Art

Art des pays d’Asie du Sud ou de la France

Forbidden city of Huế (Tử Cấm Thành)

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The forbidden city   is encircled by a 4-metre high  brick wall with a classic coating. This wall also is  surrounded by a ditch filled with water. Each door preceded by one or several bridges gives access on each side. The Ngọ Môn Gate is the main entrance and it is reserved for the King.

It is a powerful  masonry  foundation drilled with five passages and surmonted by an elegant wooden structure with two levels, the Belvedere of five Phoenixes (Lầu Ngủ Phụng). In the East and West of the Citadel, one finds respectively  the gates  of humanity and virtue which are highly decorated and pierced each by  three passages. The gate of humanity has been completely  restored in 1977.

World cultural heritage of Vietnam

Once we have gone precisely through the Ngo Môn Gate, we see appearing on the main axis the sumptuous palace of Supreme Harmony or  Throne palace that can be reached through the Esplanade of the Great Salvation (Sân Ðại Triều Nghi). It is in this Palace that the emperor, seated in a prominent symbolic position, received the salvation of all dignitaries of the empire  hierarchically aligned  on the esplanade at the time of great ceremonies. It is also the only building kept after so many years of war. Behind this palace, it is the imperial residence.

© Đặng Anh Tuấn

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  • 1 Noon gate (Ngọ Môn)
  • 2 Throne palace (Điện Thái Hoà)
  • 3 Archives pavilion  ( Thái Bình Ngự Lâm Thư Lâu)
  • 4  Royal theatre ( Duyệt Thị Đường)
  • 5 Pavilion of  Splendor (Hiến Lâm Các)
  • 7 Gate of virtue (Hiền Đức Môn)
  • 8 Gate of humanity (Hiển Nhơn Môn)

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Huế city (English version)

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For the majority of Vietnamese, Huế always remains the intellectual and artistic foyer of Vietnam. It always looks like a sleeping princess. It knows how to keep its charm and grace that it has had since the Champa occupation with its citadel, the Perfume river and above all the famous Thiên Mụ ( or The Celeste Lady ) pagoda . The cruel beauty of its women wearing the white tunic ( áo dài ) accompanied by a conical hat (or nón bài thơ) , the fineness of its poetry, the union of its parks and pagodas with varnished tiles, the culture of its madarinal court make it more charming, noble, and majestuous.

One remembers Hue through the follwing two famous popular verses:

Gió đưa cành trúc là đà
Tiếng chuông Thiên  Mụ, canh gà Thọ-Xương
While the wind smootly moves the bamboo branches 
One hears the Thiên Mụ bell, and the Thọ-Xương rooster’s song

Before becoming the imperial capital of the Nguyễn, it was first the strong place of Chinese Jenan’s command of emperorQin ShiHuangDi in 3rd century B.C., then it was gradually integrated in the kingdoms of Lin Yi and Champa since 284 of our era. Then it was the object of greed of the Chinese and the Vietnamese when the latter  gained their independence. It was partially controlled by the Vietnamese in 1306. This control was only wholly when Hue became a dowry from king Chế Mẫn of Champa to the Vietnamese in exchange of his marriage with princess Huyền Trân.

Cố Đô Huế

It was the imperial capital of a reunified Vietnam from 1802 to 1945 and knew no less than 13 emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty, of whom the founder was Nguyễn Ánh known under the name of  » Gia Long ». On the left bank of the Perfume river, in the middle of the city center, three surroundding walls circumscribe the imperial city and protect the forbidden purple city whose orientation was set in relationship with four cardinal points by geomancers of the court. As an admirer of the Ming dynasty, emperor  Gia Long did not hesitate to give Huế a striking resemblance of the Forbidden City of Peking.

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The royal tombs were built  at the exit of the city, along the river. Hue was the target of several conquests, French first in 1885, Japanese next in 1945 and then French in 1946. It was the witness of deadly combats during the Mậu Thân Tết offensive in 1968. Many times, it was also the actor of nationalist resistance in colonial time and during the last five decades.

Despite its aristocratic appearance, Huế knows how to conserve in difficult time the history of Vietnam that is to say the Vietnamese soul.

