TL;DR: Cúng cơm ba ngày Tết is the sequence of rice offerings made to the ancestral altar over the first three days of the lunar new year, commonly comprising the Nguyên đán ceremony on the morning of the first day, the Chiêu điện and Tịch điện ceremonies on the remaining days, and closing with the Tạ ceremony at the end of the third day. The offering tray depends on each family's means, but usually includes bánh chưng or bánh tét, meat, pickled onions and plain rice. Regions differ most clearly in the dishes served; in Huế in particular, many families offer a vegetarian tray on Nguyên đán.
What Are the Three Days of Tet Rice Offerings and Where Do They Come From?
The three days of Tet rice offerings are the custom of offering rice to the ancestors' altar during the first three days of the lunar year: the first, second, and third days. This is the ritual part of ancestor worship, a folk belief explained as establishing a connection between the living and the dead, expressing the moral principle of remembering one's origins[1]. This custom is inseparable from Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) but is the way Vietnamese people invite grandparents to eat Tet with their descendants, then see them off after three days.
In Việt Nam phong tục printed in 1915, Phan Kế Bính recorded that on the morning of the first day of Tet, people prepare a tray to worship the ancestors, and also worship the Thổ công (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen God), and Nghệ sư (patron of trades); the size of the tray is not mandatory, but there must be bánh chưng, cá kho (braised fish), giò (pork sausage), chả, and pickled onions[5]. He also recorded the custom of erecting two sugarcane stalks beside the altar as canes for the ancestors, and the taboo against sweeping trash out during the three days, only piling it in a corner, waiting three days for the ground-breaking ceremony before taking it out[5]. This record shows that as early as the beginning of the 20th century, the three days of Tet were conceived as a complete ritual block, with a beginning and an end.
What Rites Are Offered During the Three Days of Tet and in What Order?
The book Khảo luận về Tết, introduced on Znews, describes Tet activities integrating many functions including worship, feasting, congratulations, and social interaction, forming a festival calendar that is somewhat unified nationwide but with diverse regional variations[2]. Regarding the offerings, the common sequence is recorded as follows: on the afternoon of the 30th, the year-end rite; on the night of the 30th, the New Year's Eve rite; on the morning of the first day, the Nguyên đán rite; on the afternoon of the first day, the Tịch điện rite; on the morning of the second day, the Chiêu điện rite; on the afternoon of the second day, the Tịch điện rite; and on the third day, the Tạ rite[1].
The meaning of each rite is summarized in the table below:
| Time | Rite Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Afternoon of the 30th | Tất niên | Reporting to ancestors that the old year has ended[1] |
| Night of the 30th | Giao thừa | The transition from the old year to the new year[1] |
| Morning of the first day | Nguyên đán, also called Chính đán | Offering in the early morning of the first day[1][2] |
| Afternoon of the first day | Tịch điện | Offering evening rice[1] |
| Morning of the second day | Chiêu điện | Rite inviting ancestors[1] |
| Afternoon of the second day | Tịch điện | Offering evening rice[1] |
| Third day | Tạ, also called Tạ Ông vải | The last day of Tet, the rite thanking after four full days[1] |
Note a point where sources do not entirely agree. One source describes a four-day sequence including the afternoon of the 30th and New Year's Eve, so it calls the third day the last day with the Tạ rite[1]. The day of seeing the ancestors off also varies: Phan Kế Bính records the burning of votive paper on the fourth day, with some families waiting until the seventh[5]; the book Khảo luận về Tết cites the view that officials' households once saw the ancestors off on the third day and commoners on the fourth[2]; and in Huế the farewell offering is made on the afternoon of the third day[3]. This article follows the common naming: the three days of Tet rice offerings are the first three days of the year, while tất niên and giao thừa are two rites preceding them, closing into the same sequence.
What Is on the Offering Tray for the Three Days of Tet?
According to Phan Kế Bính, the Tet tray must at minimum have bánh chưng, cá kho (braised fish), giò, chả, and pickled onions[5]. A summary on Giáo dục Việt Nam newspaper lists four basic items: bánh chưng, pork, pickled onions, and plain rice, and emphasizes that the ancestral offering tray during Tet is cooked and arranged quite elaborately, large or small depending on each family's economic circumstances[1].
The book Khảo luận về Tết records that the offerings on Nguyên đán include all kinds of dishes and sweets[2]. In the South, records by Dương Văn Minh Lộc in Tuổi Trẻ show that the old Tet tray was associated with kiệu (pickled scallions), mứt (candied fruits), pickled radish in fish sauce, thèo lèo (candy), and various candies and preserves[4]. Thus the three-day Tet tray is a common framework, while the specific contents are determined by region and each family's circumstances.
Why Do People Offering Rice Avoid Sweeping the House and Taking Out Trash?
The taboo against sweeping trash out during the three days of Tet was recorded by Phan Kế Bính along with an origin he attributes to the book Sưu thần ký, which tells of a merchant named Âu Minh who passed by Thanh Thảo Lake and was given a servant named Như Nguyện by the water god, becoming rich thanks to her; one day on the first of Tet he beat her, and she crawled into the trash pile and disappeared, and the house became poor again, so our people followed the custom and tabooed sweeping trash[5]. It should be clear: this is a legend cited by the book to explain the custom, not a proven historical event. In folk explanation, sweeping and taking out trash during the first three days of the year is also said to sweep away fortune and luck. According to Phan Kế Bính, people only pile the trash in a corner and wait for the ground-breaking rite three days later before taking it out[5].
