in the name of all that is good and holy...

toa thanh tay ninh, the largest cao dai temple in viet nam, established december 1926

i spent a week learning about caodaism before our day trip to the tay ninh holy see... and i still can't really tell you what this religion is all about. an unusual mélange of buddhism, confucianism, and taoism - with a healthy dose of cultish saint worship - cao dai is undoubtedly the most creative faith you'll ever not quite get. the construction of the holy see, pictured above, was said to have been ordered by god via what i can only understand to be a ouija board. (oh, the countless slumber parties spent waiting for such divine inspiration - after pizza and strawberry milk (or tequila shots, depending on who's house we were at... what!? did i just say that!) and before freezing the training bra of the poor gal who's lot it was to fall asleep first and then trying to make her pee in her sleeping bag with a cup of cold water and a cup of warm... why a supreme deity never chose us to build a place of worship is beyond my comprehension. we were so ready for that!).

women believers entering the see for an afternoon ceremony

women and men must enter through different doors and remain separated throughout the ceremony. and from what i understand, woman may never achieve high positions in the faith because too much yin is dangerous for the universe. oh... well at least it's not just because they're weak or hysterical or meant to be in the kitchen (although based on my male teacher's explanation of confucianism and gender equality, i suspect that this is understood. you'll be pleased to know that i endeavored to explain to him that yes, my husband does the dishes regularly and cleans the bathroom, and no, i do not think it right to concede in order to appease his ego and thus preserve the harmony of the couple. (okay, so i don't know the actual word for "appease"... or "harmony" or "ego" for that matter... but he got the gist!)).

mat troi, or "the eye of god." the eye and the ouija board are the two most venerated objects of worship

in addition to god's eye and the ouija board, there are a number of saints in caodaism, chief among them sun yat-sen (co-founder of the kuomintang, often referred to as the father of modern china), victor hugo (author of les misérables, and thus super attuned to the needs of the poor - a real plus for the followers of cao dai), and nguyen binh khiem (16th-century vina-mandarin and wise man, in many ways responsible for the long-standing division between north and south here).

inside the holy see, just before the ceremony begins

as you can see, it's like a vina-disneyland in here. it's so colorful, it hurts. if there is a tone of sarcasm in this post, blame it on the cotton-candy themed holy see. i don't have any problem with divine guidance or hybrid faiths, but it's hard to take it all very seriously when the most venerated site of worship is giving you a spiritual tooth ache.

i should add, though, that there is a very interesting history to explore here, about which i know almost nothing, namely the role of caodaism in anti-imperialist activities. it is and has been a very rich and powerful sect in the south (no sees up north to my knowledge), and has shown itself to be a skillful political chameleon, at once appeasing the oppressors (french or american) and providing shelter and support for their adversaries.