Communal house (Đình Làng : Part 4)

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Communal house 

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Decoration art in the communal houses

Thanks to the communal house (đình), we discover that the village life is intimately introduced in the decoration art. This one tries to liberate itself not only from classic conventional models encountered until then but also Confucian straitjacket that Vietnam has known in the feudal system. That is what we see in wooden carvings which take up all free spaces encountered inside the đình (from roof frame to columns).

All imperfections of the construction are hidden with address thanks to the technique of embellishment. In each carved piece, the motif whether it is animal, character, flower etc. .. is unique and cannot be found anywhere else even if it is the same theme. By contrast, one discovers in these sculptures the coexistence through centuries of two cultures, one being national and scholarly and the other popular. One finds not only in the first all motifs relating to four hieratic animals (Rồng, Lân, Rùa, Phượng) (Dragon, Unicorn, Tortoise, Phoenix), four noble plants, fairies, animals (tigers, elephants etc ..) but also fantasy, imagination, innovation from peasant-sculptor despite his strict obedience to etablished standards. In the popular sculptures, the master craftsman who is, above all, a peasant, let himself be guided by his personal inspirations, his sincere emotions, his frustrations, his spontaneity and his sentiments in the realization of his work with realism and humor. He succeeds in escaping the censoring custom by a unusual aptitude in the description of bawdy scenes through his work of art: a naked young girl taking a bath in the lotus pond or sitting with low-necked dress on a a dragon head (đình Phụ Lão, Bắc Giang) , a young man groping the body of a woman under the watchful eye of his partner (đình Hưng Lộc), a mandarin disturbing a girl who is obliged to hide her body with the lotus sheet in her bath ( đình Ðệ Tam Ðông, Nam Ðịnh) etc …

He dares to denounce the wrongdoings of corrupt mandarins. That is what one sees in the carved piece of the communal house Liên Hiệp. These are taboos and frustrating redtapes encountered every day in the Vietnamese confucian society. Everything found in this popular sculpture largely reflects artist’s freedom of expression, common aspirations and social life of village. The paradox is visible because the communal house is both the garden of Confucian order which is well established in Vietnamese family and social structure and the place where the peasant can find again his freedom of expression and denounce the Confucian straightjacket. By its sculptures and its architecture, the communal house constitutes an inestimable jewel for Vietnamese people. One has the habit of saying in Vietnamese: làng nước ( Village Nation ) because Vietnamese nation is constituted over centuries by the dissemination of villages whose communal house (Đình) is both spiritual, administrative, social and cultural centre. As a consequence, the communal house (Đình) is not only the soul of village but also that of Vietnamese nation.

 

Communal house (Đình Làng: Part 3)

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Đình Làng (Part 3)

Armature ( Cấu tạo vì kèo )

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In addition to the ceremonies scheduled in the year in honor of the tutelary genius, villagers attach great importance to anniversaries of his birth and death. But there are also other occasional sacrifices caused often by a marriage, an appointment, a promotion or a old or siver wedding (khao lão). This allows you to give rise to feasts in the village and allows you to celebrate in large pump the cult in the tutelary genius. The latter may be a man or a woman. It is easy to identify this genius at the time of the procession. For the genius-man, there is always the presence of a horse in red (ngựa hồng) or white ( ngựa bạch) laquered wood. This one is of natural size and mounted on a wooden rectangular plate fitted with castors. The latter is richly harnessed and it is supposed to bring the genius soul. In the case where the genius is a woman, this horse is replaced by the palanquin in red hemp (võng đào) suspended from the beam having the ends carved with dragon head and based on two easels in the form of three crossed sticks.

Mái cong làng Ðình Bảng 

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For the duration of the feast, one sacrifices to the tutelary genius with solemnity by moving its char ( kiệu) accompanied by a large number of culte objects, parade weapons, dais (tán) and pennants (cờ), from the communal house (đình) to the his place of residence (nghè) (1) or from the village to another allied village in the case where these ones are united by the cult of the same genius and by organizing multiple entertainment: fighting of cocks, buffaloes and birds, chess games with human pawns, flat hand wrestling etc.

