Bà Chúa Kho

What it is

The temple stands on the slope of Núi Kho, a hill at Cổ Mễ village in Vũ Ninh ward, Bắc Ninh province, northern Vietnam. It belongs to Vietnamese folk religion and is given to Bà Chúa Kho, a goddess tied to wealth, to prosperity and to grain held in storage. Within the Cổ Mễ historical complex it sits beside a communal house (đình) and a pagoda (chùa). People travel there to ask that trade go well and that money matters turn out favourably, and many join a rite in which cash is lent to them by the goddess in symbol. The Vietnamese state lists the temple as a national historical site.

Where it comes from

The building is dated to the Lý dynasty, in the 11th century, and is treated as one part of a group of structures at Cổ Mễ that grew up together. Local belief credits Bà Chúa Kho herself with a vaulted passage running behind the temple, described as a hidden route or a military outpost, which leads to the Cầu River. The site's standing was later confirmed when the government named it a national historical site.

How it is done

Practice at the temple centres on prayer and on a lending rite. Devotees set their requests for success in business and for financial blessing before the goddess. The money they speak of is not passed over as ordinary cash: it is token money, lent in symbol, so the request takes the shape of a sum owed to Bà Chúa Kho. Lay pilgrims perform the rites themselves, coming singly or in groups and moving through the courts and halls of the temple.

Tools and materials

Token money carries the lending rite. The temple itself climbs the hillside: a tam quan gate (a three-part entrance), a courtyard, side wings, a front hall and a rear sanctuary, with dense wood carving throughout. The communal house alongside has five bays and reliefs of dragons, clouds and tigers. The pagoda keeps stone statues from the Mạc period and a T-shaped plan from the 19th century. A large pond lies in front, ringed by hills, and the vaulted tunnel runs behind.

What it is for

Requests brought to Bà Chúa Kho concern money and trade: a business that should prosper, a venture that should succeed, a household that should have enough. Because the goddess is linked to grain kept in a store, plenty is pictured as a full granary rather than as sudden riches. The lending rite gives the wish a form, with a sum named and handed over in symbol. Pilgrims come for this, and the temple's reputation rests on it.

Who does it

Those who come to the temple are lay devotees and pilgrims rather than a trained priesthood. Traders, shopkeepers and others with money at stake make the journey in the hope of a good year. The rites are performed by the visitors themselves, who pray and take part in the symbolic loan. Bà Chúa Kho is the figure addressed: a woman of the folk pantheon, remembered at Cổ Mễ and credited in local story with building work at the site.

Peoples and places

The temple belongs to Vietnam, in the province of Bắc Ninh, and serves the folk religion of the Vietnamese. Its setting is Cổ Mễ village in Vũ Ninh ward, on the slope of Núi Kho. The Cổ Mễ complex gathers three kinds of building in one place, so that the goddess's temple shares its ground with a communal house and a pagoda. Devotion to Bà Chúa Kho is bound up with that village and with its hill.

What people believe

In this folk setting, wealth is thought to come from a goddess who keeps it, much as grain is kept in a store. Bà Chúa Kho is remembered for prosperity and for what is held in reserve, and she is asked to release part of it to those who pray. The loan is made in symbol, with token money standing for the sum. Local story also credits her with the vaulted passage behind the temple, said to reach the Cầu River and to have served as a hidden route or an outpost.

Today

The temple is a popular pilgrimage site. Devotees keep coming to ask for help with business and money, and the lending rite remains the best-known thing done there. The Vietnamese government has recognised the temple as a national historical site, a status that places it among the country's protected monuments. The Cổ Mễ complex, with its communal house and pagoda, is presented as a single historic ensemble.

Questions people ask about Bà Chúa Kho

Good reading and sources

• Bà Chúa Kho on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data