Vietnam has submitted the worship rituals associated with the Holy Mother Religion and spirit mediumship rituals for recognition by UNESCO as intangible heritage of humanity.
Contributing to this process, the first photo book in English about the spirit mediumship rituals has been published in the US. The book is titled Hau Dong - The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam by American author Tewfic Elsawy sold out two weeks after it was published.
"While all the other religions have a separate and unique brand, Spirit mediumship rituals are a unique event combining fashion and religion, between dance and drama ... something I have not seen before."
That's how Tewfic Elsawy, an American photographer, began his photo book, inviting readers to learn about Vietnamese Spirit mediumship rituals. The large photo book includes more than 100 photographs and 60 pages of information explaining the ancient worship of Holy Mother through rituals, and temples of the goddess.
The person who's in charge of the spiritual ritual performance is Thanh Đồng. Thanh Đồng also gives luck for the audience who come to the ritual. Tewfic has skillfully captured the spirit and spirituality characteristic of Vietnamese Spirit mediumship rituals on the faces of people at the ceremony.
The book also explains in an understandable way what spirit mediumship rituals represent, the story about the life of thanh đồng or the experience of the author in the research process. Through these stories, readers will see this is a folk belief. This makes the book valuable not only in terms of collecting documentary sources, but also has profound implications for the people in the field.
After nearly two years if research, collecting material and attending the rituals to take photos, Tewfic Elsawy have published a complete book essential to the understanding of the Holy Mother Goddess religion. The publication of the book coincides with Vietnam's UNESCO application of Holy Mother spirit rituals as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
