountain and are represented as antipodes. Perhaps, initially there was one deity of the mountain, combining two principles - life and death, good and evil. Subsequently, two characters—bearers of opposite qualities—began to correspond to these two principles. A fox could act as the god of the mountain, with whom the owner of the water, the dragon, was at enmity. This character, as a rule, is endowed with the traits of a malicious creature. Over time, the master of water, who destroys the fox, was replaced by a Taoist deity - the Lord of the Northern Sky. Probably in Vietnam there was a cycle of myths about the struggle between two masters of the elements, and in one case the winner and bearer of life - space is the master of the mountain, in the other - the master of water.

The cult of ancestors, as well as the cult of deified real personalities that developed on its basis, became widespread in Vietnam. They were revered mainly by those who during their lifetime rendered great services to the country, the sovereign, the village or, according to legend, became famous after their death for performing good deeds. Many of them became patron spirits of villages (communities). Some stories, particularly those of a biographical nature, end with the message that after death the hero was deified. Then we are no longer talking about his otherworldly activities. This, for example, happened to the famous geomancer Taao. In other stories, the characters are already deified real persons, that is, the stories are told about the actions they committed after death. The spirits of ancient Vietnamese heroes, who became patrons of communities, take part in people's lives and determine their destinies. Thus, the spirit of the semi-legendary hero Li Ong Chong helped Tran Nguyen Hanh to learn the heavenly secret that Le Loi would become the emperor, and Nguyen Chai would become his assistant. And the spirit of another hero, Fu Dong, appeared to a certain student to scold him for doubting his holiness. Vietnamese myths and legends have not been sufficiently studied, obviously due to the difficulties of reconstruction. After all, for many centuries myths were processed “to suit history” and already in this form were included in literary works. Mythological characters were turned into historical heroes, and their activities were associated with certain years of the reign of the Vietnamese sovereigns and included in the flow of historical events. Among the earliest works containing myths and legends, we note the collection of Buddhist biographies “The Collection of Eminent Righteous Men from the Thien Garden,” dating back to the 13th century.

Mythological materials are also contained in the collection “On the Spirits of the Land of Viet,” compiled from stories written by Ly Te Xuyen in the 14th century. These stories are stories of the origin and deeds of this or that spirit. Accounts of amazing events can be found in “Dreams of the Southern Elder” by Ho Nguyen Trung (15th century). Many myths and legends are included in “The Amazing Events of the Land of Linnam” by Wu Quyin and Kieu Fu (XV century). It should also be noted that such medieval works containing folklore material as “Long records of stories about the amazing” by Nguyen Du (XV century), “Records made hastily at leisure” by Vu Phuong De (XVIII century), “Records made during rain" by Pham Dinh Ho (XIX century), "Notes on how mulberry plantings turn into a blue sea" by Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An (XIX century). Myths and legends were included in historical chronicles, for example, in the “Brief History of Viet” (XIII century), in the annals of Ngo Chi Lien “Complete Collection of Historical Notes about the Great Viet” (XV century). The historical-epic poem of the 17th century should also be mentioned. "The Book of the Heavenly South" by an unknown author. A number of works of Vietnamese narrative folklore are in Russian translations. For example, “Fairy Tales and Legends of Vietnam” was published (Moscow, 1958). In "Tales of the Peoples of the East" (M., 1962) there is a section devoted to Vietnamese fairy tales; later "Tales of the Peoples of Vietnam" (M., 1970) was published. A selective translation of myths and legends from various medieval collections of prose was carried out by M. Tkachev, who published them in a book called “Lord of the Demons of the Night” (M., 1969). The sources of the texts translated by the author and included in this book were the collections: “On the Spirits of the Land of Viet” by Ly Te Xuyen, “Amazing Events of the Land of Lin Nam” by Vu Quyinh and Kieu Phu, “Dreams of the Southern Elder” by Ho Nguyen Trung, “True Records of Lam Son "(XV century; some scientists attribute the monument to Nguyen Chai, others consider the author to be Le Loy), "Notes on how mulberry plantings turn into a blue sea" by Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An, "Records made during the rain" by Pham Dinh Ho. In addition, myths and stories published by contemporary Vietnamese authors were used. Section I - "Myths" - talks about the creation of the world, about deities, masters of the elements who control nature. Section II - "From Myth to Tradition" - talks about legendary rulers who are endowed with the functions of mythical characters, for example, cultural heroes. Section III - "Legends" - is devoted to amazing events, the protagonists of which are often famous historical characters. "Myths and Legends of Vietnam"

Center "St. Petersburg Oriental Studies", 2000 E. Yu. Knorozova, 2000