As well as worshiping their ancestors, famous craftsmen and heroes who fought off foreign invaders, Vietnamese people worship the Four Immortals, who include Tan Vien (the God of the Mountain), Saint Giong, Chu Dong Tu and the Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh, all of whom had many unique features.

1. Saint Tan Vien, the god of Tan Vien Mountain. Legend in the northern Vietnam has it that Saint Tan Vien, also called Son Tinh, was the God of the Mountain who governed all the creatures on land. He often taught people to grow crops, hunt animals, catch fish, practice martial arts and hold festivals. Opposite to Son Tinh was Thuy Tinh, the God of the Sea, who governed all the living creatures in the sea. He was the God who was usually responsible for rising water levels that damaged crops, destroyed animals and drowned people.  
The Hung King, who was the head of all the Vietnamese tribes, had a beautiful daughter called Princess My Nuong. He organised a competition to choose a husband for his daughter, which Son Tinh won and he subsequently married My Nuong. The loser, Thuy Tinh, harbored a lot of resentment against Son Tinh so every year he summoned floods along the coast and sent sea monsters to harm the people. Son Tinh, along with all the other people and all the creatures on the land, resisted them with all their might. The higher the water level rose, the higher the mountain became and Thuy Tinh was defeated.  
Son Tinh’s struggle against Thuy Tinh reflects the history of a country with its back against the mountain and its face looking out to the sea that fights natural disasters around the year. Worshipping Saint Tan Vien is to worship and believe in human beings’ sacred strength, benevolence and righteousness and the efforts they make to exist.  
 
2. Saint Giong, a giant who defeated northern invaders. According to legend, during 1718-1631 BC, in Giong village (now Phu Dong village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi ), there was a boy who could not speak even though he was three years old. Upon hearing that the country was in danger of being attacked by the En people from the north, he quickly grew up, raised his arms and turned into a valiant man. He rode an iron horse, wore iron armour and used an iron rod to fight the enemy. When his rod was broken, Giong picked up bunches of thorny bamboo and used as a weapon. After he won, the hero took off his armour with no interest in honour or wealth. He quietly went to the top of Ve Linh Mountain (now Sai Mountain in Hanoi ’s Soc Son district), overlooked his native land for the last time and then flew into heaven on his iron horse. 
 
3. Chu Dong Tu a sage who teach people to do business. Legend has it that Saint Chu Dong Tu was in control of things all along and was present on earth to save mankind from its suffering and teaches people to do business, fish and weave to have a good life. His parents died when he was very young. He lived by fishing and was so poor that didn’t even have a loincloth. One day, when he saw the royal barge passing by with Princess Tien Dung, the daughter of the third Hung King, on board, he got very scared and hid himself under the sand. Unexpectedly, the princess decided to erect a tent up on the shore so she could bathe. As the water trickled to the ground, it washed away some of the sand, exposing Chu Dong Tu in all his nakedness. Tien Dung, who believed that the encounter was arranged by Heaven, fell in love with Chu Dong Tu and immediately wanted to marry him.   


4. Princess Lieu Hanh, a heavenly spirit and Mother Goddess. Legend has it that Lieu Hanh was formerly a daughter of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the Heavens. After she accidentally broke a beautiful vase made from jade, she was exiled to the World of Human beings. The legend of Saint Lieu Hanh reflects the characteristics of Vietnamese women, talented, virtuous, and devoted to their families, faithfull and kind to the poor, who always defends the good and punishes the bad.