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From: Nu-Anh Tran <tran_n_a@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 3:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Vsg] influx of northerners and worship Trung sisters, Tran Hung Dao, etc
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear list,
I seem to have erased the thread posted earlier about
the worship of Tran Hung Dao, or else I'd reply to
that. I am not familiar with the influx of northerners
into the south during the 1920s nor the cultural
practices they brought with them, as my research does
not touch that time period, but I have run across
relevant documents for the RVN period after the 1954
influx of northerners.
I suspect the elevation of certain
cultural/historical holidays prior to to 1954 also may
have contributed to their awareness in the south.
Holidays such as Hung Vuong, Dong Da, Le Thai To, and
Tran Hung Dao were acknowledged under the State of
Vietnam (and perhaps under the Vichy period as well?),
and gov't offices were closed either for a full day or
half day for some. The influx of northerners after
1954 as well as the new cultural policy of the First
Republic also had an effect. I am only beginning to
put this together, but the two most important
historical holidays under Diem were Hai Ba Trung and
Hung Vuong, with the former being more important (I
believe the most that has been written on Diem's
celebration of Hai Ba Trung is in Matthew Masur's
dissertation). After it became an important national
holiday, directives would have gone out from the
central gov't to the provinces every year about
organizing state-sponsored celebrations, so Hai Ba
Trung would have been celebrated at least in bigger
cities and provincial capitals throughout the area
controlled by the RVN.
As for Tran Hung Dao, although the Diem gov't did not
organize any official state celebration, the ceremony
was - significantly - organized by Hoi Tuong-te
Bac-Viet (Northern Vietnamese Mutual Aid Society) at
the temple to Tran Hung Dao on Hien Vuong Street (now
Vo Thi Sau street in district 1).
Similarly, another worship practice most likely
introduced (or at least invigorated) by 54 northerner
was the worship of Confucius. In the early 1950s, the
anniversary of Confucius was celebrated annually at
Van Mieu. Thanks both to Diem's interest in
Confucianism and the commitment of an important group
Vietnamese, the anniversary of Confucius was
celebrated every year in Saigon, usually in
cooperation with Hoi Khong-Hoc (Confucian Studies
Association). The Hoi Viet-Hoa (Vietnamese-Chinese
Association), Hoi Ky-Lao VN (Association of Vietnamese
Elders), and the Hue-based Hoi Co-Hoc (Classical
Studies Association) were also significant. The
leadership (and probably membership) of these various
organizations overlapped, and a significant number
were certainly northerners, but their provincial
branches also helped spread the practices to the rest
of the RVN outside of Saigon and Hue.
Nu-Anh Tran
Graduate Student
UC Berkeley
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