logo

The Red Veil

Hau Dong Featuring Art
September 22, 2025
No comments
COSTUMES & IDENTITY, PRESERVATION ZONES

The red veil (khăn phủ diện) is not merely a ritual implement but a symbol imbued with profound spiritual significance within the Mother Goddess Belief of the Three Palaces (Đạo Mẫu Tam Phủ). Placed over the head of the medium (đồng nhân) prior to each trance performance (giá hầu), the veil marks a liminal moment—a transitional state in which the practitioner prepares to shift from ordinary human identity to the embodied presence of deities and spirits.

Me covered in the red veil during a mediumship rehearsal workshop

\

Functioning as a sacred boundary, the red veil delineates two ontological realms: the profane and the sacred, the human and the divine, the visible and the invisible. Its removal signifies the opening of the spiritual threshold, heralding the descent of the deities into the medium’s body. At this juncture, the medium assumes the role of an intermediary, serving as a conduit between the transcendent world and the human domain.
Within Vietnamese folk cosmology, the color red is associated with the Heavenly Palace, symbolizing the First Mother Goddess (Mẫu Đệ Nhất Thiên Tiên) and the Mother Goddess faith more broadly, embodying notions of sanctity, authority, and protective spiritual energy. Accordingly, the red veil is not only an instrument of ritual concealment but also an apotropaic device, safeguarding the medium’s spiritual focus and inner composure during the transformative moment of spirit possession.
Analogous to the gesture of joining hands before a solemn ritual, the act of veiling expresses humility, reverence, and receptivity to divine presence. It signifies the medium’s intentional withdrawal of the ego and readiness to submit to spiritual guidance, thereby affirming the central ethos of devotion and transformation within Đạo Mẫu practice.

Related Posts

COSTUMES & IDENTITY, PRESERVATION ZONES

Costumes in the Hầu Đồng Ritual

Hau Dong Featuring Art
September 12, 2025
No comments

Hầu đồng is a form of possession in which deities of the Four Palaces descend into the medium, re-embodying the image of the Holy Mothers and Saints as they appear among humans, close to earthly life. Because of the cultural diversity across regions, we can clearly see the richness of forms, colors, and the meticulous […]

HAU DONG-ART-PSYCHOLOGY

The Ritual of Lên Đồng: Ecstatic Trance and the Power of the Deities (Compiled from Prof. Ngo Duc Thinh)

Hau Dong Featuring Art
September 12, 2025
No comments

Within the Mother Goddess belief system, rituals and festivals are abundant and diverse, carrying unique characteristics that distinguish them from other religions and spiritual practices. However, the most central and representative is the ritual of Lên đồng (spirit possession, also called Hầu bóng), along with the festival system, such as “Father’s commemoration in the eighth […]

PRESERVATION ZONES, SACRED DANCE & GESTURE

Characteristics of Dance in the Lên Đồng Ritual

Hau Dong Featuring Art
September 12, 2025
No comments

1. OriginDance is created to serve human needs and to reflect human life. Generally, dance in Vietnam has either folk or courtly origins, corresponding to the cultural and spiritual demands of the common people or of the aristocracy. Lên đồng dance derives from folk traditions and from the needs of the people. Vietnamese peasants historically had […]

MUSIC (CHẦU VĂN) & RHYTHM, PRESERVATION ZONES

Characteristics of Lyrics and Artistic Value of Hát Chầu Văn

Hau Dong Featuring Art
September 12, 2025
No comments

Hát Chầu Văn (also known as Hát Văn or Hát Bóng) is a distinctive form of Vietnamese folk performance art intrinsically linked with the Mother Goddess Worship (Đạo Mẫu) of the Tam Phủ belief system.^1^ Having endured centuries of socio-historical upheavals, this art form has preserved both its vitality and unique aesthetic value within Vietnamese […]

© 2025 Hau Dong Featuring Art. All rights reserved. | About Me | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact