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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780252092008 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 280 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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Songs for the Spirits
Music and Mediums in Modern VietnamBy BARLEY NORTON
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
Copyright © 2009 Barley NortonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-03399-5
Chapter One
Mediumship, Modernity, and Cultural Identity
This chapter provides a historical perspective on mediumship and its music from the colonial period through the cultural revolution to the reform era. The history of mediumship is marked by resilience, despite continued criticism in the name of modernity and progress. Modernity, as "an imaginary construction of the present in terms of the mythic past" (Comaroff and Comaroff 1993:xiv), has often been defined in opposition to "tradition" and "ritual," and this is also the case in Vietnam. In colonial and postcolonial times, ideologies of modernity, whether colonial, nationalist, or socialist, have been employed as the primary justification for the condemnation of mediums' activities and ritual music. The various forms of religious resurgence that have swept across Vietnam as well as other parts of Asia in recent years have overturned the Weberian assumption that modernization inevitably leads to secularization (Keyes, Kendall, and Hardacre 1994). Since the implementation of the Renovation policy (doi moi) in 1986, mediumship has gained a measure of legitimacy as it has become increasingly wedded to the construction of Vietnamese cultural identity and the continuing project of nation building. No longer antithetical to the modern or in need of reform, "tradition" is now being used to bolster national identity, which many cultural nationalists consider to be threatened by the forces of globalization.
The history of spirit practices and ritual music is a barometer of social, cultural, and political change in modern Vietnam. Throughout its history, mediumship has been a contested site in which ideas about cultural identity and gender relations, among other things, have been asserted, negotiated, and transformed. The fact that mediumship has repeatedly been subject to hegemonic forms of control is a measure of its potency as a cultural force. This chapter outlines the strategies employed to discipline and prohibit mediumship and the multiple ways in which these strategies have affected ritual practices. It is observed that official policy, while ultimately unsuccessful in entirely eliminating len dong rituals from Vietnamese cultural life, has interacted with the views and practices of adepts of mediumship and has, since the late 1980s, been reinterpreted in the light of a nationalist and culturalist discourse that legitimates mediumship as "folk culture."
In the context of the Vietnamese Communist Party's attempts to comprehensively overhaul and modify Vietnamese musical practices, chau van as performed during len dong rituals was prohibited, but decontextualized traces of chau van lingered in Party-approved public culture. To conform to socialist ideology, chau van was refashioned as revolutionary song, and its traces were incorporated into neotraditional compositions. The discussion of the political transformation of music in this chapter is oriented around chau van and is not meant to be comprehensive. Nonetheless, it does give an impression of how musical practices have been influenced by the cultural revolution. Following an analysis of neotraditional music, I consider the reasons why composers in Vietnam, as in other parts of the communist world, strove to combine Western forms and harmonies with indigenous material. Drawing on Peter Manuel's discussion of modernity and musical structure (Manuel 2002), I also assess the extent to which the form and structure of neotraditional compositions is congruent with the social structures of revolutionary communist society.
Mediumship and Music in Prerevolutionary Vietnam
Spirit possession, and its suppression, has a long history in Vietnam. Influenced by evolutionary models, the French anthropologist Maurice Durand argues that mediumship is a survival of a primitive, archaic form of shamanism (1959). More recently, contemporary Vietnamese folklorists have also sought ancient origins for spirit worship. The prominence of female spirits in the pantheon encourages a reading of female spirit possession as a vestige of the matriarchal system, which some claim existed prior to Confucian influence and was never fully eradicated (Ngo Duc Thinh 1996a). The goddess Lieu Hanh, one of the Four Immortals (Tu Bat Tu), who resides at the top of the pantheon as the First Mother, is thought to have been worshipped at least since the sixteenth century. The goddess has remained a popular focus of devotion, and her tomb at Phu Giay is a site of mass pilgrimage. Doan Thi Diem's novel about Lieu Hanh written in the 1730s, The Story of the Van Cat Goddess, forms the basis for many oral legends about Lieu Hanh. Olga Dror's careful reading of this novel argues that the author used Lieu Hanh's story to articulate her own aspirations for women's development and emancipation (Dror 2002:76).