There is also a important rite which recalls the significant characteristics of genius life. Known as the « hèm » in Vietnamese and kept secret, it is always celebrated during the night for geniuses who have not done an honorable act (genius thief, genius with fists, wast collector genius etc … ).. By contrast, it is celebrated in the great day for the geniuses with a quality or an act of bravery. One avoids to pronounce also the name of the genius during the rite by modifying the pronunciation or by substituting a synonym. This is the case of genius Linh Lang for example. We are obliged to tell « khoai dây » instead « khoai lang » (potatoes), « thầy lương » for « thầy lang » (doctor) etc. .. This singular rite is one of the essential features of communal cults. The negligence of this rite could jeopardize the prosperity of the village.

Its construction is always operated according to a well-defined layout plan identifiable by some Chinese characters Nhất, Nhị, Tam, Ðinh, Công, Vương etc.  A communal house (đình) who stands alone with a rectangular main building (đại đình) evokes the character « Nhất ». This is the case of « đình » Tây Ðằng.By contrast, we are led to recognize the character Nhị by adding to the main building a second building (tiền tế) (or building reserved for sacrifices). This one is parallel to the first building and preceding it in the new layout. This is the case of the communal house Liên Hiệp. It is rare to find the character Tam in the construction of communal house. In a general way, the « đình » is frequently encountered in the shape of the character Công.

The posterior building Hậu Cung is connected to the main building by a small corridor or a small court (Ống muống) . This is the case of the communal house Đình Bảng, Mộng Phụ. For the character Vương, it is sufficient to connect three buildings (Hậu Cung, Đại Đình, Tiền Tế) with two corridors (Ống muống). It is in this last building « Tiền Tế » where the official ceremony for tutelary genius is performed by notables wearing a blue suit during the feast days. READING MORE

Palanquin in red hemp (Đình Cổ Loa)              

(1) ghè: Place of residence of the genius often located at the entrance of the village. At the time of the feast, invited the genius is invited to join the communal house « đình ». It is brought back to its « ghè » when the feast is terminated.

Bibliographie:

Le Ðình, maison communale du Viêt Nam.
Hà Văn Tấn, Nguyễn Văn Kự,
Editions Thế Giới, 2001

Communal house ( Đình Làng: Part 2)

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Đình Làng: Part 2

 

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We are accustomed to say: Cầu Nam, Chùa Bắc, Ðình Ðoài with the aim of evoking the celebrity of three specific regions concerning the Vietnamese traditional architecture. Ðình Ðoài thus insinuates the region Ðoài (Hà Ðông, Sơn Tây) where there is a large number of famous communal houses. (Tây Ðằng, Mông Phụ , Chu Quyến etc. .. ). It is in this region near the mountain and forests that the precious and resistant hardwood is found essentially  for  the construction of đình.

The word « đình » has its origin in the Chinese ideogram ting. Despite this, the « đình » in the Vietnamese architecture does not correspond to the Chinese description of the ting. The latter is employed over time to designate a isolated house for cultural joys (thưởng ngoạn văn hóa) or a rest home (đình trạm) for a traveller or a mandarin in mission or a temple for the cult of the rampart genius at the time of the Han (Chinese).

In this meaning, there is the same type of ting in Viet Nam with the đình Trấn Ba within the temple Ngọc Sơn (Hànội) or Thủy Ðình ( Ðình on water) in front of the pagoda Thầy (Chùa Thầy) (Hà Tây). Based on the origin of the word Ðình, some specialists do not hesitate to think that the cult of the Chinese « ting » has inspired the Vietnamese « đình ». For Vietnamese writer and journalist Hữu Ngọc, the wall genius have been replaced by the village tutelary genius to adapt oneself to Vietnamese taste. But there are several reasons not allowing to reinforce this hypothesis.

