Thánh Gióng (
chữ Nôm
Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...
: 聖揀), also known as Phù Đổng Thiên Vương (
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 ...
: 扶董天王, ''Heavenly Prince of Phù Đổng''), Sóc Thiên Vương (
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 ...
: 朔天王), Ông Gióng (翁揀, ''sir Gióng'') and Xung Thiên Thần Vương (冲天神王, ''Divine Prince of Heaven'') is a mythical
folk hero
A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...
of Vietnam's history and one of
The Four Immortals. According to the legend, Gióng was a boy who rode on an iron horse and won against the enemy of the state. The most well known version of the legend had him battle against the Chinese army, thus, he is considered the first anti-invasion hero of the Vietnamese. Some researchers believe he is the Vietnamese version of
Vaiśravaṇa
(Sanskrit: वैश्रवण) or (Pali; , zh, s=多闻天王, t=多聞天王, p=Duōwén Tiānwáng, ) is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and is considered an important figure in Buddhism. He is the god of warfare and usually portrayed as ...
.
The folk hero was a popular subject for poets, such as
Cao Bá Quát who wrote an epic poem to Thánh Gióng in the 19th century. Today Thánh Gióng features with other legendary figures such as
Kinh Dương Vương
Kinh Dương Vương (chữ Hán: 涇陽王; "King of Kinh Dương") is a legendary ancient Vietnamese figure, mentioned in the 15th-century work ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' by having unified all the tribes within his territory into on ...
,
Âu Cơ,
Sơn Tinh – Thủy Tinh, in elementary school texts.
Legends
There are many versions of the legend of Thánh Gióng. But they all have the same general story: In ancient time, there was a fearsome enemy, the king sent his men to seek for a talented person to defeat the enemy. In Phù Đổng village, there was a child, though being three years old, he was incapable of speech or crawl. But as soon as he heard about the king seeking for talent, he spoke. He then joined the army, asked the king for a sword and an iron horse, and defeated the enemy. After peace was restored, he flew away.
Việt Điện U Linh Tập
In
Việt Điện U Linh Tập, Thánh Gióng is known as ''Sóc Thiên Vương'' (). This version does not specify when the story was set nor who was the enemy. It says in the old days, there was an enemy in the country, the king ordered his emissaries to find someone who can defeat the enemy. The Heavenly King (, which is what Thánh Gióng is called in the story) was a baby at the time. Having heard the news, he told his mother to prepare a lot of food for him. A few months later, he grew into a big man and joined the army. The emissary brought him to the capital. The king was very happy and asked him what he wanted, to which the Heavenly King asked for a long sword and an iron horse. The king accepted. The Heavenly King drew his sword and rode his horse into battle. Once he defeated the enemy and restored peace in the country, he rode his horse to
Vệ Linh mountain, climbed onto a
banyan
A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...
tree and fly away. The people erected a temple to worship him. The
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
also erected a temple dedicated to him in Cảo Hương village near
West Lake
The West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. Situated to the west of Hangzhou's former Hangzhou City Walls, walled city, the lake has a surface area of , stretching from north to south and from east to west. In the lake are four ...
.
Thiền uyển tập anh has a follow-up to the story: In the
Early Lê dynasty
Early may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa, a city
* Early, Texas, a city
* Early Branch, a stream in Missouri
* Early County, Georgia
* Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort
Music
* Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...
, Buddhist monk
Khuông Việt
Ngô Chân Lưu ( vi-hantu, 吳真流, 933–1011), title Khuông Việt (), was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. ...
travelled to Vệ Linh mountain and wanted to build a house there. That night, he dreamt of a deity who wore gold armor, carried a golden spear in his left hand and a tower in his right hand, followed by more than ten people. The deity said:
The monk woke up and heard loud cries in the mountain. The next day, he found a large unusual tree in the mountains, he cut it down and built a temple. In 891, the
Song dynasty invaded, emperor
Lê Hoàn
Lê Hoàn (10 August 941 – 18 March 1005), posthumously title Lê Đại Hành, was the third ruler of Đại Việt kingdom, ruling from 981 to 1005, and founder of the Early Lê dynasty. He first served as the generalissimo commanding ...
told Buddhist monks to pray at the temple. The Song army at Tây Kết village suddenly retreat to Chi river, they then met with a large storm and withdrew back to China. Lê Hoàn built more temple to ''Tì Sa Môn Thiên Vương''.
Lĩnh Nam chích quái
In
Hùng King
Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng dy ...
