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Free keywords:
Atheist secularism, Religion, Communism, Cult of personality, Popular religion
Abstract:
Twenty years ago, a poor peasant who lives about 30 km west of Hanoi, survived a strange illness that almost killed her. Since then, she claimed that every night in her dreams she met Uncle Hồ, who taught her “the way of Hồ Chí Minh.” When she woke up, she wrote down these teachings, using a popular Vietnamese traditional poem form. Very soon, a growing crowd began to gather around her, honoring her as the Master (Thay), and seeking healing and moral teaching. Such was the birth of Hồ Chí Minh religion. With tens of thousands of followers in sixteen provinces of Vietnam, Hồ Chí Minh cult is one of the most dynamic religious movements in Vietnam today. This paper follows the development of the cult of Hồ Chí Minh and analyzes the complex relationship between religion, communism, and gender in post-revolutionary Vietnam.