Mẫu Thượng Ngàn

Title	Mother Goddess of Earth
Domain	Land, agriculture, fertility, underworld, reincarnation
Symbols	Mountains, rice fields, stalagmites (pointy cave formations which grow from the floor)
Color	Yellow
Consort	Yanluo Wang, King of the Underworld (according to some sources)
Offerings	Fruits, rice, incense, yellow flowers (not comprehensive)

Forest Mother

The Forest Mother or Thượng Ngàn is often associated with forests, mountains and wild nature. She's seen as a benelovent protector of animals, plants and those who enter her domain such as hunters and woodcutters. She watches over forests, making sure it stays it harmony and punishes those who harm it without reason. (for example a woodcutter cuts trees down to use the wood)

Worship

Her shrines can be found in forests or next to sacred trees and can leave offerings like fruits, rice, etc. to win her favor. Traditionally, hunters, foragers woodcutters are supposed to pray to her before entering the forest as a type of permission. According to folk tales, examples of punishment for mistreating the forest include becoming lost and failed hunts.

Servants

Like the other Goddess Mothers, she has servants of her own who execute her will. (Servants vary, no concrete list) The Tiger Spirit(s) (Ông Ba Mươi / Hổ Thần) is a feared spirit and according to folklore, leads well-meaning lost souls out of the forest and attacks those who actively harm the forest. Those who enter the forest would avoid saying Hổ (tiger) and would use other names to refer to it, such as Ông Ba Mươi (Mr. Thirthy, tigers were believed to have 30 stripes) to avoid summoning it.

Others

The Monkey King (Khỉ Thần / Tướng Khỉ) is a divine monkey who serves as a messenger for the Forest Mother. He steals belongings to test humans to see if they have bad intentions, judging their reaction to having their items stolen. (Similar to Tôn Ngộ Không, Sun Wukong but is more of a forest spirit in Vietnamese folklore rather than a powerful warrior) Other servants include tree (thần cây), rock (thần đá) and white snake (bạch xà) spirits aswell as ghostly hunters (lính rừng) who are ghost hunters or warriors who serve as her (invisible) army.

Origins

(legend varies, no single standardized myth, the following is a retelling of folklore) She's believed to have been a mortal named Lâm Nương between the mountains of Vietnam who was a skilled healer, knowing close to everything about every herb, root and tree of the forest. Later, a famine struck her land. Loggers, desperate, began to cut down sacred ancient trees, which angered the mountain spirits. This caused a curse to spread, one that when anyone would enter the forest they would either vanish or become deathly sick.

This broke Lâm Nương's heart, and she ran into the forest to plead the spirits to stop this. But, instead of cursing her with the same fate, the spirits were so moved by her pure heart that they granted her eternal life as their guardian (Forest Mother).