Firstly, the Vietnamese đình which is due to its strength in an ingenious system of columns, tenons and mortices, is built on stilts (without poured foundation). This technique allows to facilitate sometimes its movement or its re-orientation in case its initial installation does not provide prosperity and happiness to the village after several decades of exploitation.This type of construction reminds us that, for some researchers, in particular French researcher Georges Coedes, the Vietnamese « đình » was undoubtedly influenced by Indonesian architectural style.
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It does not call into question what one have already discovered on Vietnamese bronze drums with the house on stilts and a curved roof. (Ngọc Lữ ). We know very well that the Dongsonian (the ancestors of the Vietnamese ) were established along the coast of North Vietnam (1 millennium before J. C. ). They were considered as « Indonesian » (or Austroasians (Nam Á in Vietnamese), the Bai Yue.

According to Vietnamese researcher Trịnh Cao Tường, specialised in the study of communal houses (đình), the architecture of Vietnamese communal house on stilts testifies to the echo of the Dongsonian mind continuing to perpetuate itself yet in the daily life of the Vietnamese people. In addition, this building type is similar to sacred common building roong (nhà rồng) that one is accustomed to find among the Austroasiatic populations, in particular highland ethnic peoples (Central Highlands of Vietnam). Analogous to the Vietnamese communal house, the building rôong cumulates a large number of social functions: board room of village committee, accommodation center for casual visitors, rallying point of all villagers etc. ..Some Vietnamese « đinh » are fitted with wooden floors serving as headquarters for meeting or sofa bed for notables and villagers. This is not the case of Chinese « ting ».

Đình Bảng (Bắc Ninh)

In the XVIII century, there are almost 11800 villages in Vietnam. This means that there are communal houses as much as villages. As the Vietnamese have the habit of saying: the water that we drink recalls the source (Uống nước nhớ nguồn), there is always within themselves a recognition, a gratitude for those who have done a great service for them and their country.

That is why nothing is surprising to see a large number of historical figures (national and local heroes) or legendary characters (Mountain genius Tan Viên for example) and benefactors considered to be part of geniuses of communal houses. Those who have done stirring deeds are not forgotten either. In addition, among these ministering geniuses, there are also the children, beggars and thieves. These ones die a violent death with a sacred hour, which gives them the supernatural powers to protect villagers against evils and misfortunes. Thanks to these communal gods, the village found not only tranquillity and prosperity but also rule, justice and morality. They are in some way the personification of this supreme authority which derives its full strength in the village itself.

Depending on their role more or less filled, they can receive royal patent (sắc phong) who grant them the grades of « genius of higher rank (or Thượng đẳng thần) » or « genius of the average rank (or Trung đẳng thần) » or the « genius of lower rank (Hạ đằng thần) « . This institution allows the king to demote those of them failing to fulfill their mission by sowing disorder in the village or letting the villagers perish. Being kept with care and jealousy in the Hậu Cung (or interior palace) these royal patents are the indescribable pride of the whole village. If the latter has not his tutelary genius, it is forced to borrow the tutelary genius of another village or to replace it by the soil genius (thổ thần). In the case where the villages are united by a common cult for the same tutelary genius, they must come to an agreement so that the feast day is fixed at a date agreed in each village and everyone can participate by sending a delegation during the procession. Unlike the temples built and maintained at public expense, the communal houses are charged to villagers because it is in fact a local worship. The wealth found in the decoration of communal houses and their dimensions depend both on the financial prosperity and the generosity of the villagers. One found in every village, some parcels of land called rice-fields of the rites (or tế điền) or rice paddies of geniuses (ruộng thần từ) whose exploitation is used to maintain the communal house and the area of which may reach several tens of mẩu (or 0.36 ha) in some villages before 1945. It is the local hierarchical authorities who are responsible for the administration of communal house and village as « a small court ». The rules, customs and traditions are applied with severity and they are more respected than the king’s authority. Women are not allowed in the đình. That is why we have a habit of saying in Vietnamese « Phép vua thua lệ làng » (the king’s authority yields to the village custom). READING MORE

Communal house (Đình Làng: Part 1)

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Một mảnh hồn của đất nước

Part 1

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Đình Làng

These are two words that it is difficult to separate in the spirit of the Vietnamese because everywhere there is a Vietnamese village, there is also somewhere a communal house, a « đình ». This one, always covered with tiles, is a wooden colossal building on stilts. Unlike the pagoda which closes itself off, the « đình » has neither doors nor wall and communicates directly with the outside world. Its imposing wide roof cannot go undetected with its super elevated edges ( đầu đao ). Its location is the subject of meticulous studies of geomancy. Its construction is carried out in most cases on a fairly high terrain considered as a sacred space and it is oriented so as to have access to a water piece (lake, river , wells) with the aim of gathering the peak of well-being. (Tụ thủy, tụ linh, tụ phúc).

