A Labor of Love

Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam

By Tewfic El-Sawy

July 14^th, 2016

Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam

“The true religion of the Annamites is the cult of the spirits”. -Père Léopold Michel Cadière (1869–1955)

Over the years, I photographed faith-based festivals, events, and rituals; some pertaining to esoteric cults and others that are ancillaries to major world religions. While all have their singular ‘brand‘ of exoticism, I found the Đạo Mẫu (Mother Goddess) rituals and ceremonies were the only ones that mixed religiosity with fashion, that merged choreography with theatrics, that involved soothsaying and mediumship, and engaged audiences in a way I hadn’t seen before.

What a contrast to the dour and joyless rituals of the so-called monotheistic religions!

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It was my serendipitous attendance of a Hầu Đồng ceremony in northern Vietnam during a 2014 photo expedition that triggered my interest in documenting this form of indigenous worship and adopting it as a long-term personal photographic project.

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Stumbling on this religious tradition had invigorated my passion for documentary photography, audio recording, and storytelling. I started my research by using various online resources, which provided information in books, articles, and a few specialized studies.

Trances, possession, spirit worship, fortune telling and clairvoyance, fashion and pageantry, sacred music and hymns, faith, belief, superstition, the supernatural, nationalism and history all merge in Vietnam’s Đạo Mẫu and Hầu Đồng.

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Footnotes

Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam US$ 235.00. 170 pages 13 x 11 inches/33 x 28 cms Printed on Proline Pearl Photo Paper (Semi-Gloss/Best Quality 190 gsm) Book weight approx 5.6 lbs/3 kgs

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FootNotes

Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam US$ 235.00. 170 pages 13 x 11 inches/33 x 28 cms Printed on Proline Pearl Photo Paper (Semi-Gloss/Best Quality 190 gsm) Book weight approx 5.6 lbs/3 kgs