Mau Temple of Pho Hien

On the shore of Bán Nguyệt Lake stands a temple with its front turned to the southwest. Its formal name is Hoa Dương Linh Từ.

Most people who come to Phố Hiến simply call it the Mẫu Temple. It was ranked a national monument of history and artistic architecture in 1990. It is one of the 16 component sites of the Phố Hiến special national monument.

At the heart of worship here is Dương Quý Phi, a lady of the Song dynasty. The Song was the dynasty then ruling China. People praise her as the mother and model of the whole land. According to the spirit records and local tradition, her body drifted down to the lower reaches of the Đằng Giang, the area of Phố Hiến today. The people there built a temple to honor her. That bond has tied the Phố Hiến community to this place of worship for many centuries.

The official records say the temple was first built in 1279, under the Trần dynasty. The Trần dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. Over the generations the temple was repaired many times. The most important restoration came in the eighth year of the Thành Thái reign, which was 1896. By then the Nguyễn dynasty was on the throne. The Nguyễn dynasty reigned from 1802 to 1945.

From the lakeside, the first thing the eye meets is the nghi môn, the entrance gate. Its roofs rise in two tiers, eight roofs in all, with curved and upswept corners. It is the outermost layer of the architecture, and it sets the tone for all the space inside.

Before stepping into the courtyard, a visitor pauses at an ancient tree called sanh si đa. It is described as more than 700 years old. Its three trunks wind around one another into the shape of a tripod. Visitors often remember its shade long after they leave.

Inside the courtyard, two halls lead on to the main space of worship, the thiêu hương and the tiền tế. Each has three bays, and both are decorated with many horizontal boards and couplets. Next come the first, second and third palaces, one after another along the inner axis of the temple.

The rear palace is the most solemn part. It is where she is worshiped. Local tradition says it is also her resting place, the tomb of the Mother Dương Quý Phi.

The temple keeps many valuable objects. Two are palanquins from the Later Lê dynasty, one of the bát cống kind and one of the thất cống kind. There are a dragon bed and a dragon table. There is a pair of vases with crackle glaze from Bát Tràng, made in the Nguyễn period. There is also a piece of writing in the châm form, composed in 1896 by the doctoral laureate Chu Mạnh Trinh. Doctoral laureates were scholars who passed the royal examinations. Above all, the temple keeps 15 royal decrees, from the Later Lê dynasty to the Nguyễn. The earliest dates from the seventh year of the Vĩnh Thịnh reign, which was 1711. The latest dates from the ninth year of the Khải Định reign, which was 1924. Across nearly 213 years, these decrees are physical proof that many dynasties recognized and supported the temple.

The festival of the Mẫu Temple takes place every year from the 10th to the 15th day of the third lunar month. It has rituals, a palanquin procession, lion dances, dragon dances, a water procession, rooster fights and games of cờ tướng. It is the occasion when the local community shows its beliefs and keeps the culture of Phố Hiến alive through ritual. The 14th day of the seventh lunar month is the day of mộc dục. On that day, the person in charge changes the robes of the Mother.

A temple to a lady of the Song dynasty, in a Vietnamese trading port, is a rare thing. It says a great deal about old Phố Hiến and about cultural exchange in a place of trade. It also says something about how the Vietnamese took in stories that came from far away and set them within their own world of belief.

On the shore of Bán Nguyệt Lake, the temple is a place where historical memory and community belief meet.