This is the case of the đình Tây Ðằng with a water piece filled with lotus in front of its porch in summer or the đình Ðồng Kỵ ( Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh) erected in front of a river or that of Lệ Mật (Gia Lâm, Hànội) with a wide well. The Vietnamese communal house is often built within a green surroundings with the centuries-old banyan trees, frangipani, palm trees etc. ..

We cannot define better its role than that which has been summarily written by French Paul-Giran in his book entitled: Magie et Religion annamites, pp 334-335, 1912:

The đình where lives the genius protector of each village (thành hoàng) is the centre of the community’s collective life. It is here that there are the meetings of village notables allowing them to address the administration and justice issues. It is also here that one can see  religious ceremonies and  acts that are the life of the Vietnamese society.

We can say that it is somehow the town hall of a city today. But it is better considered that the latter because it is the strong emotional bond with the entire community of the village.  Through it, the Vietnamese can regain not only his roots but also the aspirations and shared memories of the village where he was born and he grew up. His deep attachment to his village, in particular his « đình »,  is not breaking the expression of his feelings that we usually find in  popular songs:

Qua đình ngả nón trông đình
Ðình bao nhiêu ngói thương mình bấy nhiêu….

Passing by, she doffs her hat towards the communal house
The đình possess many tiled roof as much as she loves you…

or

Trúc xinh trúc mọc đầu đình
Em xinh em đứng một mình cũng xinh
……………………………
Bao giờ rau diếp làm đình
Gỗ lim ăn ghém thì mình lấy ta ….

The beautiful bamboo grows at the entrance of the communal house
You are nice, my sweetheart even if you are alone
……………………………………….
Whenever lettuce can be used to build a communal house 
and wood « lim » comestible, we could be married …

The image of the communal house is intimately rooted in the heart of the Vietnamese. The đình is the symbol of their identity. Already, in the XII century, under Lý dynasty, an edict stated that on all the Vietnamese territory, each village must build its own đình. This one followed the Vietnamese during their advancement to the south from the XIth to the XVIIIth century. Firstly, it was implemented in the center of Vietnam through   Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An provinces under Lê dynasty and then  Thuận Hóa and Quảng Nam provinces under Mạc dynasty and finally in the Mekong delta at the point of Cà Mau with Nguyễn lords. Its construction evolved to adapt not only to new climate, new lands acquired and new materials available found on local site but also traditions and regional customs throughout entire course over thousands of kilometers during the four centuries of expansion. Except the Central Highlands, cradle of the ancestral culture of ethnic minorities, the « đình » succeeds to distinguish itself in diversity with a style and a own architecture for each district within each region. Built a few centuries earlier, the « đình » in the North remains the reference for the majority of Vietnamese because it is chosen not for its aesthetic character but rather for its original character. It is the authentic symbol of  rural life of the Vietnamese people over the centuries. It has been erected the first by Vietnamese village culture in the Red River delta. The đình in the north is not only an assembly of columns, main rafters and all sorts of components joined by mortises and tenons on stone foundation but it is also a wooden frame on which is based the roof reinforced by its own weight. One of the characteristics of Vietnamese communal house is found in the role of the columns  used to sustain the roof. Its look is very imposing thanks to these large main columns.

