Star Worship and Misfortune Resolution at the Start of the Year: Origins, Cultural Significance, and a Buddhist Perspective

Title: Dâng sao giải hạn (the rite to ward off misfortune by offering to the stars) at the start of the year: origins, cultural meaning and a Buddhist perspective

What is dâng sao giải hạn?

Dâng sao giải hạn (the rite to ward off misfortune by offering to the stars) is a folk belief ritual common in Vietnam, especially performed around the beginning of the lunar year. According to Toan Ánh (2001), the star offering ceremony is usually held on the full moon day of the first lunar month at temples and shrines, with the meaning of making offerings to the stars to pray that misfortune in the year be dispelled. Toan Ánh's book records that people set up a three-tiered altar: the top tier for offerings to Heaven and Buddha, to immortals and saints; the middle tier for offerings to the stars that govern one's destiny; the bottom tier for offerings and charity to all beings. Each year each person has a star that governs their destiny, and the offerings include flowers and fruit, betel and areca, glutinous rice and cakes, sweet soup and wine, votive paper, and also paper effigies.

In folk belief, each person in a given year has a star that governs their destiny; some stars are considered good and some are considered bad, affecting that person's luck or obstacles during the year. To dispel bad omens, people hold the star offering ceremony to ask the stars for protection and to lessen misfortune. This is a folk belief, not something that has been proven.

The ritual usually takes place at shrines, temples, or at home with an offering tray of incense, flowers, candles, and a tablet bearing the name of the star that needs to be addressed. Those performing it usually rely on their age (year of birth) to determine the star governing their destiny that year according to the method of astrologers.

What is the origin of the custom of dâng sao giải hạn?

The custom of dâng sao giải hạn (the rite to ward off misfortune by offering to the stars) is widely thought to originate from Chinese Daoism, appearing in ancient times when people observed the heavens and attributed to the stars powers that govern destiny. In Daoism, the deities who govern the stars are called the "Cửu diệu tinh quân" (Nine Luminary Star Lords), each governing one star and able to bestow blessings or bring disaster on people according to their behaviour.

As for the textual origin, Lê Quý Đôn in Vân đài loại ngữ (translated by Trần Văn Giáp, 2006) cites the Book of Sui, which records that Daoist priests had a method of "averting disaster and dispelling misfortune": they relied on the arts of yin and yang and the five elements to calculate a person's yearly fortune, wrote it into a memorial and presented it to the Heavenly bureaucracy, calling it "dâng sớ" (presenting a memorial). At midnight they set out trays, wine, cakes and fruit, and offerings beneath the moon and stars to worship the Heavenly Thái nhất, the Five Stars and the Constellations, calling it the Tiếu ceremony (setting up an altar for petition). Also according to Lê Quý Đôn, later generations' practice of setting up ordination altars derives from this.

Also in Vân đài loại ngữ, Lê Quý Đôn gives the view of an 18th-century Confucian scholar: according to the Book of Rites, only the Son of Heaven may sacrifice to Heaven, to Earth, to the moon and to the stars in order to avert calamity; feudal lords sacrifice to the altars of soil and grain, and scholars sacrifice to their ancestors. He held that common people using the rites of the Son of Heaven is presuming on rites and overstepping one's station, and asked whether doing so could bring blessings. This is the perspective of a Confucian scholar, placed alongside the Buddhist perspective presented in the section below, and does not replace that perspective.

Over time, this belief spread to East Asian countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In Vietnam, dâng sao giải hạn was blended with Mother Goddess worship, deity worship and Buddhism, creating a character of its own. Many temples today still hold the start-of-year dâng sao giải hạn ceremony, attracting large numbers of Buddhists and ordinary people, although this is debated among scholars of religion.

What is the cultural meaning of dâng sao giải hạn?

Dâng sao giải hạn (the rite to ward off misfortune by offering to the stars) is not only a spiritual ritual but also carries deep cultural meaning. First, it reflects the human need for peace of mind and for protection against life's uncertainties. In the context of older societies, when science was not developed, people relied on supernatural forces to explain and cope with unwanted phenomena.

