Le Hong Ly
Institute of Folklore Studies
Hanoi

A Remarkable Phenomenon:

For the last decade, the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury in Co Me village in Bac Ninh has attracted throngs of visitors. During peak visiting times, which run from the last month of the old year through the first two months of the new one, the Temple overflows with pilgrims. Traditionally, rural temples and pagodas were frequented only by local folks or residents of neighboring villages; they were not designed to accommodate large crowds. The Temple of the Lady of the Treasury was no exception. Until 1993, it suffered from neglect while Co Me was mired in poverty. Today, both temple and village have been almost totally transformed. Because of the perceived potency of the temple, pilgrims have contributed donations to have it rebuilt and expanded into a much larger structure. Initially a tiny shrine, it is now a spacious and solidly built place of worship. The cult of the Lady of the Treasury has had a spill-over effect on other parts of Co Me and even its surroundings. Other shrines and temples, and even ordinary people's houses have been renovated and expanded. Village dirt roads have been upgraded to concrete paths. To accommodate visitors coming from afar, the one-kilometer road from Thi Cau railroad station to the Temple has been widened and smoothed over with tar. All this work of construction, renovation and expansion was made possible by the prosperity which the cult of the Lady of the Treasury has brought to once poor Co Me village.

The cult is the one of the more visible manifestations of the post Doi Moi revival of religious practices after decades of discouragement or even suppression; it also illustrates some of the profound socio-economic changes that have taken place since 1986. This paper attempts to explain the sudden explosion of the cult of the Lady of the Treasury, its transformation from an agrarian rite into a cult that is largely fueled by capitalist greed, and its effect on Co Me village and on the local authorities.

The Legend Lady of the Treasury:

Co Me village, in the commune of Vu Ninh in Bac Ninh(1) is situated about 30 kms north of Hanoi on Route 1A and about 1 km from Thi Cau railroad station, north of Bac Ninh township. It consists of about 500 households, totaling about 5,000 people. The land belonging to the village covers an area estimated at around 200 ha. The Temple of the Lady of the Treasury is located a little to the north, half way up the slope of Granary Mount which overlooks Cau (Nhu Nguyet) River. This is where Ly Thuong Kiet built a strategic-defense line against the Song (Chinese) invaders in the 11th Century(2).

Co Me is not the only village in the Red River Delta that worships a Lady of the Treasury. Other localities in Ha Bac also have shrines to a similar local deity. This is the case of Tien Lac Thuong village, Tien Son commune, Viet Yen district, Qua Cam and Thuong Dong (Lam) villages, both in Yen Phong district (Tran Van Lang 6, 1993). Elsewhere, the most famous site is the shrine of the Lady of the Treasury at Giang Vo, in Ha Noi. In Thai Binh province, a story circulates that the Lady of the Treasury was originally Tran Thi Dung(3) who was honored by the Tran dynasty as Spiritual National Mother of Kindness [Linh Tu Quoc Mau]. The distinctive feature shared by all Ladies of the Treasury is that, during their lifetime, they held the keys to royal stores of military supplies and other commodities.

Except for the deity worshipped at Co Me, all the other Ladies of the Treasury are based on figures from the Tran dynasty (1226-1400). Co Me's Lady of the Treasury is the only deity who supposedly lived during the previous dynasty. People tell a story to the effect that under the Ly dynasty (1010-1225) a prince stopped in Co Me during his travels and came across a virtuous and beautiful girl living in a small hut in the middle of a vast rice-paddy. To avoid gossip about such a suspicious-looking encounter, they lit a lamp and engaged in a night-long conversation. The prince was so impressed with the peasant girl's deep understanding that he renewed his visits to her. After he ascended the throne, he immediately sent for the girl and made her his consort. They shared in the governance of the realm. When learning that corruption was rampant among the officials in charge of rice granaries along the Cau river, where her native village was located, the Lady asked the king for permission to correct the problem. With his agreement, she ordered an investigation and had officials stealing from the public supply houses arrested. Seeing that a great deal of land had been left uncultivated, the Lady summoned inhabitants and encouraged them to set up rice-producing farms. As a result, seventy-two farms were established and they yielded abundant crops which filled all public granaries and brought a better life to the inhabitants. Granaries were opened everywhere. This is how Thuong Dong village came to be called Granary Village (lang Lam). After the Lady's death, villagers set up a shrine to worship her. This shrine became known as the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury. (Nguyen Xuan Can 4, 1993).

Until the 1980s, the story of the Lady of the Treasury, like other common folk-tales, had been circulating for a long time without attracting special attention. Scholars did not contribute a great deal to the already rich treasury of existing folk-tales. Thus, when, in 1981, an official of the Sports and Information Service of Ha Bac included the story of the Lady of the Treasury in his collection of folk-tales titled The Face of the Motherland, it attracted little attention. For the local folks, however, the publication of the collection of folk-tales served as an excuse to demand a reevaluation of the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury (Tran van Lang 6, 1993). Their petition led the Bac Ninh municipal authorities to suggest that the Ha Bac Museum and Culture and Information Service join forces to research the history of the Temple, which was then heavily dilapidated. The research team drew up a dossier on Co Me's historic complex, which consisted of the communal house, the Buddhist pagoda, and the Temple; this led on January 21, 1989 to their being designated by the Ministry of Culture and Information as cultural monuments deserving protection and maintenance.

After that date, the Temple's fame grew and began to spread beyond Ha Bac to the whole country. A tourist guide to the Temple, penned by Nguyen Huy Hanh and Nguyen Xuan Can and published in 1989, sold out so fast that the Museum and the Culture and Information Service, the official agencies supposedly responsible for the supervision of the Temple, did not know what it looked like ((Tran Van Lang 6, 1993). In 1990 the Ha Bac Museum published a collection entitled Old Tales of the North (Truyen co xu Bac). In that book is a story about the Granary Lady (Ba Chua Lam) which is similar to the legend of the Lady of the Treasury of Co Me. In 1991, Hanoi's Buddhist Association, seizing the opportunity to cater to the needs of pilgrims and visitors who were beginning to flock to the Temple, marketed a work called History of the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury (Lich su den Ba Chua Kho), co-authored by a group of writers. In 1992, Anh Vu and Nguyen Xuan Can published The Lady of the Treasury (Ba Chua Kho) through the National Culture Publishing House, one of the biggest publishers in Vietnam. The book is actually a collection of twenty folk-tales from Ha Bac in which is included the story of the Lady of the Treasury. The fact that the name of the Lady of the Treasury was printed right on the book's front cover revealed the publisher's appreciation of the Lady's marketability. Another work by Hoang Hong Cam, The Temple of the Lady of the Treasury, also appeared that year, further contributing to the promotion of the Lady of the Treasury and to enthusiasm for her cult. At that time, newspaper coverage and rumors about the Lady of the Treasury's supernatural power were also in abundant supply.