        Communal house  Ðình Bảng ( Tiên Sơn, Bắc Ninh )

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This is the case of đình Yên Đông destroyed by fire (Quảng Ninh) and main columns of which reach 105 cm in diameter. This impression is often illustrated by the expression that one has the habit of saying in Vietnamese: to như cột đình (colossal as the column of the đình ). That is what one see in the famous « Ðình Bảng » with its 60 wooden columns (gỗ lim) and its large roof completed by the edges elevated in the form of lotus petals.  READING MORE 

 
Đình Mông Phụ (Sơn Tây)

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Conical hat (Nón lá)

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 Conical hat

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To date, there are no historical documents that clearly specify the period of creation of the conical hat. However, only its primitive form (feather hat) has been seen engraved on artifacts of the Đồng Sơn culture (such as the Ngoc Lũ bronze drum or the Đào Thịnh bronze situla) between 2500 and 3000 BC.

Since ancient times, for living and protecting themselves from the sun and rain in a tropical climate, our ancestors thought of using materials easily found in nature such as the leaves of certain plants (pandan, coconut palm, buông, hồ, cối) and straw and succeeded in inventing the conical hat. The latter has since become an essential element in the daily life of the Vietnamese. It is seen everywhere in all corners of the country. It becomes inseparable from the peasant, from the dike to the rice field or from the shore to the river. Sometimes it’s used as a fan to relax under the scorching sun. It’s often seen following street vendors through the city streets. It has long become a distinctive symbol of Vietnamese culture. It adds a touch of elegance to Vietnamese women, whether worn with a tunic or a jacket with wide sleeves.

According to historical sources, the first person to mention the Vietnamese conical hat was Zhou Qunfei (Chu Khu Phi) of the Southern Song Dynasty in the book: Linh Ngoai Dai Dap (嶺外代答序) written about the customs of our Lý Dynasty in 1178. The people of Giao Chi wore conical hats [the original text is 螺笠 le loa lap, a conical shell-shaped hat].

Later, based on the book Zhou Qunfei, the Yuan Dynasty historian Ma Duanlin (Mã Đoan Lâm) described it in “Văn hiến thông khảo” in 1307 as follows: the hat being spiral-shaped, its shape resembles that of snails… made in a very meticulous manner from thin strips of bamboo. […]. The earliest image of Vietnamese conical hats is found in the painting « Trúc Lâm đại sĩ xuất sơn đồ (The Painting of the Zhen Monk King Trần Nhân Tôn) » illustrated by the monk-drawer Trần Giám Như. This one depicting the return of the Zhen Monk King to royal life in 1363. In this painting, two men are seen wearing hats of different shapes. The first person was wearing a wide-brimmed hat with the protruding part in the middle. The other was also wearing a wide-brimmed hat very pointed.  At that time, hats were intended for many different categories of people, from the rich to the poor or from officials to servants. During the Trần Dynasty, the village of Ma Lôi (present-day Hải Dương) produced conical hats. At first, Ma Lôi hats were popular and known only to the common people, but later, the Trần king found them so beautiful. He soon made improvements to these hats for use by concubines in the royal palace. From then on, these hats were known as nón thượng. The Ma Lôi hat was later used in the national navy commanded by General Trần Khánh Dư to differentiate it from the one worn by soldiers coming from the North.


Through the painting above “Trúc Lâm đại sĩ xuất sơn đồ” by Trần Giám Như, we can firstly identify the social status of each person wearing the hat. Then secondly the hat has undergone a long journey of transformation over many centuries with many different models,  each inspired by the local culture  (such as the Ba Tầm or Quai Thao hat in northern Vietnam, the Huế hat, the Bình Định hat, the Quảng Nam hat, etc.) so that today the conical hat has become a familiar and simple object of all classes of society, an inseparable companion of the Vietnamese people. Being known not only in everyday life, the image of the conical hat is also exhibited at fashion shows and has become a source of inspiration for fashion houses today. It is also a souvenir that foreign tourists often like to buy when returning to their country.