Second, this ritual is an occasion for the community to gather and strengthen ties between neighbours. In the first days of the year, people go together to temples and shrines to pray and share their joys and worries, creating an atmosphere of solidarity and mutual affection. It is also an occasion for children and grandchildren to remember their ancestors, expressing the principle of "when you drink water, remember the source".

Third, dâng sao giải hạn is also a way for people to remind themselves to live better, avoid evil and do good. Although the form is somewhat superstitious, the message behind it is an orientation toward goodness, encouraging people to cultivate their minds and character and to live responsibly toward themselves and society.

How does Buddhism view dâng sao giải hạn?

From the orthodox Buddhist point of view, dâng sao giải hạn is a form of superstition, not in accord with the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha taught that everything is determined by karma, and karma is created by each person through body, speech and mind. Good karma brings pleasant results, bad karma brings suffering, and no one can replace or erase another person's karma, not even the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

In the Buddhist scriptures there is no sutra or ritual that instructs the offering to the stars to ward off misfortune. Asking the stars to bestow blessings or bring disaster runs counter to the law of cause and effect, because if a person does evil and only needs to make a star offering for the offence to be gone, the law of cause and effect would be broken. Buddhism emphasises transformation from within, through repentance, practice, doing good deeds, and nurturing compassion and wisdom.

However, in the course of entering Vietnam, Buddhism blended with folk belief, which led many temples to hold dâng sao giải hạn ceremonies to meet people's spiritual needs. Monks often explain that this is an expedient means that helps people come to the temple, hear the Dharma and practise, and from there gradually understand the teaching correctly. But in essence, this ritual was not laid down by the Buddha and is not the path to liberation.

How dâng sao giải hạn is thought to work in folk belief

In folk belief, each person has a star that governs their destiny, changing from year to year depending on their lunar age. The stars are divided into two groups: good stars and bad stars. Specifically:

When a bad star is met, people believe they will encounter many misfortunes such as illness, accidents, gossip and failed business. To dispel them, they must perform the star offering on a specific day of the month, usually the 15th day of the lunar month or at the start of the year, with offerings such as lamps, candles and a tablet, and by reading a prayer text. Each star has a different colour and number of lamps; for example, the La Hầu star requires 9 red lamps, the Kế Đô star requires 5 yellow lamps...

The ritual is performed by a ritual master or a monk, who guides the household in arranging the altar, praying and burning votive paper. After the ceremony, people believe that misfortune will be lessened and that everything will go smoothly.

Why is there a custom of worshipping the Star Deities at home?

Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) records a related custom: when children in the house are often ill and medicine and offerings do not cure them, people have their fate read and conclude that in the parents' horoscope there is a bad star in the Tử (Children) palace affecting the children's health; the parents then worship the star deities, and after the ritual they hold a stick of incense, bow to the four directions and then turn back to face the direction of the star offering. This is a recorded custom, not a instruction that has the effect of curing illness or dispelling misfortune.

Should dâng sao giải hạn be done or not?

Whether to keep or abandon the custom of dâng sao giải hạn is a matter of much disagreement. Supporters say it is a beautiful cultural feature, expressing reverence for the deities and preserving the traditions of our forebears. They do not entirely believe in the dispelling of misfortune, but see it as a way to calm the mind and gain more confidence and motivation to enter the new year.

Conversely, many cultural researchers and respected monks hold that dâng sao giải hạn is superstition, a waste of money and time, and even exploited by bad actors for profit. They advise people to focus on cultivating the mind, accumulating merit and doing good deeds instead of depending on prayer rituals.

In practice, many people take part in dâng sao giải hạn ceremonies only out of herd mentality, afraid that if they do not do it they will meet bad luck. This inadvertently creates unnecessary mental pressure. If they understand its true nature, each person can take the initiative to change their own fate by living well, doing good deeds and avoiding evil.