How to Worship and Visit Ancestral Graves During Thanh Minh (Qingming) Festival

What the Thanh Minh festival is and how to observe it properly

What is Tết Thanh Minh?

Tết Thanh Minh (or the Thanh Minh solar term) is one of the important traditional festivals of the Vietnamese people, usually falling around the beginning of the third lunar month (roughly 4-5 April on the solar calendar). In folk belief, this is an occasion for descendants to express their filial devotion to ancestors and departed relatives by visiting and tending graves (tảo mộ: clearing and repairing graves) and performing offering rites at the cemetery or at home.

Phan Kế Bính (1915) records that the Vietnamese do not celebrate Tết Thanh Minh in the Chinese Đạp thanh (spring outing) fashion, but many people take the occasion to tend graves: clearing the grass, patching sunken spots with earth, then returning home to prepare an offering tray for the family ancestors. This is a description of custom, not a claim about destiny.

The custom can differ slightly between regions and between individual families. The guide below is a reference based on widespread custom and does not claim to be the only correct way. You should adjust it flexibly to your family's and locality's traditions.

Summary table of offerings, arrangement and the steps of the Tết Thanh Minh rite as described in the article.

What goes into preparing the offerings for Tết Thanh Minh?

Depending on means and local custom, the offering tray can be simple or full. Below is the basic list commonly used:

• Hương (incense): 3 or 5 sticks per lighting.
• Fresh flowers: usually yellow chrysanthemums, white lilies or gladioli.
• Trầu cau: 1 areca nut, 1 betel leaf (or 3 leaves and 3 nuts depending on region).
• Plain rice wine, filtered water: one small cup of each.
• Dried tea (or sweet soup) and cigarettes (if the family has a smoker).
• Rice, salt: a small amount of each, wrapped in paper or placed in a small cup.
• Cakes, sweets, fruit: choose fresh items, not bruised.
• Sticky rice, sweet soup, or vegetarian dishes (if offering vegetarian food).
• Savoury offering tray (if offering savoury food): boiled meat, boiled chicken, giò chả, stir-fried dishes and so on, as means allow.
• Vàng mã: paper clothes, paper money, paper goods (choose safe types that are not too bulky).
• Salt and rice to scatter after the rite (used to ward off evil spirits, in folk belief).
• Lamps, candles (or tea lights): 2.
• A lighter, matches, and a small basin of water or a spray bottle to put out the fire after burning votive paper.

According to Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), the small savoury offering carried to the grave usually includes incense, candles, trầu cau, votive paper, wine, meat (a pig's trotter, boiled chicken or a slice of giò) and fruit. This describes the custom in some localities and is not a mandatory rule for everywhere.

How should the Tết Thanh Minh offering tray be arranged?

The tray can be set out in the open air (in front of the grave) or on the family altar if you cannot go to tend the grave. The usual arrangement is as follows:

• Place the offering tray in a clean, level spot that is not obscured.
• Flowers on the right, trầu cau on the left (as seen facing the grave or altar).
• Dishes, sticky rice, sweet soup and fruit in the centre, neatly arranged.
• Incense, lamps and candles in front or to either side.
• Water, wine and tea in a row in front of the tray.
• Vàng mã in a separate corner, not mixed with edible offerings.

If you make the offering at the grave, spread a cloth or small mat to set the offerings on, avoiding direct contact with the earth.

What are the steps of the Tết Thanh Minh rite?

Step 1: Cleaning the grave

Before making the offering, clean the grave area: clear the weeds, sweep up fallen leaves, wipe the headstone, and repaint the lettering if it has faded (where possible). Do this gently and avoid causing damage. If the grave has sunk or collapsed, report it to the family or the cemetery management to deal with, and do not dig it up yourself.

Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang, compilers (2006), record that descendants clear the grass and build up graves that have sunk or eroded. Folk belief holds that if a grave is "disturbed" (sunken, dug up by animals, pierced by tree roots), the ancestors appear to descendants in dreams to let them know. This is a folk belief, not a verified fact.

Step 2: Setting out the offerings and lighting incense

Once cleaning is done, set out all the offerings on the tray as guided above. Light the lamps, candles and incense (usually 3 or 5 sticks). Stand before the grave, join your palms and pray, asking permission of the thổ công (land spirit) and the spirits who govern the area, and inviting the ancestors to come and receive the offerings.

Step 3: Reciting the prayer text

The prayer text does not have to be word for word; you can recite it from memory or write it out on paper. Its main content usually includes:

• I reverently bow to the nine directions of heaven, the Buddhas of the ten directions, the Buddhas of the ten directions.
• I reverently bow to the spirits, the thổ công and thổ địa (local land deities) who govern this area.
• I reverently bow to the spirit of (name of the deceased) and to the ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides.
• Today is the Thanh Minh day; your descendants come to repair the grave and present offerings, and respectfully invite the spirit to come and receive them and to bless and protect your descendants with peace and good health.
• I give thanks to the spirits and the departed for witnessing my sincerity.

After praying, bow 3 times (or 4 times if local custom requires).

Step 4: Waiting for the incense to burn down and burning votive paper

Usually you wait until the incense has burned about two thirds of the way (around 15-20 minutes) before starting to burn the votive paper. When burning votive paper, do it in a safe place, far from dry grass and trees, and do not let the wind blow the ash about. Use a poker to turn it so it burns through. After the fire is out, extinguish the embers completely with water or sand, and never leave while embers are still glowing.

Step 5: Taking down the offerings and finishing

After the incense has burned down and the votive paper has burned away, bow 3 times and take down the tray. The food and fruit can be taken home or given to the poor (depending on custom). Scatter a handful of salt and rice around the offering area (in the belief that this wards off misfortune). Clean the area thoroughly and leave no rubbish.

If you cannot go to the grave, you can make the offering at home on the family altar, following the same steps but without cleaning the grave.

What safety and cultural points should be kept in mind when tending graves?

• When burning votive paper, always have someone watching, with water, sand or a fire extinguisher ready. Do not burn near anything flammable, especially in the dry season.
• Do not litter, do not make noise, and do not step on other people's graves.
• Clothing should be modest and dignified, showing respect.
• If children come along, supervise them so they do not play with fire or run about unsafely.
• Respect the cemetery management's rules (where they exist) on timing and areas for burning votive paper.
• Do not offer excessive votive paper, which causes waste and pollution.

Must graves be tended on the exact day of Tết Thanh Minh?

Not necessarily. According to Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), the timing of grave tending is not uniform from place to place: some places do it in the twelfth lunar month, many places in the first lunar month, and some places in the third lunar month. This shows that the custom of grave tending is linked to Tết Thanh Minh, but families are not required to hold it on the exact day of the Thanh Minh solar term. You can ask the elders in your clan about your own family's practice.