Tag Archives: vietnamese legend

Creation Myth of Vietnam: Sự Tích Bà Âu Cơ

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 81
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 5/2/2021
Primary Language: Vietnamese

Main Piece:

G:  Bà Âu Cơ, nghe nói là đẻ ra một bọc. Trong bọc nó nở một trăm cái trứng. Ông Lạc Long Quân lấy bà Âu Cơ, get ready với bà Âu cơ. Đẻ ra một trăm trứng. Một trăm trứng đó nó ra một trăm người con. Những người con đó, sau lớn lên, mỗi người… lớn lên thì mỗi người ngự trị một vùng… giống người ở bắc, người ở nam, người ở trung, người thì ở xa xôi trên rừng núi, còn người thì xuống biển. Năm mươi người con lên rừng, và năm mươi người con xuống biển. Tức là vùng biển. Rồi mới sinh ra những người trên rừng đó thì mới lập ra những, cũng như là vùng thượng du, rồi cao nguyên, này kia. Năm mươi người con xưống biển, thì ở những cái vùng thấp đồng bằng giống như mình. 

  • Translation: “Lady Âu Cơ, I heard that she birthed a pouch. Inside the pouch was one hundred eggs. Sir Lạc Long Quân married Lady Âu Cơ, get ready with Lady Âu Cơ. She gave birth to one hundred eggs. From those one hundred eggs emerged one hundred children.  Those children, when they grew up, each child… when they grew up, each child came to rule a certain area… like the people from the North, people from the South, people from the central area, those people split up far from each other, some living in the jungle while others lived by the sea. Fifty people went to live in the jungle, while fifty people went to live by the sea. That is the sea. When the children were born and came to live in and rule the jungle, they established the Northern region, then the highlands, and things like that. Fifty of the other children who lived by the sea, established the lowland Delta region who we are today.

Background:

My informant is my grandmother, who was born and raised in Vietnam. She grew up in the Delta region of Vietnam, and first heard pieces of this creation myth from her father (my great-grandfather), but learned the long-form written version while she was in school. She explains that her father was told this story by his father, who was told the story from his father, and onwards. It is a story that is thus passed down from generation to generation, but also became a part of Vietnamese history taught in schools when my grandmother was in third grade. She likes this story because of the fond memories she has attached to it.

Context:

This is a transcription of a live conversation between my grandmother and I. I have been able to visit her from time to time during the pandemic and recorded this conversation during one of those visits.

Thoughts:

The creation myth of Lady Âu Cơ can be complex and complicated, and this telling of it is a very simplified version of the myth. Many other details regarding the relationship between Âu Cơ and Lạc Long Quân were not included in my grandmother’s telling of the myth. One element that is not clearly explained is how Lady Âu Cơ is a fairy deity, while Lạc Long Quân is a dragon deity. Their separation then is due to the difference of their needs; Âu Cơ wanted to live in the mountains while Lạc Long Quân needed to live by the sea. Despite the simplicity of this telling, most of the main points of the myth are covered. That is, eggs often appear in creation myths due to their symbolism of life. Such is the case with this myth, in which the first people of Vietnam emerged from one hundred eggs. I love this story because it captures how different groups of Vietnamese people (those from the Delta and those from the Highlands) came to be through a loving relationship between two deities. One note to make about myths and legends is how their classification depends on the storyteller’s belief. For my grandmother, this is a sacred creation myth that details how the Vietnamese people came to be. For me, who was not raised with the story, it is more of a legend.

Vietnamese Wedding Traditions

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 52
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles; born: Saigon, Vietnam
Performance Date: 2/12/19
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: English

Main Piece

“A long time ago, there were twin men. Both of their parents were dead. So, the twins stayed together in the same house. One of the brothers got married to a woman. Usually the twin who got married first came home from work first. But one day, for some reason, the younger twin came home first. So, the wife thought that he was the younger twin. She greeted him as his brother, made dinner for him, and acted flirtatious with him. The younger twin told her who he really was and she was very embarrassed. The younger twin thought to himself, “I might be a bother to my brother’s family because the wife could not recognize who is who!” So, he left the house and walked and walked, not sure where to go, and died by a river bank. When he died, he became the limestone by the bank. The older brother came home and noticed the other brother left and didn’t know why. He left the house to search for his brother. He followed his brother’s trail to the river bank but didn’t see his brother, so he lied down by the limestone and died too. Then he became the betel palm tree. The wife noticed that her husband never came home and his brother was gone all evening. So, she went to go look for them and followed their trails to the river. But she couldn’t find them and in despair sat down by the bank and died too, becoming the vine and leaves that climbed up the betel tree of her husband, like a wife hugging her husband. This became the symbol of family in Vietnam because they were always very close.”

 

Context

My mom escaped from Vietnam during the war when she was 12 years old. Back in Vietnam, her grandma told her this story as a bedtime store. It is meant to show how close Vietnamese families are and that even after death, they will always be together. My mom told me this story when I was little and I would ask her to repeat it a lot. I got her to repeat it for me again while we were on the phone so I could hear her tell it.

 

Notes

I think it’s interesting that many of the Vietnamese legends explain traditions through things that happen in nature. This legend also acts in a proverb in a way that tells families nature intended for them to always stay together and close. The younger brother leaving the house and dying because he did not want to interfere with his brother’s family also shows the extreme sacrifices nature intended for families to take for each other.