Enthusiasm for the Lady of the Treasury ran so high that, in Dinh Bang, the ancestral village of the founders of the Ly dynasty in the 11th century, Tran Van Dien tried to claim a Dinh Bang connection to her by asserting that she had been King Ly Thanh Tong's sixth sister. He sent the villagers of Co Me a long letter, trying to defend his argument on the basis of oral stories told by Dinh Bang elders. He also produced arguments to the effect that the name of the Lady of the Treasury was Ly An Quoc, that she was born on the twelfth day of the fourth month in the year 1054, and that she had cooperated with General Ly Thuong Kiet in the construction of a defense line along the Cau river against the Song invaders. Since she was in charge of logistics in the rear-area at Mount Vu Ninh (now Co Me), after her death she was worshipped as the Lady of the Treasury.

Many more details have been embroidered on the basic fabric of the story which circulates far and wide around the area of Co Me. For all this wealth of details, however, one thing is clear: no scholarly research has so far indicated the existence of any textual source on the Lady of the Treasury at Co Me. No official historical work from the Ly dynasty or subsequent eras mentions her name. If indeed she actually held such an important post (the National Treasurer) at such a historically significant battlefield (the defense line along the Cau river), it is surprising that there is no official record of her existence. One may therefore conclude that the Lady of the Treasury is only a figure of legend.

The various versions of the legend of the Lady of the Treasury boil down to one basic assertion: she was originally a woman in charge of national granaries under the Ly dynasty. If we look at the legend from the perspective of Vietnamese folk beliefs, especially those popular in the northern delta, we can detect in it a manifestation of the pervasive worship of goddesses, in particular agricultural ones. It may be hypothesized that originally the village worshipped an agricultural goddess (Lady Rice) who was gradually transformed into the Lady of the Treasury as we know today. Indeed, though located near Bac Ninh township, Co Me, whose very name means "rice"(4) remains a rice-growing village and does not engage in trade or production of handicrafts. The transformation of the Lady of the Granary, a figure signifying agrarian abundance, into the Lady of the Treasury, a deity who controls vast stores of money, has occurred in the context of the transformation of the Vietnamese economy from Socialist central planning emphasizing self-sufficiency to an economy that is market driven and emphasizes capital accumulation. To her original function as goddess of plenty (whether agrarian or capitalist) has been added a more generalized power to protect those who propitiate her or conversely bring harm to those who show disrespect. While the stories that enable this added power reflect the wartime anxieties of rural populations more concerned with sheer survival than agricultural abundance, her new role as an all-purpose granter of wishes is another indication that she has moved away from her agrarian origins to fulfill the needs of worshippers with only the most tenuous ties to the land.

It is impossible to ascertain how the stories concerning this latter form of potency began. Once they began, however, the rumors helped transform a small shrine into one of the most important centers of worship in the north by contributing to the aura of mystery and sacredness of the Temple. One concerns a French owner of the Dap Cau paper mills during colonial times, whose name was said to be Beto (?). When this Frenchman planned to build his paper mills, he decided to include the area surrounding the shrine in his construction site. The villagers' reaction against his plan, however, made Beto abandon his original intention. He had a wall built around the shrine instead. On the wall there hung a big lamp that, according to the local folks, functioned as a destroyer of the shrine's potency. Beto's wife soon suffered from a bellyache that could not be relieved by French doctors. Beto's Vietnamese secretary then suggested that he make offerings to the shrine of the Lady of the Treasury. After Beto did so, his wife's bellyache instantly disappeared. Beto consequently changed his attitude toward the shrine; he contributed donations to its renovation and had the big lamp removed from the wall. A more recent and better-known story is situated during the American War. Granary Mount, where the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury is located, and Mount Dinh, which is 2 kilometers away and stands opposite Granary Mount, were strategic points of transportation and communication during the war. Mount Dinh is close to Dap Cau Bridge which spans the Cau river. Thi Cau railroad station, close to this route, is on the right bank of the Cau river to the south. This was the most important route by which merchandise, weapons, and other military supplies from the Soviet Union and China were transported. The American Air Force regarded the bridge and the station as two important targets for destruction. To protect these two strategic points from American bombers, the Vietnamese army set up two units of anti-aircraft guns, one on Granary Mount and one on Mount Dinh. Tons of bombs were dropped on this area; Dap Cau Bridge was destroyed, Thi Cau railroad station was heavily damaged, as was the anti-aircraft unit on Mount Dinh. Yet the anti-aircraft unit on Granary Mount was unscathed. This fact gave a strong impetus to the rumor that Granary Mount had been protected by the Lady of the Treasury from American bombing. This protective role is unconnected to her more traditional one as goddess of plenty, but explains her evolution into an all-purpose figure of power who can grant every wish.

Locating Potency:

Given the fact that other villages in the Red River Delta also lay claim to a similar deity, why has only Co Me's Lady of the Treasury witnessed such an explosive growth? An explanation can be found in the location of Co Me itself, on Route 1A. It became significant when northern Vietnam's economy ceased to focus almost completely on agrarian production and began emphasizing trade and mobility.

Until the 1990s, Co Me was still a poor village. As of 1993, its lanes were muddy and houses dilapidated. The road leading from Thi Cau station to the Temple was just a dirt road. The village's public buildings were much dilapidated. At the time, the communal house and the Buddhist pagodas were the principal sites of ritual practices and cultural activities. The practice of worshipping different deities in the communal house is a recent phenomenon, owing to the destruction of their original shrines. Formerly, they enjoyed a separate abode and were only transferred in a procession to the communal house during village festivals.

According to the villagers' accounts, as recorded in the Certificate of Canonization of 1938, the village worshipped Tam Giang, a deity canonized by the Nguyen kings in seven certificates dating from the reign Thieu Tri (1840-1847) to that of Khai Dinh (1916-1925). The Certificate of Canonization mentions a shrine (now demolished) close to the river bank which was dedicated to Tam Giang.

Official holidays in the village fall on the seventh day of the first and third months, the tenth day of the fourth month, the first and tenth day of the eighth month, and the ninth day of the ninth month; several of these are associated with Tam Giang. Traditionally, the first holiday of the year marked Tam Giang's birthday. On the tenth day of the fourth month, villagers engaged in boat-rowing contests to commemorate Tam Giang's victories on the Nhu Nguyet (Cau) river in battles against the Song invaders under the Ly dynasty. His death was commemorated on the same day. The festival held on the tenth day of the eighth month combined the commemoration of the founding of the village and the celebration of the autumn harvest. In addition, villagers also celebrated friendly relations with the neighboring Huu Chap village in the Festival of Four Seasons held on the fourteenth day of the eighth month. To describe the village's fondness for festivals, local folks used to repeat a saying, "eating like Co Me villagers." (Can Hoang Luan 17, 1998).

