Đạo Mẫu

Đạo Mẫu (Vietnamese: [ɗâːwˀ mə̌wˀ], 道母) is the worship of mother goddesses which was established in Vietnam in the 16th century.

[1] This worship is a branch of Vietnamese folk religion but is more shamanic in nature.

While scholars like Ngô Đức Thịnh propose that it represents a systematic worship of mother goddesses, Đạo Mẫu draws together fairly disparate beliefs and practices.

Many people mistake that hầu bóng is a form of mediumship ritual — known in Vietnam as lên đồng — much as practiced in other parts of Asia, such as South China, among the Mon people of Myanmar, and some communities in India; however, that is not correct.

Although some of the priests and priestesses of Đạo Mẫu are believed to have the ability of spirit mediumship, this is a different practice entirely.

As a religious leader authorised to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities, the thanh đồng in Đạo Mẫu is more of the equivalent of a priest rather than a medium or a shaman.

Recognized by UNESCO, this Vietnamese ritual was inscribed on the Representative List in December 2016.

The most prominent form of Đạo Mẫu is Four Palaces (Tứ Phủ), which worships a hierarchical pantheon of Vietnamese indigenous deities with a strong influence from historical figures, Taoism and Buddhism.

The name means "Four Palaces", which includes the four realms Heaven, Mountains, Water and Earth.