Taoism.  The San Diu  practice a religion termed Taoism.  But the world-view of the San Diu, like most minority groups in Vietnam,  is  complicated.  Their beliefs combine elements of Taoism, Confucianism,  Caodaism, ancestor worship and animism, in addition to their own superstitious ideas.  Many elements of their belief system involve animism, which holds that both living and non-living things possess spirits.  These beliefs create a life of fear that involves a dread of the spirit world. The are extremely careful to try to avoid offending the spirits.  If they believe the spirits are angry, or if an evil spirit is suspected of causing harm, they will try to placate the spirits though rituals, sacrifices and charms.  The Taoshi, or Taoist priest, is believed to have special powers to deal with the spirit world, and remove spiritual threats and in that respect acts as a shaman..

        Family honor.   The greatest honor for a San Diu family is for one of its sons to become a Taoshi.  Like the Nung shamans, the Taoshi is deeply involved in the occult. The Taoist priest is expected to give special protection to his own family, as well as the village as a whole.  A Taoshi receives great honor during his lifetime, and after death is often worshiped.

       Ancestor worship.  Like the Tay, Nung and many other minority people, the San Diu worship their ancestors.  They believe that the spirits of their ancestors are their main source of assistance and blessing from the spirit world.  On the family altar, they keep two joss stick containers:  one for the ancestors, and one for the earth spirit.  They believe that proper attention to funerals, family altars and celebrations giving honor to the ancestral spirits will result in blessing and protection.  A failure to carry out these obligations will, they believe, have the opposite effect.  This sense of loyalty and obligation to the ancestors is a definite spiritual stronghold preventing the San Diu people from considering the claims of Jesus Christ.

Taoist Images

        Other Beliefs.  Taoism has contributed many elements to the San Diu, to include the worship of a host of deities.    The spirit of the earth occupies one of the highest places in their belief. Each San Diu village keeps a temple dedicated to the earth spirit, and frequently has a dinh or community hall that is often used for worship of the earth spirit, as well.   Sacrifices and other ceremonies are held regularly in the belief that the earth spirit can give protection and grant an abundant harvest. 

     An essential part of their belief system is a system of taboos or forbidden actions which are designed to avoid offending the spirits.  They refuse to dig wells, since they fear that this will anger the spirit of the earth, and awaken an underground dragon.   Many other deep-seated fears are inherent in their beliefs. They live lives dominated by fear of the evil spirits, who beset them on all sides. They also fear the ghosts of the dead . Fear of the spirit world is a pervasive part of daily life, deadly serious matters of life and death.  These people are trapped in their belief system, living in darkness, waiting for the light.

        Funerals.  The funeral customs of the San Diu show the influence of their many superstitious beliefs.  Sons of the deceased must crawl around the grave in a counter-clockwise direction.  Daughters, however, must crawl around in a clockwise direction.  As they crawl, they throw handfuls of earth into the grave.  Then they take hands full of earth, and, without looking back, run to the house.  The earth is thrown into the stable or the poultry house in the belief that it will make the animals fruitful.  Then they sit in a basket of unthreshed rice.  The more rice that sticks to their clothing, the more happy their life will be.  Finally, to end the ceremony on the following day, they eat a boiled chicken at the place where the coffin was previously kept before burial.  But even this is not the final ceremony.  Three years after a person has been buried, the body is dug up and the bones are washed, dried, and put in a clay jar in a sitting position. Sometimes the bones are arranged in a reclining position in a small sandstone coffin.  Then the jar or coffin is reburied.  This reburial, curiously, is celebrated with great joy.

        Christian Witness.  The San Diu have only recently been shown signs of interest in the gospel.  In 1999, approximately 12 San Diu from an island off Quang Ninh province came to Christ. Vietnamese workers met with them until the group dissolved due to persecution of local authorities. Several gave up their faith, but about 9 are now again meeting together quietly.

     The San Diu may seem resistant to the gospel message, but few have ever heard a clear presentation of the claims of Jesus Christ.   There are few, if any, Christian materials prepared specifically for the San Diu.  A Cantonese version of the Jesus film is available, as are gospel recordings, but it is not clear to what extent these are understandable by the San Diu.  The Bible is available to the Cantonese of mainland China, but it uses Chinese characters which very few San Diu can read.  Similarly, several Cantonese Radio broadcasts are made weekly, but none of these are specifically reaching out to the San Diu people.

This means that the Christian literature needs of the San Diu have generally been overlooked by the Christian community.  Some faithful Viet Christians have reached out to them, with a positive response.  But progress has been slow.  A careful investigation needs to be made of the San Diu dialect to verify whether any existing material can be effectively used for evangelism. 

09/08/2003