Within this ritual timetable, the cult of the Lady of the Treasury was fairly insignificant; it was a part, though not a very important one, of the village's ritual life. Her shrine was like any other shrine or temple that can be encountered throughout the country. Then the smallest of the three historic sites that are still extant in Co Me, it was regarded by the villagers as an ordinary place of worship, inferior to the communal house and the Buddhist pagoda. It was not on the village's main list of sacred sites, neither was it deeply imprinted on the local folks' cultural consciousness. Until 1990, few people were aware of the Lady of the Treasury. Even local folks rarely visited her Temple to pay their respect to the Lady and ask for her blessing. For a long time, the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury was a small and isolated shrine on Granary Mount at the back of Co Me. The area surrounding the shrine was unused, a fact that led the local authorities to decide to grant a plot of land along the dirt road leading to the shrine to the workers' collective of Dap Cau Engineering Factory and another plot of land close to the shrine for the construction of a production shop.

Co Me villagers did not pay much attention to the management or maintenance of this isolated shrine. This lack of attention is evident in the vagueness of their knowledge about the individuals who took up residence in the Temple at various times. According to the villagers, before the 1970s, the shrine was occupied and maintained by a Madame Dong Xuan, who was said to be the niece of Master Medium Ba Xe, who lived somewhere in Hanoi. Mediumship was then completely forbidden, so Madame Dong Xuan did not practice her skills openly. Since few people paid visits to the shrine, the local authorities and ordinary villagers chose to ignore her activities. In the mid-1980s, when female mediums moved out of the village for unknown reasons, the maintenance of the shrine became the responsibility of Old Bo, a resident of Co Me. Old Bo used to be Madame Dong Xuan's assistant, so he learned her knowledge of rituals and subsequently taught it to other villagers.

Things changed after the government launched the Doi Moi policy in 1986, and especially after 1989 with the adoption of market reforms. The granting of the historical designation to Co Me's ritual spaces in 1989 coincided with the introduction of the reforms and with the normalization of relations between China and Vietnam. Since then, the status of the Temple has been significantly elevated, to the point that it overshadows the communal house and the Buddhist pagoda. Whenever the name of Co Me is invoked nowadays, people instantly associate it in their mind with the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury. This is due to the link between the cult and the growth of trade along Route 1A. The growth of trade also effected a change in the character of the Lady of the Treasury from a figure associated with agricultural abundance to one associated with monetary wealth.

Even before 1989, the border area had already been a busy site for smuggling goods. When relations between the two countries were normalized, all economic sectors quickly seized the opportunity to capitalize on border trade, thus boosting the growth of business to an unprecedented level. Route 1A, which connects Hanoi to Lang Son on the Chinese border, became heavily traveled. Coaches and cars full of traders make the trek from the border all the way to Saigon and southern provinces. The Vietnamese are a polytheist people. They make offerings to any shrine that they chance to come across. This practice is summed up in the proverb: "Worship brings about sacredness; respect brings about benefits." Traders are said to be particularly superstitious. They are willing to make offerings to any deity for divine support. On their travels, they stop by shrines indiscriminately to make offerings and pray for successful undertakings. The Temple of the Lady of the Treasury is one of their drop-in points on Route 1A. For those for whom a visit to the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury is not a short stop on a longer trip but the very reason for the trip itself, Co Me is within easy traveling distance from Hanoi, another factor that may account for the popularity of her cult.

The Pilgrims

Visitors and pilgrims to the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury come from a variety of social backgrounds: the poor and the rich, business people, civil servants, farmers, etc.. They come from all over the country and even from abroad. They visit the Temple to pray for benefits, to see the sights, or come out of curiosity, but more often than not they come to ask for loans and blessings from the Lady of the Treasury.

The majority of pilgrims are traders. Spurred on by the idea that the Lady holds the key to all treasuries, merchants, from small retailers who deal in trinkets from market stalls to big business people who travel from north to south, and even across the Vietnam-China border, come to her for divine loans. Even high-ranking officials in state owned enterprises or directors of private companies are to be found among the pilgrims in large numbers. They want capital to expand their companies or enlarge their business. Big shop-owners, contractors, civil servants in state departments and bureaus, though not engaging directly in buying-and-selling, also come to the Temple to obtain the casual benefits scattered around by the Lady's generosity. It is said that the Lady, who is entrusted with managing the vast National Treasury, will generously approve "loan applications" from anyone, provided that the applicant is honest and sincere. Even if the "loan application" is rejected, the applicant will still be consoled with some benefits dropping in his palm from the Lady's abundant treasury.

Some visitors are motivated by the earnest need to ask for the Lady's support and brave long distances to make a pilgrimage to the Temple. Some make a little detour while traveling on business to visit the Temple. Some, on field trips organized by agencies in Hanoi, just drop in casually. In Hanoi and some other areas, merchants often organize group visits. They set up schedules, prepare offerings, rent vans, etc, and organize trips to the Temple according to fixed timetables. For some people, pilgrimage to the Temple has become an ineradicable habit. They are convinced that without making such a trip they cannot expect to be successful in business during the year.(5)

Among those who visit the Temple and ask for the Lady's loans or protection, are people, who through hard work and self-initiative, have become rich through honest and legal business. Although they know themselves to be hard-working and resourceful, they continue to believe that they owe their success to the help of the Lady who heard and approved their prayers. They fear that riches, having fallen into their lap unexpectedly, may be taken away just as unexpectedly. Others, by luck or by crook, know how to make the best of loopholes in a chaotic economy and get rich. Quite a few people who visit to the Temple are haunted by a gnawing sense that their riches have been the result of dishonest transactions They come to Co Me to entreat the Lady of the Treasury to grant them protection for their dirty deals. Some send up prayers asking her not to let them be caught by tax officers; others pray not have their briberies exposed and beg the Lady to cover up their embezzlement. They come to the Temple and make anonymous donations as a form of penance, to be absolved to some extent from the burden of guilt. In some cases, praying to the Lady serves as a rite of confession; they confess to her what can be neither openly confessed nor privately confided. In short, whether success has come through legitimate or illegitimate means, all seem to attribute their sudden wealth to the Lady's support and thus help propagate and multiply rumors about her supernatural power.

In the beginning, pilgrims came to the Temple for business loans and casual profits, but when rumors about the Lady's supernatural power began to circulate widely, new elements were added to the mix of pilgrims. The Lady has evolved from being a patron saint for business people to becoming an all-mighty power that can satisfy all human desires, from matters of life or death to everyday trifles. Visitors to the Temple include those who come to pray for the birth of children, for recovery from an illness, for good luck in passing an exam, or buying a new house. Creditors who want to collect money from stubborn debtors, farmers who want to have bumper crops, factory owners who want to invest capital in buying machines or building facilities, officials who want promotion and overseas travel, and even those who lose money or things and want them back, all rush to the Lady for her magical succor (Huong Huong 15, 1997). Those whose wishes are not satisfied console themselves with the excuse that they have not been sincere enough in their prayers. Even those who lose a deal, get caught, or go bankrupt, blame themselves for having forgotten to offer thanks to the Lady or for having made only meager offerings unworthy of her bounty. Failure or bad luck is thus attributed to the Lady's punishment. Both winners and losers, therefore, unanimously sing the praises of the Lady's supernatural power, and this in turn is magnified by rumor.

