Ba Chua Kho
Ba Chua Kho
Lady of the Storehouse;
Lady of the Granary; Goddess of the Market
ORIGIN:
Vietnam
Ba Chua Kho, among modern Vietnam’s most popular goddesses, presides over the marketplace. She bestows success and prosperity. The historic Ba Chua Kho lived in the eleventh century, wife of a king of Vietnam’s Ly dynasty. She was an active, benevolent, compassionate woman who established a village and worked to boost its economy. The village was located on a traditional smuggler’s route. In 1076, during wartime, Ba Chua Kho herself ensured supply of food and weapons to the village and beyond. She cared and protected people during her lifetime, anticipating their needs. After her death, she continued to do so.
The Vietnamese title Ba Chua, interpreted as Lady, Queen, or Princess, is used to address powerful goddesses like Ba Chua Xu, Ba Den, and Ba Chua Kho. Ba is also sometimes interpreted as Goddess.
Thus, other female spirits like Thien Y A Na may be described as a ba.
At the lunar New Year, crowds visit her shrine to obtain symbolic loans. “Lucky spirit money” blessed at her shrine is the equivalent of seed money: it’s expected to grow, flourish, and spread. At year’s end, devotees return to the shrine to repay the loan, often with added interest via offerings of gifts and real cash.
Time:
Ba Chua Kho responds whenever she is needed, but her annual pilgrimage coincides with the Vietnamese lunar New Year.
Petition: Burn spirit money to honour her. Burn the amount that you need. Burn miniature paper models of your needs: house, automobile, legal documents.
Bird:
Rooster
Sacred site:
The Ba Chua Kho Temple, her primary shrine, is in Co Me, approximately nineteen miles north of Hanoi. She has shrines in the marketplace as well as in devotees’ homes, but Co Me is her home. (Because of her nature, she is usually enshrined in the market or in one’s place of business; those who work at home enshrine her there.)
SEE ALSO:
Ba Chua Xu; Dinh Cô; Thien Y A Na; and the Glossary entry for Spirit Money
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by :Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.
