Tiger worship is the most popular folk belief in worshiping animals in the South, along with the worship of Ong – the whale. Almost every village communal house has a Son Quan temple – a temple worshiping the Tiger God.
During the Ky Yen communal house ceremony in the Southern village, the Son Quan Tet ceremony is one of the important rituals that is solemnly respected by the villagers. In addition, many places also set up separate shrines to worship Ong Ho and smoke incense day and night to express their sincerity to the Son Quan – a form of blessing of the village.
The screens in front of the village communal house also take pictures. The image of Mr. Cop as the symbol next to the Dragon and Unicorn. Worship customs in Southern village communal houses default to “Left Thanh Dragon, right White Tiger”. The Southern people believe that the White Tiger is a divine tiger that cultivates immortals and does not eat meat, but also helps the villagers. Apparently, in folk beliefs, tigers also have fierce and gentle children.
However, perhaps not everyone knows why Southerners worship tigers. According to some historical books, the process of the South expanding and establishing businesses in the new land was always the obsession of immigrants. The tiger’s habitat is invaded and it turns back to fight back against humans. In the West, many tiger shrines do not worship tigers by name but instead call them “Mr. Tiger”, Ong Ca Ong Thirty or “hia Khai” Huong Quan (Ca Mau region)…
The multidimensionality of tiger worship is also explained by the fact that: Immigrants came to Here, they reclaim land to start a business, but they are very reasonable with the unwritten rule: “There are tigers in every forest” so they do not dare to “claim to be heroes and lords” and beat their chests to proclaim their names. They established a career in the new land and asked to appoint Mr. Cop as their Elder.
Tiger Tale
In the literary treasure In Southern folklore, there exists a genre of stories called “tiger meaning” – meaning stories about tigers who live peacefully and help people with integrity and kindness to be virtuous for the next life.
Featured In tiger stories, the motif is the story of people giving birth to “Mrs. Teacher” – a female tiger. There are about 10 stories of this type. The common denominator is that when a tiger’s wife goes into labor, the husband goes into the neighborhood to find the garden midwives (who give birth to pregnant women) and carries them into the forest to help his wife “unlock the flowers”. When the “mother is full and her cubs are square”, the tiger regularly releases wild animals and throws them in front of the midwife’s house to repay her kindness.
In Hiep Thanh – Bac Lieu, there is the Ba Chan Tiger Temple, hidden in it is an anecdote: see The tiger many times released wild animals to the midwife, and a hunter set a trap to catch the tiger. The tiger got caught in the trap and had to bite off his own leg to escape, so he only had three legs left. Later, when the tiger died, the villagers felt sorry for the animal and built a shrine to worship them.
Immigrant tigers are not always hostile. The section bordering Bac Lieu province and Soc Trang province (on National Highway 1A) has Nang Ren bridge, and a little further in there is Nang Ren Catholic church. We had the opportunity to discuss with Priest Nguyen Van Chanh, who at that time was the pastor of Nang Ren Church (now deceased) about the background of this place.
Father Nguyen Van Chanh said that when In ancient times, male tigers were called grandfather; Female tigers are called grandmothers or aunts. Every time the tigress goes into labor, her moans can be heard throughout the village. People called it Nang Ren, and gradually the camp was called Nang Ren.
In Cai Nuoc district, Ca Mau province, there is a place name and also the name of the hamlet “Cai Cam”. We were very curious about the origin of this place name and went looking for the elders in the neighborhood to find out.
The elders here told us that the other day Mr. Hoi Nui – a resident of the neighborhood – left. While chopping leaves, he suddenly saw a tiger sitting and looking at him. He just calmly worked. When it was time for the tiger to go into the tree trunk to take a nap, he used a tree stump to carve it into a giant cork and stuffed it into the tree trunk, trapping the tiger inside, waking up the tiger to jump around. He yelled at the tiger to lie still and obey. At Monkey time, before returning home, he released the tiger and went their separate ways.
The story “Nghia Tiger” collected in Ben Tre will further demonstrate the tiger’s meaningful lifestyle. The story goes that in the past, in Kien Hoa, Hoa Phung village, there was a couple named Vo who had no children. Mr. and Mrs. Tu bought a tiger cub to raise.
After a few years, the tiger grew up quickly and was very obedient to its owner. As for Mr. Tu and his wife, they addressed the tiger as their child and called them parents, which sounded very friendly. Mr. and Mrs. Tu also gave birth to a son. 10 years later, Mr. Tu had to go to Hue capital to take up an official position. The tiger insisted on protecting his father, but then had to stay home because he listened to Mr. Tu’s advice to stay home to protect his mother and younger siblings.
A few years later, Mr. Tu fell seriously ill and passed away. Transported to Hoa Phung for burial. The tiger and Mrs. Tu’s mother and daughter cried endlessly. As for the tiger, he didn’t want to eat or drink and just lay next to his father’s coffin. After Mr. Tu’s burial, the tiger hit his head and died next to his father’s grave. The people were so grateful for the tiger’s kindness that they buried the tiger next to Mr. Tu’s grave and set up a small shrine to worship this meaningful animal. People loosely call it the Hai Cha Con temple.
Through anecdotes about tigers in the South, sometimes the personification of tigers in Southern folk tales partly shows the species’ companionship. This animal was during the exploration of our ancestors. Tiger worship also shows the diversity in Southern folk beliefs that create the rich cultural identity of this land.
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