TL;DR: According to widespread custom, Tết Thanh Minh (Thanh Minh festival) is a time for tidying graves and making offerings to ancestors. The common sequence is to visit the grave first to tidy it and burn incense, then return home to prepare a tray for the ancestors. However, depending on circumstances and region, many families do the reverse or combine both, as long as sincerity and remembrance of the deceased are maintained.
What is Tết Thanh Minh and why is there a custom of tảo mộ?
Tết Thanh Minh, also called the Thanh Minh solar term, is one of the 24 solar terms. It begins on April 4 or 5 of the solar calendar, which is late in the second or early in the third lunar month. In the section on Tết Thanh-Minh, the book Việt Nam phong tục explains that Thanh-Minh means the weather at that time is cool and clear[1]. The book continues: "In the Chinese custom on that day, talented men and beauties vied with one another to go tảo mộ, calling it the Đạp-thanh Festival. We do not celebrate that Tết, but many people also take the occasion to go visit graves"[1]. So in the early 20th century, Vietnamese people did not yet treat Thanh Minh as a Tết, but many already took the occasion to go tảo mộ. Tảo mộ means visiting the graves of ancestors: cutting back thick grass to clear it, building up earth where it has sunk, then going home to prepare an offering tray for the ancestors[1]. This sentence shows the familiar sequence: go to the graves first, come home and make offerings afterward.
Why do many places choose to visit the graves first and only then make offerings at home?
There are several reasons mentioned in old books and in folk belief. First, tảo mộ is a matter of "tidying up" the graves: cutting grass, adding earth, repairing headstones. Only when that is done does one go home to prepare the offering tray to "invite" the ancestors to partake. Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư (volume 34) has an entry on repairing graves around Thanh minh: whenever a grave has been made, whether adding earth, planting trees, building an offering platform, or repairing damage, the work should be done in the period of Hàn thực and Thanh minh, without considering mountain orientation, year, month, day or hour. That passage is about when to repair graves; it says nothing about the order between visiting the graves and making offerings at home.
Second, in folk belief the grave holds the body of the deceased, while the altar is where descendants believe the soul comes to reside. Lê Thị Son (2015), studying ancestor worship among Vietnamese people in Nam Bộ, notes that offerings are made at the household altar, at communal houses and shrines, and at graves, and that by custom the soul of the deceased usually resides on the altar to stay close to the descendants[2].
Third, in practical terms, going to the graves first helps the family know the condition of the graves so they can prepare suitable offerings: whether the grave is new or old, whether anything needs repairing, whether a headstone is needed. Vũ trung tùy bút criticises the situation in which "every year, when the Thanh minh term comes and we go tảo mộ, we have already forgotten where the ancestral graves are", then recalls the old practice of burying an engraved stone under the grave, called chí, and erecting a stele in front of it, called biểu[3].
Some places make offerings at home first and only then go to the graves, why?
The books cited in this article set no common order. Some families, especially when the graves are far away, hold a ceremony at home first to report to the ancestors and only then go to the graves, holding that visiting the graves disturbs them, so the ancestors should be told first. Other families combine the two: offer incense at home in the morning and go to the graves in the afternoon, or the other way around.
Comparing views on the order of Thanh Minh offerings
| Practice | Order | Reason given by those who follow it | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tảo mộ first, offerings at home after | Go to the graves to clear grass, add earth and offer incense, then go home to prepare the offering tray | The tray for the ancestors is prepared once the graves are tidied | Việt Nam phong tục records this order[1] |
| Offerings at home first, tảo mộ after | Hold the ceremony at home, report to the ancestors, then go to the graves | Tell the ancestors before disturbing the graves | Practice of some families, not found in old books |
| Combined in one session | Offer incense at home and go to the graves on the same day | Convenient to arrange | Depends on the family |
| Only tảo mộ, no offering tray at home | Only go to the graves to offer incense | Thanh Minh is treated as the occasion to see to the graves | Depends on the family |
Only the first row is recorded in old books; the other three are the practice of individual households. The books cited in this article do not prescribe a mandatory order for every family.
What factors determine how it is done?
First is the distance to the graves. If the graves are far away, travel takes time, and many families choose to hold the full ceremony at home first and go to the graves the next day. If the graves are near, going to the graves first and then coming home to make offerings is convenient.
Second is the condition of the graves. For a newly reburied grave or one that needs repair, many families go to the grave first to inspect it; settled graves allow more flexibility.
Third is local custom. Each village and each family line may have its own conventions. In many places in the South, the main tảo mộ is done in the days before Tết, and at Thanh Minh graves are only swept and repaired when needed.
Fourth is the weather and the health of the elderly and young children. Thanh Minh falls in early April of the solar calendar, when the North may still have drizzle in some years and the South is in the dry season. Arranging the timing to suit people's health is a practical necessity.
Must Thanh Minh offerings be made on the exact day?
The book Việt Nam phong tục records that within the third month there is a period called the Thanh Minh term. The Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư cites the "Kinh sở ký" calculation: Hàn thực is 105 days after the winter solstice, Thanh minh is 106 and a half days after the winter solstice, and Hàn thực is two days before Thanh minh. That is the bình khí method of the old calendar. The calendar today sets solar terms by the position of the Sun: in Vietnam time, from 1936 to 2100 Thanh Minh always begins on April 4 or 5 (in 2026 at 1:28 on April 5, in 2027 at 7:14 on April 5) and lasts until Cốc Vũ begins on April 19 or 20. Việt Nam phong tục only says people go tảo mộ "on that occasion" and fixes no day, so many families choose a day within the term for the rite.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: If the family line already has its own practice, follow it. If not, agree as a family before the day, taking into account the distance to the graves, the health of the elderly and young children, and the cemetery's opening hours, then choose one of the practices in the table above.
Points to note when doing tảo mộ at Thanh Minh
Today, clearing grass, adding earth and repairing graves must comply with the regulations of the cemetery and local authorities on building and repairing graves. Do not add earth or build walls on your own without permission. As for offerings, it depends on local custom: some places offer incense, flowers and fruit; others prepare a savoury offering tray. You should not burn votive paper excessively, causing pollution and fire hazards. Keeping the grave area clean is a practical act that shows respect for the deceased and responsibility toward the community.