A great number of donors give money as a form of making merit for their descendants and creating a name for themselves. The wealthy want to make donations to famous places with the hope that, by virtue of their generosity, their name will keep living after their death. Their descendants, endowed with the merit created from those donations, will enjoy good luck, wealth, and success. This mindset is popular among the Vietnamese. Consequently the list of donors who support the reconstruction or renovation of the Temple gets longer and longer. Some directors of private companies or government agencies also make donations to the Temple as a form of self-promotion and advertisement. Thirst for fame can also motivate those directors to be generous. Anyway, donations do not come from their own pockets; they are taken from their company's or agency's funds. The noble cause of charity can serve as a good cover for their illegal business deals. In 1997, donations amounted to 1.1 billion piasters [$70,000] (Tran thi Truong, 1997:1)

Tourists are a significant sub-group among the mass of visitors to the Temple. According to 1996-1998 statistics (Can Hoang Luan 17, 1998) the breakdown of visitors was as follows:

Year	Domestic Visitors	Foreign Visitors
1996	800,000	450,000
1997	830,000	476,000
1998	850,000	540,000

A glance at the number plates of cars and mopeds in the parking lot shows that visitors come from all over the country as well as from abroad. Some come on tours organized by tourist agencies which have not been slow in capitalizing on the craze for the Lady. These tours are very popular among people from all walks of life across the country. Domestic Vietnamese tourists combine two interests: enjoying a scenic view and praying for benefits. Vietnamese nationals come on friends' or relatives' recommendation not only to see a beautiful and famous shrine but also to pay homage to a historical monument. In the process, they also make modest donations to the renovation of the complex of monuments. Foreign tourists visit the Temple out of curiosity fed by tourist agents' advertising. In anticipation of a further increase in the number of visitors, both domestic and foreign, a project which aims at transforming the whole area along the Cau river into a tourist attraction has been ratified by the Bac Ninh municipal authorities.

On arriving at the Temple, visitors walk through the Temple's front gate into a big courtyard, whence they will ascend stairs leading to the Temple's imposing three-piece gate (tam quan) halfway on the hill's slope. After entering the gate, visitors will find themselves in another big courtyard and see the main hall, where the first set of rites is performed. The main hall consists of two chambers and three porches whose wooden frames' four corners are shaped like upward-pointing machetes. This is where the communal shrine. Next is the Altar of three Holy Mothers. At the rear is the Sanctuary of the Lady of the Treasury, where the old shrine is located and where the Lady's image is set up for worship.

On the left of the main hall is a Buddha shrine and a place for burning paper money. In the front yard of the Buddha's shrine is a tall structure called the Tower of the Nine Heavens(Cuu Thien). On the right are two rows of statues of Young Masters (Cau) and Young Mistresses (Co) facing each other in the middle of a yard.(6) In the center of the yard, parallel to the Altar of the Three Holy Mothers (Tam Toa Thanh Mau) and the Shrine of the Lady of the Treasury, is the shrine of the Eight Boards of the Mountains and Fields (Bat Bo Son Trang). Close by is the shrine to Mr. Toad, which consists of rock in the shape of a toad. Walking to the top of the mountain, one can see the rear gate leading into the Temple. A memorial house for President Ho Chi Minh was erected there in 2000.

The communal shrine, the shrine of Young Masters, the shrine of Young Mistresses, the shrine of Eight Boards of the Mountains and Fields, together with the surrounding complex of service shops, have been built since 1993 with funds derived from pilgrims' donations. Outside the temple gates is a small complex made up of hundreds of shops and stores that cater to the needs of visitors and pilgrims. There is also a large parking lot that can accommodate the thousands of scooters and cars that stream into the Temple during peak season.

Propitiating the Lady of the Treasury

There are no fixed times for visits to the Temple. Visitors can drop in, pray, and make offerings whenever they want. The peak season, however, is early spring and late winter. Early in the spring people come to the Temple to apply for "loans" from the Lady; the end of the year is the time for them to come back and settle their debts in a grateful way. This explains why the first and the last three months are the busiest season. The first month of the lunar year is the best time for "loan applications." A proverb says that "Your offerings to the Buddha go nowhere if you don't make them on the fifteenth of the first month." The period from the fifth to the fifteenth of the first month is peak time at the Temple. Not everyone can make it in this period, so people console themselves with the idea that it is all right so long as the offering is made during the spring. From the tenth to the twelfth month is the time for settling debts and offering thanks to the Lady. The end of the lunar year, is especially busy. Until then, people are preoccupied with their businesses and they still think that there may still be benefits coming as a result of their prayers Thus, offering thanks too early would involve an incomplete act of gratitude. Even on the last day of the lunar year the Temple still witnesses people coming to pay their thanks.

During peak times, pilgrims start their journey very early in the morning, hoping that they will be the first to arrive at the Temple and thus be able to set up their offerings close to the Sanctuary of the Lady of the Treasury. Only such proximity can guarantee that their prayers will be heard and approved. If there are too many people standing between a pilgrim and the Lady, a supplicant has to pray from a distance, so chances that his or her wishes will be satisfied are remote.

Popular offerings consist of ordinary and vegetarian foods such as eggs, boiled chicken, pork sausages, boiled pork, rice, sticky rice, wine, rice cakes, beer, sweets, cookies, or non-food stuff such as cigarettes, flowers, gold and silver, mirrors, combs, money (in both Vietnamese piasters or American dollar bills), shoes, slippers, bracelets, earrings, etc. In the modern market economy, demand begets supply. Besides, only "experts" around the Temple can tell pilgrims what specific offerings to buy and in what quantities. Only frequent visitors, who have become knowledgeable, prepare offerings at home. On arrival, if their prepared offerings are deemed insufficient, they will buy more at the Temple. Most other visitors buy all their offerings at the Temple or just prepare some basic offerings at home. Depending on personal needs, a pilgrim can make offerings at only one altar, or at all the seven altars in the Temple. Generally, few can afford to make all seven offerings. Their offerings are usually limited to one or two specific altars. Offerings at the Pre-ritual Chamber and the Sanctuary of the Lady, however, are indispensable. At all altars patrons use brand-new votive money to supplement their offerings. Most popular are $200, $500, $1,000, $2,000, and $5,000 bills. Many sets of offerings are beautifully decorated and indicative of the patron's wealth and wishes. The wealthy apply for huge loans, so their offerings must be generous, with luxury items such as American dollar bills, foreign beer cans, 555 cigarettes, American grapes and apples, and high-quality sweets and cookies.

