THE CULT OF BACTERIOLOGIST ALEXANDER YERSIN (1863-1943) IN MODERN VIETNAM

Abstract

The article examines the cult of the bacteriologist, the discoverer of the plague bacillus Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) in modern Vietnam. The cult of Yersin developed in the place of his burial near the city of Nha Trang in the south of Vietnam, and Yersin is worshiped both as a rural guardian spirit in the Vietnamese folk religion (thành hoàng), and as a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, although he was not a Buddhist. Veneration of Yersin as a guardian spirit takes place at his grave. The popular veneration of Yersin was supported by the state: in 2013, a biography of Yersin was published in which his merits are referred as a basis for honoring him as the patron spirit of the area. In addition, secular ceremonies in honor of Yersin contain elements of religious practices rooted in the Vietnamese belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead and their active influence on the daily life of living people. I consider the veneration of Yersin as a new syncretic cult of post-secular Vietnam.