Book cover of “Hầu đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam”

The photo book is the result of El-Sawy’s two-year documenting and researching about Hầu đồng and Đạo Mẫu, a Vietnamese mother goddess religion. The idea came after Tewfic’s attendance at a Hầu đồng ceremony in northern Viet Nam in his journey to Viet Nam in 2014, which has triggered his interest in this traditional ritual, making it one of his next photography projects.

“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,” say the American photographer.

In Viet Nam, Đạo Mẫu represents a systematic mother goddess cult. Đạo Mẫu includes the worship of goddesses such as Thien Y A Na, The Lady of the Realm, The Lady of the Storehouse and Princess Lieu hanh, legendary figures like Au Co, Trung Sisters and Ba Trieu; as well as the cult of the Four Palaces. Hầu đồng is a ritual of spirit mediumship practiced in Đạo Mẫu, illustrated the worship of mother goddess in Viet Nam.   

As Viet Nam has submitted Đạo Mẫu and it ritual, Hầu Đồng  to be the nomination for UNESCO Intangible Cultural of Humanity, Twefic has published a large - sized photo book entitled “Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam”, hoping that the book will become a valuable reference source once Đạo Mẫu gets the approval nodding from UNESCO.

The book comprises over 100 colored photos of Hầu đồng’s rituals, elements and other sessions etc. 60 pages of text are also included, explaining the ancient religion of Đạo Mẫu and providing history, gods and goddess, temples, as well as the photographer’s own experience in Viet Nam over 2 years.

In the coming time, locals and expats in Ha Noi who are interested in Đạo Mẫu and Hầu đồng will have opportunity to talk to Tewfic  El-Sawy about this religion and ritual. 

National Times