How Do the Three Days of Tet Rice Offerings in the North Differ from the Central and South?
The most obvious difference lies in the dishes and the elaborateness of the rituals. The book Khảo luận về Tết notes that although the whole country shares a relatively unified festival calendar, each region still has diverse variations[2].
In Huế, because most people are Buddhist, the ancestor worship on Nguyên đán is a vegetarian offering in every family[2]. After the offering, they open the door to receive guests, visit pagodas, visit ancestral graves, burn incense, and give New Year's wishes to elders at the clan temple[2].
The Khám phá Huế page of Huế city describes that Tet in Huế still preserves many ancient customs, with more elaborate worship: before Tet there are offerings to the Kitchen God, to the patron of the trade, year-end offerings, offerings to erect the nêu pole, and offerings to welcome ancestors for Tet; from the morning of the first day the ancestors are offered three meals a day, vegetarian on the first day of the month (ngày sóc) and savory on ordinary days, and on the afternoon of the third day a farewell tray is offered[3]. This page also records that Tet in Huế has hundreds of dishes: savory ones include bánh tét, dưa món (pickled vegetables), beef soaked in fish sauce, rolled pork leg, chả thủ, nem tré, pickled onions, and pickled kiệu; sweet ones include all kinds of preserves and cakes, and for every savory dish there is a vegetarian equivalent[3].
In the South, records by Dương Văn Minh Lộc in Tuổi Trẻ show that Tet is considered a family holiday, with descendants from far away returning to their homeland, and few families travel far during the first days[4]. The same account says that during the Tet days every meal was offered to the ancestors before the family ate; the third day was the Tết nhà rite, and on the fourth day people bought offerings to see the ancestors off[4].
What Does "First Day Tet for Father, Second Day Tet for Mother, Third Day Tet for Teacher" Mean?
This proverb is a way of dividing whom to visit for New Year's wishes by day, not a rice-offering schedule. The book Khảo luận về Tết explains: Tet for Father means visiting and wishing New Year to paternal relatives; the second day is for wishing New Year to maternal relatives, the mother's family, and for married people, wishing New Year to the wife's relatives also falls on this day; the third day is for wishing New Year to teachers, first of all school teachers, and also physicians[2].
The visits for New Year's wishes begin after the khem period, first to give New Year's wishes to elders at the clan temple, then to wish superiors and respected elders in the clan[2]. Thus the three days of Tet have two overlapping layers of time: the layer of rice offerings at home and the layer of social visits outside. People in the past often made the rice offerings first, then went out to wish New Year.
Who Leads the Rites and How to Make the Three Days of Tet Rice Offerings Correctly?
A summary on Giáo dục Việt Nam newspaper states that ancestor worship is always led by the eldest son as the ritual master in the family; after the offerings are placed on the altar, the family head, properly dressed, lights the lamp and incense, then performs four bows and two salutations before the altar, praying from the ancestors of five generations down to the parents[1]. After the family head finishes praying, they wait for one incense stick to burn, meaning the incense has burned more than two-thirds, then the family head comes before the altar to thank the rites and take down the tray, and everyone in the family gathers to receive the blessings and wish each other a good new year[1].
Regarding prayer texts, Dương Bá Trạc in Gia lễ giản yếu printed in 1932 notes that our country formerly studied Chinese characters, so all sacrificial and prayer texts were written in Chinese characters, and the author prepared sample sacrificial and prayer texts in the national script so that everyone, learned or not, could follow them for worship[6]. This explains why today's prayer texts for the three days of Tet rice offerings exist in many versions: old Hán-Nôm versions and rewritten quốc ngữ versions.
How Should We Understand the Three Days of Tet Rice Offerings Appropriately?
Two layers must be distinguished. The first layer is the data on the custom: the sequence of rites, names of the rites, dishes, role of the ritual master, all recorded by books and newspapers and can be cross-checked between sources[1][2][5]. The second layer is the accompanying belief: believing that ancestors return to eat Tet with descendants, that sweeping and taking out trash will lose fortune, that the first visitor determines the whole year's business. These belong to folk beliefs, not verifiable data.
Since 1934, Phan Khôi had an article raising questions about many Tet customs; he argued that because the concept of Tet had changed, all Tet entertainments also changed or disappeared, and he explained the cause as the nation having matured[9]. Reading that opinion again helps us see that Vietnamese people nearly a century ago already debated whether to keep or abandon Tet customs, not just recently.
Dương Bá Trạc advocated simplification, arguing that meaningless festivals like Đoan ngũ, Thượng nguyên, Trung nguyên, and Trung thu should be abandoned, and only Tết Nguyên đán, Tết Thanh minh, and Tết cơm mới should be remembered for offerings to ancestors[6]. This is a reformist view, not a description of common custom, so it should be read as such.
Gợi ý của Nhật Nguyệt: if a family keeps the three days of Tet rice offerings, the most worth preserving is continuity and sincerity, not the number of dishes on the tray. A tray with enough bánh chưng or bánh tét, one savory dish, one pickled dish, and plain rice is enough to complete the rite. For families far from home, the offerings can be simplified but should keep all three days and should agree within the family who is the ritual master, to avoid overlap between generations.