The process begins at the Communal House in the Pre-ritual Chamber, where patrons make non-vegetarian offerings such as wine, meat, cigarettes, beer, rice, eggs, etc. This chamber is reserved for worshipping high-ranking otherworldly officials and the Five Tigers [Ngu Ho], so the offerings must be non-vegetarian. After setting their offerings on the altar, patrons light incense sticks and walk around the Temple to put the sticks on all the other altars. They then come back to the Chamber to make the first offering. This initial rite serves as a form of petition to the other-worldly officials for permission to enter the Temple. Patrons can do the praying themselves or they can hire "temple experts" to do so for them. After a "temple expert" has been told the personal name, address, and wishes of the person who hires her for the service, she can go ahead with the ritual, with the patron kneeling by, making offerings, and observing the expert's devotional practices. The fee for this service varies between 2000 and 5000 Vietnamese dong [15-35 cents], depending on the patron's generosity. The patron can also offer the praying expert some fruits, a packet of cigarettes, or a dish of sticky rice. The next phase takes place in the altar of the three Mother-Goddesses, where worshippers can pray for good luck and benefits for themselves and their family. Making offerings or hiring experts for praying service is optional here.

The last and most important altar is set up in the Sanctuary of the Lady. Essential offerings are money and gold of all forms and sizes. Before confiding personal wishes to the Lady, the patron has to pay respects, first to the Lady's father to the left of the Lady and then to the Lady's mother to her right. Then comes the main rite in which the patron applies for loans from the Lady (in the spring) or settle debts and make offerings of thanks (in winter). Here is the place where praying experts are in greatest demand. After all the patron's wishes are revealed to the Lady, a Yin-Yang test is often performed to ascertain that the prayers and offerings have been received and approved. The test is done with two old coins tossed in a small plate. If one coin is tail and the other head, the test is considered successful; if both coins turn out to be the same, the test must be done again. Some people have to do it three or four times to get what they want. This delay is interpreted as the Lady's test of the devotee's faith in her power.

Once this is done, the patron can turn left to visit the Buddha's altar and pray for good luck and benefits. From there she can walk on to the open yard and make offerings to the Mother of the Nine Heavens (Cuu Trung Thien Mau). These can be either vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The purpose of this rite is to pray for one's family to be free from mishaps and bad luck. After this rite, the patron can move on to make offerings to the Lady of the Forest (Ba Chua Thuong Ngan) sitting on the altar of the Eight Boards of the Mountains and Fields together with other deities. According to folk beliefs, the Lady of the Treasury makes out loans of capital and lets drop casual benefits; but only through the supportive power of the Lady of the Forest can those loans or benefits bear fruit. Thus, here is the place to pray for successful business, permission to travel abroad, and promotion in one's career.

The altar of Young Masters is where a patron asks for children. If the patron has children already, she will ask the Young Masters to make them well-behaved, smart, and able to pass all exams. Offerings here are often vegetarian. Next is the altar of Young Mistresses, where the patron can pray to keep her children from diseases and help them grow up strong, healthy and intelligent. Besides vegetarian food stuff, suitable offerings to Young Mistresses are make-up paraphernalia such as mirrors, combs, sandals, shoes, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The next stop is the shrine of Mr. Toad [Ong Coc], where the patron can pray Mr. Toad for his help in finding a good spouse. If the patron is married already, she can also ask for a child. From there the patron moves on to the last stop, the shrine of the Mountain God, close to the back gate and shaped like a mountain on which grows a banyan tree. There she can pray for the Mountain God's help in real-estate deals or house construction. Both Mr. Toad and the Mountain God get offerings of cash. Few leave offerings of foods or knick-knacks. With this comes the end of the ritual process that includes all altars in the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury.

After taking a break, the patron can wander freely around the Temple to enjoy the surrounding view, then return to the Communal House to ask for the Lady's permission to conclude the rite by taking down the offerings and distributing some of them to the hired "temple experts." The patron will keep the rest. Votive paper money or gold will be stocked in the Lady's warehouse; the warehouse is in fact a set of rooms in the Buddha's temple where all the pilgrims' votive offerings are gathered and looked after by a keeper. Close by is a place for burning votive money and gold . After burning some token votive money and gold, the patron returns to the warehouse to receive her "benefits," from the keeper according to her preference. Some patrons make the selection themselves; having chosen what they want to bring back home, they will burn all the rest instead of putting it back in the warehouse. Some pilgrims do not prepare offerings; they just put real cash on a couple of altars and then walk to the warehouse and ask for some casual benefits. In that case they will not ask too much and are willing to receive whatever the keeper hands to them. Casual benefits, in those people's interpretation, are found goods and not loans, so they do not have to worry about being indebted to the Lady of the Treasury, or having to settle their debts to her at the end of the year. They believe, however, that in life, what is borrowed must be returned; so if they have asked for a loan from the Lady of the Treasury, they must repay it, whether or not they have been successful during the past year.

The Effect on Co Me Village

While espousing the official line that the cult of the Lady of the Treasury is to be deplored as a superstitious practice and a waste of money, some acknowledge that it is an unavoidable outgrowth of the market economy; they even point out that it has promoted employment in the service sector (Tran Thi Truong 18, 1998). Whatever the official attitude toward the cult of the Lady of the Treasury may be, local people are very enthusiastic about its popularity and have learned to make the most of it.

In the beginning, when the number of pilgrims and visitors was still small, catering to their needs was done on an ad hoc basis. But the years 1992 and 1993 witnessed a great surge of pilgrims. Business-minded people flocked to the Temple. Not only local folks but also people from other areas such as beggars, lottery peddlers, vendors of offerings, writers of "petition forms," dealers in guide booklets or in votive paper money, etc., began flooding the Temple. Co Me villagers quickly and clearly perceived the potentially lucrative nature of the Temple and began to organize themselves to protect their village's profits.

According to village traditions, men at the age of 50, either living in the village or working far from home, are eligible for election to the village council. They function as the top village leadership and are responsible for all important decisions concerning village affairs. Elderly Buddhist ladies also participate in the management of village affairs in conformity with well-established customs. On average, there are about one hundred men who are 55-year-old and over and 200 women over the age of 50.. These men and women control all village affairs. Men between the age of 50 and 55, though not officially elected, are still considered as elders and are usually consulted when decisions are made. Under this strict control no one can subvert the village's policies. There are few cases of infractions among residents and these usually involve villagers who have moved out and who neglect to conduct the rituals expected of all villagers. Every year, on the tenth of the eighth month, the day the founding of the village is celebrated, elderly men are expected to prepare a tray of sticky rice and a whole chicken, dress themselves in traditional attire, walk to the communal house to make offerings to village deities, and petition for a seat on the village council. If an eligible man is away form the village at the time when this celebration is held, his family may perform the necessary formalities on his behalf. Upon his return, he is be entitled to all the privileges pertaining to the position of village elder. If his family does not undertake the formalities, he will be ostracized by the communities. There are many ways to ostracize a villager and his family, some of which are still applied today, such as refusal to grant him membership in senior citizens' association or pay a visit to his family on the occasion of wedding celebrations and funerals, revocation of his land-lease, etc. No matter who he is or whatever position he may be holding outside the village, he is still subject to the same treatment.(7) The community is so well-knit that an individual cannot afford to isolate himself from it.

