https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZwd1_JwGuE&feature=youtu.be
Transcript:
Late afternoon in Hanoi in July. A day after going to the Trưng sisters’ temple in Mê Linh to pray for rain, it still hasn’t rained. In fact, today was just as hot as yesterday was.
Then. . . late in the afternoon, this happened.
[rain scene]
As if someone gave some kind of order, the heavens suddenly opened up and let down torrential rainfall. And that made me start to think. . .
In the twelfth century there was a drought. Emperor Lý Anh Tông ordered a Buddhist monk to pray for rain, and then after it did rain, he had a dream in which the Trưng sisters appeared and declared that they had brought the rain on orders from the Jade Emperor.
In 2014, I had a dream of a strange man with a vacuum cleaner. I then went to pray for rain at the Trưng sisters’ temple, and it rained.
Are these two events connected? I guess that’s really hard to know, but I’d like to believe that they are.
[music]
In the twelfth century, after the Trưng sisters brought rain, the historical record says that cool air blew over the people.
This evening in Hanoi, after the rain that just fell, there is also cool air blowing over the people. People are coming out from their homes, walking about the city. Everyone seems a little more relaxed. Everyone seems a little bit happier.
For that, I suppose we can thank the Trưng sisters, and enjoy a wonderful evening in Hanoi in July.
This Post Has 3 Comments
Why didn’t anybody know the history and get there before the ông Tây to get the rain started sooner? Anyhow, the people of Hanoi owed you some thanks.
It is very interesting to know that the Ly emperors summoned the Trung sisters’ spirits for this matter, if the information is correct. As for the case of the 21st century, I want to note that praying for the rain was the ritual that only rulers and assigned mandarins could practice. It was a great ceremony, I guess, in any traditional agricultural economy.
Thanks for the very interesting “documentary” Mr Le Minh Khai (or Liam if you prefer so). Not academically relevant, but this reminds me of “Searching for sugar Man”. And with the precious rain in Hanoi’s summer, you did find something sweet.