's time, the country was peaceful. The king of
Ân planned an invasion under the pretext of punishing Hùng King for not paying tribute. Hùng King asked his men for a way to fight back, one of them suggested asking the dragon king to fight the invaders on their behalf. The king held a large prayer, and suddenly there was heavy rain and an old man appeared. Finding the man to be unusual, the king asked him how to fight the invader. The old man predicted that the enemy will invade in three years, and to fight back, the king must "forge weapons, train soldiers, and find talents in the country. Those who defeat the enemy will be rewarded with land and title." The old man flew away, the king realized that he is the dragon king.
Three years later, the Ân invaded, the king followed the dragon king's advice and sought for talented man. In Phù Đổng village, there was a 60-year-old rich man who had a son. This child was already 3 years old, yet he couldn't talk or sit. When the king's emissary arrived to his village, his mom jokingly said that she "gave birth to this child who only knows how to eat" and that "he doesn't know how to fight the enemy to receive the reward and repay his parents." The child suddenly spoke and told his mother to "invite the emissary so that you may hear what he has to say". The emissary arrived and asked the child what he wanted, the child said the emissary should tell the king to "forge an iron horse 18
thước high, an iron sword 7 thước long and an iron helmet." The child then grew up very fast. When Ân army arrived at Trâu mountain, the child, now a 10 trượng tall man, stood up. He drew his sword and proclaimed that he was "a general from heaven", he wore his helmet, rode on his horse and engage the enemy. The enemy was defeated, the king of Ân was killed. The man went to Sóc mountain and flew away with his horse. Hùng King bestowed upon him the title of Heavenly King of Phù Đổng (, ). Since then, the Ân dynasty didn't dare to invade Hùng king anymore, and the surrounding country respected him more. The
Lý dynasty
The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...
titled him Xung Thiên Thần Vương ().
Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư
In the 6th generation of King Hùng, there was a rich man in Phù Đổng village, Vũ Ninh division, who gave birth to a son. The child was three years old but couldn't talk or laugh. At time, there were an emergency in the country, the king ordered to find someone who can defeat the enemy. That day, the child suddenly spoke, told his mother to invite the emissary in and said he wanted "a sword and a horse, the king doesn’t need to worry." The little child rode his horse in the front, the soldiers followed behind. They defeated the enemy at Vũ Ninh mountain. The enemy called the child general from heaven and came to surrender. The child rode his horse into the sky and went away. The king ordered to renovate his house into a temple and worshiped him.
Version collected by Nguyễn Đổng Chi
This version is the most well-known version today. It is similar to
Lĩnh Nam chích quái
''Lĩnh Nam chích quái'' ( vi-hantu, 嶺南摭怪 lit. "Selection of Strange Tales in Lĩnh Nam") is a 14th-century Vietnamese semi-fictional work written in chữ Hán by . The title indicates strange tales "plucked from the dust" of the Li ...
's version. However, in this version Phù Đổng Thiên Vương has a name, Gióng. Instead of a rich man, his parent was an old woman who lived alone and became pregnant after stepping on to a giant footprint that trampled her field. It also has more dialogues and details such as: the horse in this version can spit fire, the swords and armors are so heavy only Gióng can carry them. During the battle, Gióng's sword broke and he had to use bamboo instead.
Legacy
Memorial

The Gióng Festival has been held since the defeat against the
Shang
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dyn ...
, and it officially became a national holiday in the 11th century during the dynasty of Emperor of
Lý Thái Tổ
Lý Thái Tổ ( vi-hantu, , 8 March 974 – 31 March 1028), personal name Lý Công Uẩn, temple name Thái Tổ, was a founding emperor of Lý dynasty and the 6th ruler of Đại Việt; he reigned from 1009 to 1028.
Early years
Lý Công ...
, the founder of the Lý dynasty.
A huge magnificent bronze statue of Thánh Gióng in full armor riding his horse jumping up towards the sky can be admired near
Sóc Sơn 30 km north of Hanoi. Superb panorama of the region from the hill top
Heritage
* In 2010,
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
has listed Thanh Giong in Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
*
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
officially recognized Saint Giong festival as a world intangible cultural heritage of humanity at 10:20 pm in Indochina time zone.
Giong Festival
Usually celebrated at Phù Đổng village,
Gia Lâm District,
Hanoi
Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
on the 4th day of the Fourth month of Vietnamese calendar every year. The Celebration tributes the hero who saved the country that stood against the army invaders. People have to prepare their performance for this festival from 1 st of third lunar to 5th fourth lunar month. On the 6th of the Fourth lunar month, the festival begins with the ceremony of praying for the weather. On the 7th day of the fourth lunar month, villagers bring trays of vegetarian food to recreate the moment villagers who contributed food to Thánh Gióng. The festival continues the ritual until 12th day of the Fourth lunar month.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanh Giong
Vietnamese mythology
Vietnamese gods
Vietnamese deities
Heroes in mythology and legend
Vaiśravaṇa