Héros nationaux, Bouddha des Neuf Cieux et déesses-mères : politique et religion dans le Viêt Nam rural contemporain

Abstract

Politics and religion have long been seen as conflicting domains in the Socialist Republic of Viêt Nam in official discourse. Yet, attention to local religious practice reveals long historical traditions of negotiation between local religious institutions and the State that continue in contemporary practice. Based on data collected over the last ten years, this paper explores the dialectical relationship between religious and state power in a rural village in Nam Dinh Province. Interviews with village elders and two ritual masters, and observation of communal rituals to propitiate the village tutelary god and lineage ancestors demonstrates that figures associated with the revolutionary State, such as Hồ Chí Minh, national martyrs and military personalities, are legitimized and integrated into the local communal order through their integration into local rituals and daoist mysticism.

Keywords

• religion
• politic
• Taoism
• ancestor worship
• revolution
• Viêt Nam