TL;DR: The 12 Bà Mụ (Thap nhi Tiên Nương) belief is a folk tradition holding that twelve goddesses shape, teach and protect infants; it is the spiritual foundation behind the cung Mu ceremony that Vietnamese parents still practice, with typical offerings such as 12 pairs of tiny shoes, 12 betel quids, and cakes and fruit divided into 12 equal portions for the twelve goddesses.
Cúng Mụ and the meaning of the 12 Midwives in Vietnamese culture
What is the origin of the 12 Midwives belief?
The worship of the 12 Midwives, also called Thập Nhị Tiên Nương or Thập Nhị Bộ Tiên Nương, is a popular folk belief in Vietnamese culture. Its roots show Chinese folk influence, but the Vietnamese have adopted and localized it over many centuries. In folk understanding, a child is not born with a body and personality by chance: these are the result of the careful "molding" and teaching of twelve goddesses in the heavens, each responsible for a particular part or skill of the child. This is the spiritual, mystical way people in the past explained the wonder of how a new being comes into form. Phan Kế Bính, in Việt Nam phong tục (1915), records the belief that there are twelve midwives who mold human beings, and that the custom of cúng Mụ has existed for a long time; the Vân Đài Loại Ngữ of Lê Quý Đôn also mentions that in our country, on the third day after a child is born, people prepare several offering trays to worship the midwives.
A summary table of the offerings and the roles associated with the cúng Mụ belief.
| Component | Quantity | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Bà Mụ | twelve | mold the body, teach the child |
| Bà Chúa Thai Sinh | one | the head, governing childbirth |
| Đức Ông | thirteen | assist and protect the path of children |
| Small sweet soup | twelve bowls | offered to the Bà Mụ |
| Large sweet soup | one bowl | offered to Bà Chúa Thai Sinh |
| Small sticky rice | twelve plates | offered to the Bà Mụ |
| Large sticky rice | one plate | offered to Bà Chúa Thai Sinh |
The role of each Bà Mụ
According to folk legends passed down in many variants, each of the twelve Bà Mụ has a specific task in shaping and nurturing the child: one molds the eyes so they are bright, one molds the ears so the child hears clearly, one molds the arms and legs so they are strong, one teaches the child to roll over and crawl, one teaches the child to smile and speak, and another sees to it that pregnancy and birth go smoothly, with mother and child both safe. Because each one is responsible for a different part of the work, people believe that a child born healthy, beautiful, intelligent and well behaved owes this to the skillful care of all twelve Mụ Bà. Besides the twelve Bà Mụ, folk belief also mentions Bà Chúa Thai Sinh (or Chúa Tiên), who is the head and governs childbirth, sometimes with thirteen Đức Ông (Đức Thầy) who assist and protect the path of children in general.
Why is cúng Mụ needed?
Out of the belief that the Bà Mụ are the deities who directly contributed to creating the child, Vietnamese parents have always regarded cúng tạ 12 Bà Mụ as an indispensable duty after a child is born. This is not merely a formal rite: it expresses deep gratitude to the sacred beings who "molded" a complete body for the child, and it is also a plea for the Mụ Bà to keep watching over, protecting and blessing the child, so that the child grows up healthy and intelligent and meets good fortune along life's path. This belief is so deeply rooted in the folk mind that many families still practice the cúng Mụ rite even without knowing the full origin or the details of each deity, simply because it is a tradition handed down through many generations.
What offerings are made to the 12 Bà Mụ?
When performing the cúng Mụ ceremony, a family usually prepares offerings in quantities that symbolically represent sufficiency for all twelve: twelve small bowls of sweet soup (usually chè trôi nước or bean sweet soup, depending on the region) and one large bowl for Bà Chúa Thai Sinh, twelve small plates of sticky rice and one large plate, along with boiled chicken, betel and areca, fruit, incense and lamps, and votive paper in human figures. Arranging the full twelve small portions before the altar is a way of showing equal respect to all the Mụ Bà, with no one favored, reflecting the spirit of "fairness and sufficiency" in folk belief. According to Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang, compilers (2006), in Phong tục thờ cúng của người Việt, the offerings for cúng bà mụ include 12 pairs of tiny shoes, 12 pieces of betel, and cakes and fruit divided equally into 12 portions to offer the 12 bà mụ. Phan Kế Bính (1915) additionally records offerings of crab, snail, nham and bánh đúc. The book Phong tục thờ cúng của người Việt, compiled by Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (2006), states that the feast for cúng bà mụ may be held on the third day after birth, or on the occasion of the full month, the hundredth day or the first birthday; on these occasions people also make offerings to announce to the ancestors and congratulate the child on being born.
How does this differ from the full-month and thôi nôi ceremonies?
It should be noted that the 12 Bà Mụ belief is the spiritual foundation, while the full-month ceremony (when the child is one month old) and the thôi nôi ceremony (when the child is one year old) are the specific occasions on which the cúng Mụ rite is actually performed, along with other customs such as the tray-grabbing ritual to choose a future profession (thôi nôi). In other words, cúng Mụ is the "spiritual soul" running throughout, while the full-month and thôi nôi ceremonies are the specific "milestones in time" for practicing that belief. Although modern society has changed a great deal, the 12 Bà Mụ belief is still regarded as a distinctive piece of spiritual cultural heritage, reflecting how Vietnamese people in the past saw a new life coming into the world as a sacred gift that deserves respect and gratitude.
What did people in the past do for a sickly child who was hard to raise?
According to folk understanding recorded by Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang, compilers (2006), children born in hours considered unfavorable, such as the hour of Quan sát or the hour of Kim xà thiết tỏa, were often thought to be hard to raise, prone to illness and frailty, and so had to be given a cúng giải rite. In addition, when a child's age was in conflict with the parents and the child was often sick while living with them, the birth parents would find someone whose age was compatible with the child to adopt the child; families with many children were usually preferred, in the belief that the child would grow up faster thanks to the older siblings. Adoption in this case was only symbolic, since the birth parents still bore all the costs of raising the child. For families with few children, there was the custom of bán khoán, "selling" the child to a pagoda to become a child of the Buddha, so that evil spirits would be afraid to come near. The book Phong tục thờ cúng của người Việt, compiled by Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (2006), also notes: "these are the views of people in the past when their level of understanding was still low; today, when a child shows signs of illness or disease, the child should be taken immediately to a medical facility for timely examination and treatment." This advice emphasizes that the old taboos should be understood only as a piece of cultural memory, while a child's health should be entrusted to modern medicine.
Overview article on the topic: What rituals make up the life-cycle ceremonies of the Vietnamese?
