Hầu Đồng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam

For My Personal Blurb Bookstore, Click on Above Image

I am pleased to announce the official publication of Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam; a 170-pages photo book. I've been working on this book over the past two years, during which I traveled to Hà Nội no less than six times to attend and photograph various ceremonies, conduct interviews and research the tradition and its impact on Vietnamese society. I am the only non-Vietnamese photographer to have photographed Hầu Đồng ceremonies in such depth.

Hầu Đồng is one of the main rituals of Đạo Mẫu, the worship of mother goddesses in Vietnam. During these rituals, the mediums go into trances to allow their bodies receive the spirits of various deities. The journey of the spirits into the bodies of the mediums is an incarnation, and the process involves the spirits briefly hovering then moving into the mediums. The mediums change their costumes to indicate which deity has entered their body

Vietnam submitted The Mother Goddesses worship to the UNESCO for consideration as ‘intangible cultural heritage of humanity’, and expects this status to be approved by November 2016.

I have already produced one-of-a-kind limited number of special advance copies of Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam, and these were all sold out in a matter of two weeks. These special editions were hardcover large format landscape (13×11 in, 33×28 cm 170 pages), and were individually dedicated/signed, along with a surprise gift for those who bought it.

Those currently offered for sale through my Blurb Bookstore are in two formats: the standard landscape hardcover or softcover (both 10×8 in, 25×20 cm 170 pages).

For a glimpse of the book and some of its pages, drop by A Labor of Love. And for a quick view of the many testimonials received from people who bought the special advance copies, take a look at the following video. It also features one of the more famous music pieces performed during the ceremonies.