The stated reason for this delay was that the dossier “the belief of Mother Goddess of Three Realms worship by Vietnamese” did not fall into the priority group for consideration and recognition in 2015 by the UNESCO’s Committee for Intangible Heritage.

According to a Committee’s statement, UNESCO will only look into 50 dossiers of priorities in the year 2015. Those dossiers of priority fall into specific cases: a country not having any heritage recognized by the UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity; a dossier made by many countries together, a country having least heritages recognized by the UNESCO as intangible heritages of humanity.

Meanwhile, Vietnam belongs to a group of countries having many heritages honored by the UNESCO (eight heritages). Therefore, the dossier “the belief of Mother Goddess of Three Realms worship by Vietnamese” will not be treated until the 2016.

Earlier Vietnam submitted the dossier “the belief of Mother Goddess of Three Realms worship by Vietnamese” for UNESCO recognition as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by 2015.  

According to Prof. Ngô Đức Thịnh, Member of the National Heritage Council, Mother Goddess Worship is a traditional belief practice in Vietnam with a long history and having stood the test of social changes. The belief of Mother Goddess Worship reflects people’s desire for health, wealth and fortune.

The belief of Mother Goddess Worship in Vietnam meets belief-related needs by people in their daily life and has been closely associated with historical and cultural figures, such as Liễu Hạnh, Âu Cơ, Vương Mẫu (legendary Mother of Saint Giong)…

(Source: Vietnamplus.vn)