By wearing a Vietnamese tunic with a conical hat, Miss Isabelle Menin
honors the beauty of traditional culture at the Miss Grand International 2023 (Viet Nam) 

The vietnamese dress (Áo dài)

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Áo dài is always considered a symbol of traditional Vietnam. A foreign tourist who lands in Vietnam has the opportunity to see a woman dressed in her áo dài. It is about a close-fitting long tunic in light fabric, open on the sides from the waist down, worn over a large pants. It will be surely of speechless admiration facing this incarnate elegance. It is not the clothe that provokes this admiration but rather the relation between the woman, her dress and her culture. However the a’o dài has only a short history. It just dated from 18th century.Impressed by the elegance of the Manchurian costumes under the reign of the Qing, a Vietnamese lord of the name Nguyễn Võ Vương established the wearing of a Vietnamese national dress inspired by the Chinese model. It should wait one century before this dress is adopted in the popular strata of the Vietnamese society, in particular during the reign of emperor Minh Mạng.

Some selectioned dress

This dress becomes nowadays the national symbol with more and more varied models in colors as well as in decorative patterns. Most Vietnamese wear it.

The dragon (Con Rồng)

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There are neither Vietnamese tales nor legends without this fabulous and mythical animal that is commonly called Con Rồng or more literary Con Long (or the Dragon in English). It makes part of the four animals with supernatural power (Tứ Linh) and occupies the top place. It is frequently used in Vietnamese art. It is not only seen in pagodas, but also on the ridges of roofs, the beams of frames, furnitures, the pieces of dishes and fabrics. It is also the emblematic animal traditionally chosen by the emperor for his clothes.

All Vietnamese firmly believe they are descendents of the Dragon king Lạc Long Quân coming from the Waters and of the fairy Âu Cơ of terrestrial origins. From this union, the fairy laid one hundred eggs that gave birth to one hundred robust sons. Later, at the separation of the couple, fifty of them followed their father Dragon toward the lower coastal regions and founded the first Vietnamese nation named Văn Lang while the other fifty followed their terrestrial mother toward the high plains to give birth later to an ethnic microcosm the most complex in the world ( about fifty groups ). Although this version of the Seven Tribes of Israel is unbridled and poetic, it nevertheless allows the Vietnamese and other minority groups to live together somewhat peacefully in this country of the form of the dragon, and to unite as a sole person to overcome foreign aggressors in difficult moments of their history.

According to a Vietnamese legend, it was thanks to the return of a benefactor dragon that barbarous hordes coming from the North were routed. Its fire spitting tongues on contact with the sea turned into a multitude of small islands and reefs with extravagant forms. That is why this bay is known in Vietnamese as « Hạ Long » or ( Descending Dragon ). It becomes thus the eighth marvel of the world and a natural site the most visited by foreign tourists when they land in Vietnam.

Hạ Long Bay

The dragon is also the symbol of the King. That is why its feet must have five claws. If one sees a dragon with five claws on a furniture, a box or a china, this object is meant for the service of the emperor. Otherwise the dragon generally has only four claws.
It is also the symbol of the husband, the fiance and more generally the man. As for the woman, she is represented by the phenix. That is why when we want to make allusion to a marriage, we often associate a dragon with a phenix on a piece of embroidery or a sculpted panel. It is also this association that poets evoke in their poems to talk about marital happiness and shared joy.

The dragon is seen everywhere even in the Mekong delta. This river born in the foothills of the Himalayas ( Tibet ) divides into nine branches or nine dragons to throw itself in the golf of Cochinchina ( or Nam Bộ ). That is why this region is called Cửu Long ( or Nine Dragons in English).

If this marine monster is rebutted by the majority of the peoples, it is on the contrary, a part of the Vietnamese daily life. It is assigned to keep an watchful eye, at the imperial city of Huế, on the tombs of the Nguyễn emperors with all its body made of multicolored ceramic pieces. Golden, it coils around the carmine lacquered pillars of imperial palaces. It is one of the twelve astrological signs of the lunar calendar. It becomes not only the embroided silk clothes for tourists but also a front part sign with gaudy colors on the junks of the Hạ Long bay.

 

In the cradle of legends that is our Vietnam, we have the feeling of being better protected by this marine monster because we are convinced that  we are the descendents of king Dragon.