Facing a sudden surge in the number of pilgrims to the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury, village elders decided to organize the management of the Temple. As of late 2000, the management of the temple was organized as follows: altar service, merit board, parking lot supervision, building and renovations, sales of goods and services. Altar service is performed by elderly women divided into 18 teams. Their jobs include performing prayers, providing information, maintaining order by controlling the flow of pilgrims into praying alcoves, removing incense sticks from the censers when they are full and similar activities. Ordinarily, two elderly women are in charge of each altar, but on busy days, three or four women are needed. After all the altars are staffed, the rest of the women are assigned to jobs in the warehouse, the area where votive paper money is burnt, and in the kitchen where they are in charge of shopping and cooking for the Temple staff.

For routine work, there are three teams on duty at the Temple who provide service to about 30 patrons on average every day. Work begins at 6:00 A.M. and ends at 6:00 A.M. the following day. They are then relieve by three other teams. Team members take turns working at all links in the chain of labor, from altar service to kitchen jobs. This guarantees a fair distribution of both work and income. Income levels change from altar to altar, depending on the patrons/ needs and type of offerings. The income of the Temple staff's still fluctuates with the daily volume of visits, but this is accepted as mere chance. The Temple staff gathers for the common meal twice a day. During the three month long festival season, every member receives a 5,000-dong bonus per day. Tips or fees for praying service are pocketed individually.

The Merit Board [Ban cong duc], supervised by elderly men, is where donations from pilgrims are collected. This board is equipped with a loudspeaker system to announce the names of donors.. Routine work requires only three members, but during peak times, more are added. Board members are entitled to a free lunch.

The rest of elderly men assume security and parking-lot jobs. The Security Team is responsible for general order around the Temple, providing directions to pilgrims, warning them when necessary, etc. Parking attendants take care of a 3,000- square-meter parking lot. Parking fares are fixed at 2,000 dong [15 cents] for one scooter, 10,000 for one car [75 cents], and 15,000 or 20,000 for a van or coach [$1- 1.15]. There are about 8 or 10 men in a team. On weekdays one team is enough to take care of everything, but on Sundays two teams are on duty. At festival time, three or four teams may be needed. Team members do not have free meals. Their pay is decided on an ad hoc basis by the organizing committee.

Two Boards not directly related to the day-to-day functioning of the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury play an important role in the life of the village. The are the Temple management Board and the Construction Board. The Temple Management Board consists of three elderly people (either all male, or mixed) who are elected for a one-year or three-year term of office. One member will be the chair. They are ultimately responsible for all the Temple's affairs. They represent the village in contacts with the local authorities, the government of higher levels, domestic and international organizations, etc. The Construction Board is made up of elderly men who have a good knowledge of construction issues will be elected to the Construction Board. When a project is finished, the Board is responsible for final evaluation and approval. The Temple Management Board consults the Construction Board on matters of building and renovation. After they all agree on a project, a bid will be publicly announced to tenders. The tender who gets the contract will implement the construction plan under the Board's supervision. Emoluments for the Board members vary from work to work. When there is no construction project at hand, the Board will be dissolved and members assigned to other units. Elderly men and women meet monthly to review work from the last month, discuss some development plans, and assign jobs for the following month. Thus, the administrative machinery of the village functions regularly, without a hitch.

Crucial to the prosperity of the village and the ritual requirements of the visitors are the sellers of goods and services. The sellers are distributed into one hundred stalls, in two opposing rows, erected in the area in front of the Temple's gate, close to the parking lot. Every stall, occupying a 4-square-meter area, is rented to a group of four families. Families in the village are free to form groups to share the rent of a common stall. The location of a stall determines its rental price. The closer it is to the Temple's gate, the higher its rent. In 1999 and 2000, the highest rent could go up to 400,000 dong [$28], the lowest 30,000 dong [$2]. Given that reasonable rent, a stall can make good profits no matter its precise location. Rental privileges are distributed annually in lunar November by lottery. The winners will be allowed to rent stalls for the whole year.

Within a kiosk there is a clear division of business among the four persons who represent their respective families. One person will sell votive paper money or stuff, one non-vegetarian offerings, one fruits, flowers, incense, candles, and one souvenirs, sweets, and cookies. If they want, they can also engage in partnership; in other words, there is a great deal of flexibility in the way they do business. They cooperate in all links in the chain of service from luring patrons, setting up offerings, guiding patrons to altars or acting as hired "praying experts," helping patrons with taking down their sets of offerings and burning votive paper money.

At every stall there is usually an expert in composing petitions to deities (so). A petition can cost a patron from 6,000 [45 cents] to 15,000 dong [$1] depending on the occasion. Anyone who feels the need to have a well-written petition can ask for the service. If there is no expert around, a stall dealer can go and fetch one from an adjacent kiosk. Dealers in offerings will run around and shop at many different stalls to provide all what a patron needs. Within the Temple itself, two hundred elderly women act as "praying experts." Fees for setting up offerings vary, depending on the patron's specific needs and what altar he intends to make offerings to, but they do not go below 12,000 or 15,000 dong for one set of offering [around one dollar]. Two sets of offerings is the minimum requirement for all patrons.

Families can hire outsiders to help out with a stall but those outsiders play the role of assistants only, not as independent business people. Outsiders are not allowed do business on the Temple's premises. If they venture to do so, they will be quickly and forcefully ousted by the village's Security Board. Outsiders must ply their wares beyond the village's jurisdiction. This fact explains why on festival occasions or during the active seasons people can witness offerings, votive stuffs, and other services abundantly displayed for sale on either side of a 6 or 7 kilometer-long-road from Bac Ninh town to the area close to the Co Me village. Since 1993, 396 units have been counted during peak times, spread along the 30-kilometer-long road from Gia Lam in Hanoi to the Temple in Co Me; these units produce votive paper stuffs and sell them to retailers. In addition, there are also moped-riding young men who approach pilgrims right in Bac Ninh township and lure them to their own eateries and shops, where they are enticed to eat, and to buy offerings or order the composition of a petition. Beggars and a huge number of peddlers selling lotteries, books, magazines, and newspapers can also be found in the Temple's surrounding area.

The Role of the Local Authorities

The fact that for three months every year, a huge crowd of pilgrims flocks to Co Me causes a host of significant problems. The upsurge of pilgrims and the accompanying increase in the number of service agents transform the Temple into an overcrowded public space and render patrons vulnerable to petty crimes and fierce competition among vendors. Patrons can become the victims of pickpockets or find themselves pulled and tugged by different vendors of goods and services. Patrons must rely on those vendors if they want to set up their tray of offerings in the best place, closest to the Sanctuary of the Lady; but sometimes they become hapless pawns in fights between competing vendors. Public security has sometimes been disrupted by such fierce competition.

