THE FOLK CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH THU THIEM AREA’S “MAU” WORSHIP

Abstract

Thu Thiem (District 2) is located at Giồng Ông Tố’s riverside of the Saigon River. It is established by the fishing families making their living on water through many generations. Through a long period of cultural and trading interactions, “Mau” worship has been formed with many temples, relics along the riverside. In 1996 the site clearance policy applied by the city government had simultaneously removed all the existing relics. Since that day, the owners of the relevant temples and the local had to move the remaining relics to other temporary places, then pursuing chances for preservation and restoration. The act of moving relics to new areas nearby had proved that the community consciousness is still around. These areas then became a place where villagers could meet up or carry out some team-work based social activities. 

The core value of a culture does not appear on the relics’ outside. However, thanks to the community consciousness, the value is stored in human memories. This facilitates the current culture is changing into a higher level one, where core living value for the current community is re-shaped.