In Viet Nam - Fate IS in the Stars

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363-04806.pdf
Digital Object Identifier
363-04806
Title
In Viet Nam - Fate IS in the Stars
Description
Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about Astrology in Vietnam, page 20
Transcript
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In Viet Nam-Fate IS in the Stars
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 depar-
ture to diplomatic exile in Europe. And Com-
munist 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 Viet-
namese, 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 in-
cident very seriously. After
all, astrologers and fortune
tellers in this Year of the
Dragon said September would
be an uneventful month.
While in the West astro-
logers are looked upon as
hucksters, in the Orient their
predictions have a direct
bearing on the minutest de-
tails of everyday life, the
policy decisions made in
palaces and cabinet meetings
and the best time to change
governments.
At the beginning of each
lunar 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 joss-
sticks from the altars floats
through their books of
Chinese date on the move-
ments of the stars. One of
the classics, "The Book of
Movement" was written by
Confucius in 500 B. C. It ex-
plains 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
is considered scientific data:
the interpretation of this data
is an art cultivated by deep-
thinking scholars.
Their predictions for the
remainder of 1964:
The ninth month of the
lunar
calendar (October),
will show a clearer pattern of
events in Viet Nam, as oppo-
sition forces polarize.
The eleventh month, (De-
cember 4 to January 2) will
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, they openly predicted
that Prime Minister Maj.
Gen. Nguyen Khanh would
have trouble in the seventh
month August. During that
month, he had the opposition
of Buddhist leaders and pro-
Buddhist student demonstra-
tions which literally toppled
him from office-while his
country witnessed Catholic-
Buddhist religious warfare
and several days of general
anarchy.
His future: He will have
more trouble in the eleventh
month than he did in August,
the astrologers say.
For the Vietnamese peo-
ple, 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 Ameri-
cans 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-
namese families consult the
fortune 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 im-
mediately taken to the as-
trologers, who predict his fate,
and perhaps his name. One
Vietnamese general gave his
newborn daughter to a friend
for five years because his for-
tune teller warned she would
die if she remained with him.
Several years ago a high-
ranking 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 for-
tune teller, when he heard the
tanks and troops moving into
Saigon two weeks ago, imme-
diately predicted it would fail.
Another claims to have pre-
dicted five years in advance
the downfall of Ngo Dinh
Diem, who was overthrown
Nov. 1, last year.
During the last weeks of
August, rainstorms consist-
ently broke out during the
hectic student demonstra-
tions and Catholic-Buddhist
street fighting in Saigon. One
Vietnamese taxi driver ex-
pressed 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 stu-
dent demonstrations, a vicious
typhoon swept 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 minister consulting
fortune tellers about the de-
crees 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, Presi-
dent Diem sent a friend to
consult a renowned fortune
teller and 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 at-
tack, 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
"superstitions."
With such a powerful in-
fluence on the fate of the
nation, both the Vietnamese
government and the Commu-
nist guerrillas attempt to
utilize the fortune tellers as
their propaganda agents.
Even American Embassy off-
cials have expressed interest
in the ways of the astrologers.
For those fortune tellers
who are consistently accurate,
leading government officials
present lavish gifts, such as
Rolex watches.
Date
1964, Oct. 4
Subject
Nguyễn, Khánh, 1927-2013; Astrology; Astrology, Vietnamese; Horoscopes
Location
Saigon, South Vietnam
Coordinates
10.8231; 106.6311
Container
B4, F6
Format
newspaper clippings
Collection Number
MS 363
Collection Title
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
Creator
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Copyright Information
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Publisher
Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
Language
English