Those who are concerned about the disorder rampant around the Temple are of the opinion that its management is still far from optimal. They also tend to believe that the Temple promotes the cult of a deity of unknown provenance, that guidebooks and assorted other printed matter spread superstitious beliefs, and that the production and marketing of votive paper money and goods are out of control. But administrative supervision of the Temple's business is fraught with difficulties. The Communist Party's guidelines and the government's policies do not always concur. For instance, according to the Central Communist Party's directive 214 and the government's decree 56CP, votive paper stuff, regarded as an expression of superstition, is on the prohibition list, but the government's Tax Office levies a special-category tax on it. The popular view is that if one pays tax on something, one is entitled to produce and sell it.

Despite threats to public order, the commune's authorities usually support the villagers' decisions, especially when they find those decisions compatible with the government's general regulations. Village leaders do not want to engage in conflict with the government. As for local authorities, their families live in the village and they are themselves elected by villagers. In fact, a large number of cadres at the village and commune levels are younger relatives of the senior leaders of the village, so they have the interests of the village at heart. Conversely, Co Me's contribution to the commune's finances is far from negligible. The village pays from 3 to 6 million dongs ($200-400] annually towards the commune's fiscal budget. The annual fee for the license that allows the village to do business on the Temple's premises and at the parking lot is 2 million dongs [$142], payable to the commune. In 2000, the village paid another 2.5 million dongs [$178] to the commune for parking fees. Pilgrims' merit-making donations to the Temple come to about 400 million dongs [$28,000] in a lean year and 600 million dongs [$42,000] in a prosperous one. There are also larger donations for constructing a specific altar or buying ritual paraphernalia. Temple donations are used to renovate and develop the monument complex. Road construction and the building of a parking lot in the area where festivals are celebrated are also paid for by such donations. Big commune projects like a hydraulic station and a power station or social-welfare programs, all are subsidized by Temple's donations.

At a higher administrative level, the village, together with its management board, always proves helpful whenever the Bac Ninh Municipal Cultural Office implements projects related to the monument complex and thus needs the village's cooperation. Thus, whatever reservations provincial authorities may have regarding both the ideological implications of the cult, and its practical effects on public order, its economic benefits are far from negligible or easily dispensed with. In turn, the Bac Ninh Municipal Cultural Office has been supportive of the Temple.

The provincial authorities, however, are less directly involved in maintaining public order in and around Co Me and do not benefit directly from the pilgrims' largesse to the same extent as the commune. Their main source of concern is the Temple's ever-expanding network of activities and the accompanying disorder. When the cult began to take off, it was the beginning of Doi Moi, when everything proceeded in fits and starts, amid considerable confusion. Unclear about the direction of government policy, the provincial leadership was divided over the attitude to adopt toward the Temple. The Culture and Sports Information Service of Ha Bac (Bac Ninh was not then a separate province), which was charged with overseeing cultural activities in the province, had especially strong reservations about the Temple's activities. In August 1993, it joined forces with the Ministry of Culture and Information to organize a conference on the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury. The conference was held in the communal house of Co Me and resulted in a pamphlet, Tin Nguong Ba Chua Kho (The Cult of the lady of the Treasury), which, by presenting the cult as a belief (tin nguong) as opposed to superstition (me tin di doan) could be interpreted as a limited endorsement of the cult. Thereafter, opposition to the Temple abated considerably, though some continue to entertain reservations. Administrators, facing the challenging task of supervising the cult, find themselves in a dilemma: the government's new posture on domestic issues is grounded in the promotion of economic prosperity so the wish to make money and get rich cannot be classified as illegitimate. They are further bound by the policy of freedom of worship; thus, adopting strong measures to restrict the cult of the Lady of the Treasury is not a possibility, as would have been the case in the 1960s or 1970s. Therefore, the provincial authorities, though divided on the issue, have adopted a non-committal attitude; they do not officially approve the cult, neither do they make any move against its growth. They limit themselves to offering suggestions or, on occasions, a couple of mild admonitions concerning organizational work, public order, or waste management.

The strongest criticism of the cult is not to be heard from the central government, but from news media. Official newspapers voice the concern that the cult of the Lady of the Treasury is time-consuming, revives superstitious cults, and wastes money in useless trifles (Nguyen Ma Loi 12, 1995). Newspapers castigate the pilgrims to the Temple as those who, instead of relying on honest efforts to do business, choose to take the idlers' shortcut by praying for divine support. Those scathing remarks, however, seem to be only a short-lived reaction to the phenomenon and have given way to milder reproaches. Ironically, the news media's strong reaction against the cult turns out to be the most effective advertisement for the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury. Together with rumors about the Lady's potent sacredness and supernatural power, newspapers are contributing significantly to the extensive propagation of the cult across the country. From 1993 to 1998 more and more pilgrims have been coming to the Temple, excited and prodded by both rumors and news media.

A Tentative Interpretation of the Explosion of the Cult

The worship of agricultural gods and other deities has been a well-established, time-honored, Vietnamese cultural tradition. It was part and parcel of people's everyday religious activities.

After the French war, as part of its ideological policy of atheist Marxism and under the significant influence of China's Cultural Revolution, the government issued a number of directives aimed at eliminating all religious practices.(8) Thousands of temples and shrines in the north were mercilessly razed. Some temples and shrines escaped demolition because their function was changed from that of religious centers to warehouses, schools, offices, or barracks. After the government's post-colonial destruction, many temples and shrines that were still intact as a result of their change in function came under fire from U.S. air strikes during the American War. If by a stroke of luck they survived an air raid, human traffic and the stocking of supplies like gasoline, oil, manure, or insecticides gradually dilapidated them. Yet, religious practices continued to be performed everywhere, as an everyday expression of people's spiritual needs

Gradually, owing to changes in official perceptions of religion and to the realization that purely repressive measures were ineffective, the government proceeded from an attitude of indifference and hostility to a more liberal approach to the revival of religious activities. The approval of lists of temples and shrines for protection by the state was an indication of this more liberal approach. Particularly, since 1986, when the Doi Moi policy was initially announced, the reconstruction and renovation of temples and shrines have proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Accompanying this hectic reconstruction has been the revival of religious festivals. It was in this new context that the cult of the Lady of the Treasury emerged. The activities of devotees actually grew exponentially after the Temple, together with the communal house and the Buddhist pagoda was listed as state-protected historical monuments in 1989.