 

113 ors (Musée Guimet)

j050807 Art, Gallery, Musées ,

 Musée national des Arts asiatiques

Version française

Được công nhận   là một  kim loại   từ thời xa xưa có tính cách  không thể   biến chất  nên  vàng  không những được xem  gắn bó mật thiết  với sự bất tử mà còn mang tính chất  thần thánh và biểu tượng mà thường thấy ở các nền  văn minh  cổ  đại như Ai Cập, Ấn Độ, Trung Hoa, Hy Lạp, Maya, Inca vân vân.. và  các tôn giáo lớn nhất là Phật giáo và Ấn Độ giáo. Vàng tìm thấy trong thiên nhiên ở  các lòng sông dưới hình thức bụi hay là dưới các tầng đất dưới dạng khoáng chất. Nhờ bàn tay khéo léo của con người, vàng để lộ ra  độ sáng rực rỡ nhiều màu qua các thánh tích tôn giáo hay là các vật  phẩm qúi giá mà giới  qúi tộc  thường dùng và có. Đó là các mặt nạ bằng vàng tìm thấy ở các mồ vua chúa của Ai Cập hay Hy Lạp ( mặt nạ của vua Toutankhamon hay  Agamemnon), các bộ đồ trang sức lộng lẫy của các vương công Ấn Độ, các tượng Phật vân vân…Đối với những người Ai cập cổ thì vàng được xem như là thân thể của các thần thánh. Vàng thể hiện không những quyền lực mà luôn cả sự  bất tử. Nó vẫn giữ một vai trò quan trọng ở Á Châu. Luôn cả ở Việtnam dù vàng rất hiếm nhưng người Việt cổ thường có thói quen để một lát vàng nho nhỏ trong miệng của người tử để  họ có thể nhận được năng lượng mana  mà vàng chứa đựng.  Vàng thuộc về Âm thường có khả năng bảo quản thân thể để tránh sự thối rữa.  Bảo tàng quốc gia Nghệ thuật châu Á  (Guimet, Paris)  có dịp trong mùa hè  năm nay  giới thiệu lại 113 bảo vật mà họ có bằng sơn mài mạ hay bằng vàng với chủ đề « 113 ors ».

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De gauche à droite et de haut en bas: 1°) Porcelaine peint à l’or et à décor de dragons et de caractères de longévité. Dynastie Qing (règne de Kangxi (1662-1722). 2°) Porcelaine, glaçure bleu de cobalt et rouge de fer, peinture à l’or. Marque de l’empereur Qianlong. 3°) Mont Meru 4°) La divinité aux 1000 bras (Viet Nam).

Étant  reconnu pour sa qualité inaltérable depuis la nuit des temps, l’or est associé non seulement à l’immortalité mais aussi au caractère divin et symbolique  qu’on a l’habitude de retrouver dans les  civilisations antiques (Egypte, Inde, Chine, Grèce, Maya, Inca  etc.) et dans les religions, en particulier dans le bouddhisme et dans l’hindouisme. Dans la nature, on le trouve dans les lits de rivière sous forme de poussière ou dans les sous-sols sous forme minérale. Grâce à la main de l’homme, l’or montre son éclat chatoyant à travers  des reliques religieuses ou des ouvrages précieux portés ou possédés  par la noblesse etc… C’est ce qu’on a retrouvé dans les masques funéraires d’Egypte ou de Grèce (masque de Toutankhamon ou celui d’ Agamemnon),  les somptueuses  parures des maharajahs indiens, les statues des Bouddhas  etc…Pour certains peuples comme le cas des Égyptiens, l’or était considéré comme la chair des divinités.  L’or incarne à la fois le pouvoir et l’immortalité. Il  tient une place prépondérante en Asie.  Même au Vietnam où l’or n’est pas abondant, on avait l’habitude de mettre autrefois dans la bouche de la personne décédée une petite lamelle d’or  pour lui insuffler le mana que contenait  le métal précieux. Étant du principe yang, l’or est capable d’assurer la conservation du corps et d’empêcher la putréfaction.  Le musée national des arts asiatiques (Guimet, Paris) ne manque pas l’occasion de nous rappeler l’attrait et le pouvoir de séduction de ce métal magique à travers ses 113 objets possédés  dans son exposition intitulée « 113 ors d’Asie » durant cet été.