The positioning of local female spirit possession in opposition to centralized Confucian patriarchy is a recurrent theme in the history of mediumship. Regulatory systems emanating from the courts, the sixteenth-century Le code and the nineteenth-century Gia Long code, outlawed the practices of Taoist priests and mediums involving possession and magic. In the reign of King Gia Long (1802–20), severe punishment was prescribed for those involved in mediumship, including chau van musicians. Quoting a chronicle from Gia Long's time, Dong Vinh notes, "According to Dai Nam Thuc Luc Chinh Bien (Veracious Chronicles of Vietnam): 'Sorcerers, liturgical singers (cung van) and mediumship shall be punished with 100 whiplashes and 6 months of forced labor. Women-mediums, if caught red-handed, shall be subjected to a 100–whiplash punishment and be condemned to pound rice for the state for 6 months'" (1999:77). While little is known about how widely such punishments were enforced, they do not seem to have had much effect on stemming the popularity of mediumship. Do Thien has suggested that there was a rise in female traders' involvement in spirit possession in the late nineteenth century (2003:91). Confucian literati associated female mediums with sexual wantonness and saw the prevalence of mediumship as "a symptom of the decay and dissolution of Confucian hegemony," at a time when the French colonial authorities had weakened Vietnamese dynastic power (Do Thien 2003:98).
Issues of power and control were at the forefront of early French colonial investigations into local religious practices. After watching a male medium being possessed by the historical hero General Tran Hung Dao in a temple in the city of Cao Bang in 1904, E. Diguet, a colonel in the colonial infantry, immediately forbade such practices (Diguet 1906:223). Assessing the threat posed to the social and political order, Diguet concludes: "It is wise from a political as well as a moral and civilized point of view" to forbid mediums' activities (1906:224). The policy of outright prohibition as professed by Diguet was not the only mechanism of colonial control. As Philip Taylor notes, some early colonial occupiers, such as Du Hailly and P. C. Richard, thought that local spirit beliefs might be utilized to sustain their rule. However, attempts to co-opt the spirits in support of French authority met with little success (Taylor 2004:32).
When reading early French accounts of local religious activity, it is hard not to be struck by the derogatory view of the colonialists. In typical fashion, Diguet wrote of the "scandalous" and "savage" scenes of "exorcism" he witnessed at Cao Bang. He described a male medium piercing his cheeks with a sharp iron rod as "revolting barbarity" and as a debasement of Taoist religion (Diguet 1906:223). Paul Giran's overview of "Vietnamese Magic and Religion," while more scholarly than Diguet's account, saw the "incoherent" and "vast" spirit pantheon as evidence of the "primitive confusion of Vietnamese thought" (Giran 1912:7–19). Strongly influenced by evolutionary theory and Durkheimian ideas about collective consciousness, Giran was concerned with identifying the stages of development of "primitive" religious beliefs and showing how these related to collective morals and psychology.
Accounts of mediumship in the first half of the twentieth century make a distinction between male mediums (ong dong, thanh dong, or thay phap), who belonged to the "cult" of General Tran Hung Dao, and female mediums (ba dong, ba cot, or dong cot), who worshipped the spirits of the Three Palaces (Tam Phu), with each "palace" headed by a mother spirit (Dumoutier 1908; Phan Ke Binh 1987 [1913/1914]; Giran 1912; Durand 1959). The group of male mediums was known for healing rituals involving expelling evil spirits and acts of self-immolation, such as cheek and tongue piercing and fire walking. The absence of spectacular acts of exorcism in female mediumship rituals led Giran to assert that the cult of the Three Palaces had gradually moved away from "magic," although he thought it still had lots of "magic reminiscences," such as curing through drinking water mixed with incense ash (nuoc thai) (Giran 1912:293).
Giran reports antagonism between female mediums and male "sorcerers," who, when possessed by General Tran Hung Dao, challenged the authority of the "assembly of spirits" (1912:292). In Giran's view, the cult of the general had a superior moral doctrine and higher status than the Three Palace cult, although the use of "magic" by sorcerers had a detrimental effect on its more honorable aims. Despite the inferior position Giran accords to the cult of the Three Palaces and its female adepts (whom he severely chastises for lacking social responsibility), he singles it out as "an original production of the religious thought of the Vietnamese," as opposed to being a Chinese import (1912:438). The fascination of French anthropologists with identifying what was indigenous and exterior continued with Leopold Cadière, who famously claimed that the "true religion of the Vietnamese is the cult of the spirits" (1992 [1955]).
The separation of spirit possession into two relatively distinct male and female "cults" seems to have existed at least until the 1950s, when Maurice Durand conducted his research (1959). However, in contemporary Vietnam no such distinction exists, and the exorcism rites associated with the incarnation of the general are no longer practiced. Today, General Tran Hung Dao is incarnated by both male mediums (ong dong) and female mediums (ba dong) during len dong. The general has therefore essentially been incorporated into the Three Palace (also known as the Four Palace) pantheon (see Pham Quynh Phuong 2006).