Another important factor in the growth of religious practices is the rapid expansion of the market. For many, this embrace of the market economy represents an abrupt and disorienting transition to a totally different way of life and totally different values. From a state-controlled procurement economy that despised trade, Vietnam has moved toward a market economy that values free enterprise, encourages individual initiative, respects those engaged in business, but provides less of a safety net against failure.. Unlike East European countries, which belonged to the same socialist bloc yet possessed relatively good infrastructures to start with, Vietnam entered the market economy with very few physical or institutional assets. Ravaged by wars, northern Vietnam was an economically backward society without experience of capitalist development. While Eastern European countries instituted legal codes before entering the market economy, Vietnam jumped into it before creating an appropriate legal infrastructure or an adequate banking system. The cult of the Lady of the Treasury emerged during this initial stage of transition from the socialist procurement system to a market-driven economy that was marked by confusion, dislocation, and chaos. Unlike the once familiar situation of steady if meager incomes derived either from agricultural production or from fixed state salaries, fortunes were now being made and lost with dizzying rapidity through both legal and illegal business transactions. Those who acquired their fortune suddenly tended to attribute it to good luck and, ultimately, to divine generosity. This belief inspired them to rush to the Temple to apply for symbolic loans to use in their growing businesses and to pray for continued protection and prosperity. Thus was an old and local cult transformed into a national phenomenon. In the process, a figure long associated with the fertility of the soil, the Lady of the Granary, has been transformed into an emblem of the new market economy. She has become the Lady of the Treasury, keeper of a vast, if entirely symbolic, banking system.

This banking system attracts and is sustained largely by outsiders, some of whom come from very far away. Yet, unlike other villages which have embraced modernization by shifting from agricultural to industrial production, Co Me has succeeded beyond one's wildest dreams to adjust to the challenges of Doi Moi while retaining its basic agrarian character. It has also succeeded in retaining its sense of communal identity and solidarity by reaffirming the key role of the elderly men and women in the management of village affairs and reinforcing traditional customs, like ostracism or non-membership in senior citizens' association, and exclusion from village activities. On the more positive side, Sales of offerings, relevant stuffs, and accompanying services around the Temple have created employment for everyone, from teenagers to senior citizens, and even to people living in adjacent areas. New sources of income have become available to all families in the village. Household income has doubled, since in the three months of peak pilgrimage, it is possible to earn as much as what a rice crop brings in. Instead of causing increased economic inequality and social friction as is so often the case with the transition to the market economy, this rise in household income has been accompanied by renewed village solidarity because temple-related services have been organized in such a way as to promote community spirit rather than competition among villagers. The village gates are thus wide open, yet the community is closer than ever. This strong sense of identity is not without its down side. Co Me's enforcement of its monopoly on services related to the cult of the lady of the Treasury and its wealth have generated resentment in neighboring villages even though they, too, benefit from the trickle down effect of Co Me tourism. This, however, is an issue for the district and provincial authorities, rather than the residents of Co Me, to address and seek to resolve. Hence the authorities' ambivalence toward a cult that brings wealth to the area, but also increased social disorder and greater tension among the different village communities under their administrative jurisdiction.

The cult of the Lady of the Treasury has brought huge economic benefits to a village that used to be small and poor. If we ask them about the Lady of the Treasury, local folks will spare no words to praise her supernatural power. Yet, observing them when they perform prayers and make offerings for a fee, when they fight among themselves for a customer, or when they prepare offerings on behalf of pilgrims, we can detect a lack of true faith among many villagers. Some, however seem to have been converted into sincere devotees of the Lady of the Treasury through the pilgrims' own strength of belief in her. After all, among all those who have prayed to the Lady of the Treasury, the villagers of Co Me are the ones who have the most reason to render thanks to her, for they have profited the most from her munificence and her protection.

ENDNOTES

References

--Anh Vu and Nguyen Xuan Can, Ba Chua Kho [The Lady of the Treasury], Hanoi, 1992.
--Can Hoang Luan, "Cum di tich Co Me va mot so van de ve phat trien du lich," [Co Me monument complex and some issues of tourist development], B.A. graduation paper, major: tourism. Hanoi: College of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1998.
--Hanoi's Buddhist Association, Lich su den Ba Chua Kho [History of the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury], Hanoi, 1991.
--Hoang Hong Cam, Ba Chua Kho thanh hoang lang Giang Vo, Ha Noi [The Lady of the Treasury was the Village God at Giang Vo, Hanoi], Hanoi, 1995.
--Huong Huong, "Cuoi nam di le Ba Chua Kho," [End-of-year visit to the Lady of the Treasury], article, An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, no.876, 1997.
--Khanh Duyen, Tin Nguong Ba Chua Kho [The Cult of the Lady of the Treasury]. So van Hoa Thong Tin va The Thao Ha Bac, 1994.
--Le Hong Ly, "Dau xuan di le Ba Chua Kho," [A spring visit to the Lady of the Treasury], article, Vietnam's Foreign Investment newspaper, no.98, 1995.
--Many authors, Truyen co Ha Bac [Tales from Ha Bac], Ha Bac Museum, 1991.
--Minh Loc, "Van con trac tro cua den," [Troubles at the Temple], article, Tuan Tin Tuc newspaper, spring issue, 1998.
--Ngo Huu Thi, "Thuc trang va giai phap quan ly mot so hoat dong van hoa thong tin trong sinh hoat tin nguong o den Ba Chua Kho tai cum di tich Co Me, Vu Ninh," [Realities and Solutions for the Management of Cultural-Informative Activities Related to the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury at the Co Me Monument Complex, Vu Ninh hamlet], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury held in Ha Bac province, 1993.
--Nguyen Ma Loi, "Di le Ba Chua Kho," [Pilgrimage to the Lady of the Treasury], article, Nguoi Ha Noi newspaper, 1995.
--Nguyen Ngoc Thanh and Le Thi Hong Phuc, "Khoi phuc le hoi dinh lang Co Me," [Revival of Festivals at Co Me Village's Communal House], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury held in Ha Bac province, 1993.
--Nguyen Quang Khai, "Tim hieu den Ba Chua Kho trong moi quan he voi tin nguong tho mau o Ha Bac," [A Study of Relationships between the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury and the cult of goddesses in Ha Bac], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury, 1993.
--Nguyen Xuan Can, "Ve nguoi duoc tho o den Co Me," [On the Lady Venerated at the Co Me Temple], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury held in Ha Bac province, 1993.
--Phan Huy Dong, Hai den tho Ba Chua Kho [Two Temples of the Lady of the Treasury], 1997.
--Tran Dinh Luyen, "Gop phan tim hieu tin nguong tho Ba Chua Kho," [A contribution to the Study of the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury held in Ha Bac province, 1993.
--Tran Thi Truong, Den Ba Chua Kho doi dieu suy ngam [Reflections on the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury], 1998.
--Tran Van Lang, "Tim hieu mot so van de tin nguong o den Ba Chua Kho, lang Co Me, xa Vu Ninh," [A Study of Some Religious Issues concerning the Temple of the Lady of the Treasury], paper read in Conference on the Cult of the Lady of the Treasury held in Ha Bac province, 1993.

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu