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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04806.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04806
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Title
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In Viet Nam - Fate IS in the Stars
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about Astrology in Vietnam, page 20
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Date
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1964, Oct. 4
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Subject
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Nguyễn, Khánh, 1927-2013; Astrology; Astrology, Vietnamese; Horoscopes
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Container
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B4, F6
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
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extracted text
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In Viet Nam-Fate IS
•
Ill
IN TROUBLED South Viet Nam, -Premier
Nguyen Khanh warned yesterday that the army
will break up a threatened demonstration today
by trade unions who claim the government has
failed to keep its promises to labor. Politically
powerful Gen. Tran Thien Khiem for the
second time in two days postponed his departure to diplomatic exile in Europe. And Communist guerrillas who had set up road blocks
only 20 miles outside Saigon faded away after
two skirmishes-while maintaining road blocks
on Highway 30 farther north. To many Vietnamese, the turmoil was easily explained: it was
foretold in the stars.
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent .
SAIGON.
Only a few Vietnamese took
the latest Gulf of Tonkin incident very seriously. After
a,ll, astrologers and fortune
tellers in this Year of the
Dragon said September would
be an uneventful month.
While in the West astrologers are looked upon as
hucksters, in the Orient their
predictions have a direct
bearing on the minutest details of everyday life, the
policy decisions made in
palaces and cabinet meetings
and the best time to change
governments.
At the beginning of each
!unar year, ushered in with
joyous Chinese New Year
celebrations in January or
February, fortune tellers and
astrologers begin to make
predictions for the year "in
their small homes decorated
with elaborate shrines to
their favorite genii. As the
smell of incense and josssticks from the altars floats
through their books of
Chinese date on the movements of the stars. One of
the classics, "The Book of ,
Movement" was written by
Confucius in 500 B. C. It explains the movements of the
stars, the destiny of the uni-
verse, the fate of the world
and man's cycle of life.
The material in these books
ls considered scientific data ;
the interpretation of this data
is an art cultivated by deepthinking scholars.
Their predictions fol' the
remainder of 1964 :
The ninth month of the
lunar calendar (October),
will show a clearer pattern of
events in Viet Nam, as opposition forces polarize.
The ele~nth month, (December 4 to January 2) wjll
bring a "bigger little war."
In 1965, the Year of the
Snake, the anti-Communist
war becomes "a big limited
war."
So far, the . predictions of
the fortune tellers about
Viet Nam affairs have not
been too far from wrong.
At the beginning of the
year,1 they openly predicted
that Prime Minister Maj.
Gen. Nguyen Khanh would
have trouble in the seventh
month- August. Dw'ing that
month, he had the opposition
of Buddhist leaders and proBuddhist student demonstrations- which literally toppled
him from office-while his
country witnessed CatholicBuddhist l'eligious warfare
and several days of general
anarchy.
.
'
,r;.
His futw·e: He will nave
more trouble in the elev.,.,n,
'\
month than he did in Augus't,
the astrologers say.
For the Vietnamese people, an individual's fate and
destiny are directly related to
the movements of the great
unknowns-the stars and the
moon. Each family has its
own favorite astrologer or
fortune teller much as Americans have a family doctor.
Astrologers are told the exact
hour, day, month and year of
one's birth. From this they
can predict the future. Viet-
n!lmese families consult the
fol-tune tellers on any major
change to be made. Examples :
If the family is to buy
sunny on Oct. 26. That
teller says in which direction
the house should face, what
color it should be painted.
When a baby is born into the
family , his horoscope is immediately taken .to the astrologers, who predict his fate,
and perhaps his name. One
Vietnamese general gave his
newborn daughter to a friend
the Stars
for five years because his fortune teller warned she would
die if she remained with him.
Several years ago a highranking government official
· always wore a black shirt-so
he would live longer.
When the first preludes to a
coup d'etat are known , in
Saigon, the fortune tellers
regularly grab their books,
make hasty calculations and
predict whether the coup
will succeed or fail. One fortune teller, when he heard the
tanks and troops moving into
Saigon two weeks ago, immediately predicted it would fail.
Another claims to have predicted five years in advance
the downfall of Ngo Dinh
Diem, who was overthrown
Nov. 1, last year.
During the last weeks of
August, rainstorms consistently broke out during the
hectic student demonstrations and Catholic-Buddhist
street fighting in Saigon. One
Vietnamese taxi driver expressed a typical reaction,
"The gods cause these rains
because they are against all
these demonstrations. They
want them to stop."
Recently, as the northern
provinces suffered continued
political agitation and student demonstrations, a vicious
typhoon swe'pt through the
area, which was considered a
bad omen for the Vietnamese
residents.
The predictions of fortune
tellers also affect the affairs
of state. Not so long ago a
vernacular paper in Saigon
printed a story describing the
wife of a 'niste.r consulting
fortune tellers about the decrees her husband should
sign. The Vietnamese readers
accepted this as normal-and
their only · question was
"whose wife is it?"
According
to
reliable
sources, the date of Viet
Nam's national day was set
by a fortune teller. In 1955,
when the Republic of Viet
Nam was established, President Diem sent a friend to
consult a renowned fortune
teller a1,d scholar of Chinese
literature. The fortune teller
said that though Viet Nam
was in the wet monsoon
period, the weather would be
sunny on October 26. That
lucky date was chosen for,
the national day.
Vietnamese commanders in
the field regularly consult the
fortune ,tellers to determine
the best hour and day of attack, when and where to
assign their subordinates,
when
their
headquarters
should be changed. This is
also true of the Communist
guerrillas, even though they
officially
disavow
these
"supersti.tions."
With such a powerful influence on the fate of the
nation, both the Vietnamese
government and the Communist guerrillas at tempt to
utilize ,t he fortune tellers as
their propaganda agents.
Even American Embassy officials have expressed 'interest
in the ways of the astrologers.
For those for tune tellers
who are consistently accurate,
leading government officials
present lavish gifts, such as
Rolex watches
