Mẫu Thoải (

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 母水, or Thủy Cung Thánh Mẫu (

: ) is a goddess in Vietnamese non-Buddhist

traditional religion In religious studies, an ethnic religion or ethnoreligion is a religion or belief associated with notions of heredity and a particular ethnicity. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam ...

. The goddess features in

Chầu văn Hát chầu văn (, chữ Nôm: 喝朝文), or in secular form hát văn (喝文),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 north ...

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

Four Palaces Four Palaces (; chữ Hán: ) is a major denomination of the Đạo Mẫu, an indigenous shamanic belief in Vietnam. This branch is popular in the North of Vietnam and has a profound association with Thánh Trần worship, the worship of Đức ...

(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 Culture of Vietnam Vietnamese folk religion Vietnamese deities Vietnamese gods {{Vietnam-stub