Mẫu Thoải ( Chữ Hán: 母水, or Thủy Cung Thánh Mẫu ( Chữ Hán: ) is a goddess in Vietnamese non-Buddhist

traditional religion In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam, in which gaining converts is a prima ...

. The goddess features in

Chầu văn Hát chầu văn (, Chữ Hán: 咭朝文), or in secular form hát văn (咭文),Dale Alan Olsen, ''Popular music of Vietnam: the politics of remembering'', 2008. p 278. index "chầu văn, ..." several entries. is a traditional folk art of northe ...

religious ceremonies and music. She presides over the heavenly water palace Thoải Phủ, one of the

Four Palaces Four Palaces ( Tiếng Việt: ; Chữ Hán: ) is a major denomination of the Mother Goddess religion, an indigenous polytheistic religion in Vietnam. This branch is popular in the North of Vietnam and has a profound association with the worship ...

(Tứ Phủ) where the "spirits of the Four Palaces" (thánh Tứ Phủ) correspond to the elements.Karen Fjelstad, Thị Hiền Nguyễn - Possessed by the spirits: mediumship in contemporary Vietnamese ... - Page 20 2006 "A number of goddesses have been elevated to the rank of mau (mothers). ... presides over each one of the four realms or "palaces" (tu phu): Heaven (thien phu), Earth (dia phu), Water (thoai phu), and Forests and Mountains (nhac phu)."

References

Vietnamese goddesses Vietnamese culture Vietnamese folk religion Vietnamese deities Vietnamese gods {{Vietnam-stub