Criticism of mediumship in the colonial era was not just limited to the reports of French colonial occupiers. Some Vietnamese nationalist intellectuals influenced by modernist ideals also voiced their disapproval of the "backward" and "irrational" practices of their countrymen. In his work on Vietnamese customs, one such modernist intellectual, Phan Ke Binh, ridiculed both male and female mediums as "idiots" who profited from others' misfortune (1987 [1913/1914]:295–301). For Phan Ke Binh, "superstitious" and "nonsensical" practices were a source of national shame.
In the 1930s and 1940s, an upsurge in spirit worship practices among women in rural areas across the country gave rise to further criticism from male urban-based intellectuals who saw spirit beliefs as contrary to the advance of modernity (Taylor 2004). Such critiques saw the countryside as "a breeding ground for all manner of superstitions" because of the "comparatively low level of education of its population," and they recycled gendered arguments about ignorant, immoral women and their "susceptibility to trickery" (Taylor 2004:34–35). While mediumship no doubt appealed to women in the countryside and from across the social spectrum, many mediums in the north were wealthy urban women of relatively high social standing who could afford the substantial cost of holding rituals (Long Chuong 1942; Durand 1959:11). Indeed, critiques by Vietnamese modernist intellectuals homed in on the threat that powerful female mediums posed to their husbands' authority. For instance, in a series of articles that appeared in the weekly Phong Hoa (Customs) magazine in 1935, Trong Lang asserts both his own Westernized superiority and his disgust at the demeanor and behavior of female mediums and their weak, henpecked husbands (Do Thien 2003:99–100).
Two satirical novels by Long Chuong (1990 [1942]) and Nhat Lang (1952) provide further insight into modernist attitudes toward mediumship at the close of the colonial era. Both novels describe mediumship in terms that anticipate many of the tenets of the Vietnamese Communist Party's antisuperstition campaign. Belief in the spirits is attributed to a lack of education and a desire to make money through "selling the spirits" (buon than ban thanh). Superstitious practices are said to harm the progress and development of the nation (Nhat Lang 1952:4).
Long Chuong's novel, Serving the Spirits (Hau Thanh), provides a fascinating, if derisory, view of mediumship among the upper echelons of Hanoian society in the 1930s. The central protagonist is a wealthy woman called Mrs. Han Sinh, who becomes immersed in the world of mediumship because of unhappiness in her life. According to Long Chuong's portrayal, this world is full of jealous, scheming, narrow-minded people, who prey on Mrs. Han Sinh's irrational devotion to the spirits to trick her into giving them money. Once initiated, Mrs. Han Sinh spends all her time with a close circle of religious devotees. Instead of looking after domestic affairs and caring for her husband, she goes away for weeks on end visiting temples and busying herself with errands such as shopping for ritual offerings and costumes. Although Mrs. Han Sinh initially hides her ritual activities from her husband, he finds out and has to suffer the "humiliation" of being married to a "fickle" medium. Mr. Han Sinh is portrayed as being extremely tolerant of his wife's ritualizing, partly because of his modern belief in "the freedom of the individual," but in the end, husband and wife are irreconcilable. Their marriage breaks down because of Mrs. Han Sinh's ritualizing and because of an "indiscretion" by Mr. Han Sinh, which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child. Toward the end of the novel, Mrs. Han Sinh leaves her husband and remarries a chau van musician called Ky Sin, who performed at all her rituals. Mrs. Han Sinh was charmed and infatuated by Ky Sin's "crystal clear" voice and his ability to flatter her in song. But at the end of the novel he is described as a no-good opium addict. The story of Mrs. Han Sinh's downfall is meant as a cautionary tale, one that details the disastrous effects that superstition can have on family life and society.
Throughout Long Chuong's novel, the attraction of religion for weak-minded, emotionally volatile, and deceitful women is contrasted with the modern, educated values of the male characters. For the author Nhat Lang, whose wife was a medium, this issue was close to home. Despite his incredulity and opposition, Nhat Lang, just like the fictional Mr. Han Sinh, had to "endure the humiliation" and go along with his wife's wishes (Nhat Lang 1952:59).
The title of Nhat Lang's novel, Dong Bong, has two meanings. Dong Bong is one of the terms used to refer to mediumship rituals, and it also ironically connotes the "fickle" or "temperamental" character commonly associated with mediums. The novel is subtitled "A Fictional Report" (Phong Su Tieu Thuyet), yet it draws on some of the author's actual experiences. In one extract, Nhat Lang records a dialogue between himself and his possessed wife. In the exchange, his wife, speaking as the spirit, strongly reprimands him for his lack of belief. Although superficially Nhat Lang acquiesces and tries to convince his possessed wife of his devotion, he ruefully remarks: "My wife, under the protection of the spirit's shadow, continued to transmit orders. I knew full well it was a ruse to obtain my submission" (1952:60).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Songs for the Spirits by BARLEY NORTON Copyright © 2009 by Barley Norton. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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