TL;DR: Giỗ hậu is the practice of people who know no one will offer them ancestor rituals after death (often because they have no sons or no lineage heir) giving money or land to their clan, village, or pagoda, so the recipient handles the rituals later. The recipient draws up a written agreement and erects a stone stele recording the name, amount of money, amount of land, and the ritual date; on that date the village, clan, or pagoda performs the rites. This custom is described in custom books from the early and mid-20th century for Kinh villages in the northern delta, with no mention of present-day practice.
What is giỗ hậu?
Giỗ hậu is a death anniversary rite that someone else performs on your behalf, after the deceased has handed over money or rice fields to them, to the village or to a pagoda in exchange for that service. The custom is for people who know in advance that no one will make offerings to them after death: people with no sons, people who are not of the senior branch and so cannot establish their own lineage cult, and people who think a later heir might still abandon their anniversary[1].
Phan Kế Bính (1915) records the custom in the section on village customs in Việt Nam phong tục[2]. Toan Ánh (2001) calls such anniversary offerings giỗ hậu and explains further: a person buying hậu can prepare in advance for their own hundred-year affair by asking the village, pagoda, temple or clan to perform the funeral rites, in exchange for offering a sum of money or some rice fields[1].
A distinction must be drawn between giỗ hậu and sending anniversary offerings while far from home: Cúng giỗ vọng khi ở xa quê không về được discusses living people asking others to make offerings on their behalf when they cannot return; giỗ hậu concerns the deceased, arranging in advance for one's own anniversary offerings after death.
Mua hậu, ký hậu: what is paid and where is it recorded?
The buyer of hậu pays money or rice fields, and this is recorded in a deed, set on a stele, sometimes copied into the village convention. On where hậu is registered, Phan Kế Bính (1915) relates that some people chose the communal house or shrine, some chose the pagoda, some chose the village or the clan, and some chose another commune, namely their mother's native place. Wherever the money and land of the hậu buyer were accepted, whether by a giáp group, the village, the pagoda, the clan or another commune, a deed had to be drawn up and a stone stele erected, placed at the communal house or shrine, at the pagoda or in the clan hall[2].
According to Phan Kế Bính (1915), the stele records in full the identity of the hậu buyer along with their prefecture, district, canton and commune; the sum the villagers received and the purpose it was spent on; the area and location of the rice fields registered as hậu; and the annual date and the offerings used for the rite. In addition, the stele is carved with a few lines praising the merits of the hậu buyer, and it has the value of a written contract. On the day the deed was signed and the stele erected, the hậu buyer had to provide wine to feast the villagers; from then on, the village called that person ông hậu bà hậu[2].
Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (compilers, 2006) record that many villages entered the purchase of hậu in the village convention; the money paid for giỗ hậu went into the village fund to buy additional ritual vessels, open shrines or communal houses, or for other public works[3]. Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) also notes that many villages recorded this in the village convention[4].
What was paid could be money or rice fields. Toan Ánh (2001) writes: hậu could be bought with money or with fields[1]. As for who bought hậu, Phan Kế Bính (1915) says it was not only families with few children who did this: families with many descendants and great wealth also bought hậu, first to help the village, and second so that the whole village would have to make offerings to them[2].
Where is giỗ hậu held and who presides?
Giỗ hậu is usually held at the nhà hậu, a separate house at the communal house or pagoda used for giỗ hậu; who presides depends on where the hậu was accepted. According to Toan Ánh (2001), if the giỗ hậu is held at the clan hall, the clan head makes the offering and invites some descendants in the clan to attend. At the communal house, the village officials and the notables perform the offering rite, then share the hậu portions and eat at the communal house or take them home; the person who recites the prayer at the communal house is usually the caretaker or the village elder. On the same day, besides the offering rite to receive the hậu, the villagers must also make a report to the Thành hoàng (the village tutelary deity). At the pagoda, the praying is done by a monk, and on the day of giỗ hậu, sutras are chanted to pray for peace and safety for the soul of the deceased[1].
Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (compilers, 2006) record the same: giỗ hậu is usually offered at the nhà hậu, a separate house at the communal house or pagoda used for giỗ hậu; if held at a pagoda, the abbot prays and chants sutras to pray for peace and safety for the soul of the deceased; if held at the clan hall, the clan head makes the offering and invites descendants in the clan to attend; if held at the communal house, the village officials and notables make the offering and then share the hậu portions, and the person who prays is usually the caretaker or the village elder[3].
As for the offerings on the day of giỗ hậu, Phan Kế Bính (1915) describes that the villagers or the clan had to prepare chicken, glutinous rice, betel and wine, or a pig's head with a tray of glutinous rice, or slaughter an ox for the sacrifice; for pagoda hậu, a vegetarian feast was prepared for the offering. If the descendants of the person with hậu were still alive, they brought betel and wine to the rite; if none remained, that was the end of it. After the rite, the village gave a small portion back to the host family, and the rest was eaten together. At each of the village's spirit sacrifices during the year, the village also made offerings to the hậu spirits; the descendants of the person with hậu brought incense, betel and wine to the offering to the spirits, and the villagers also gave them a share[2].
What is a nhà hậu at a communal house or pagoda?
A nhà hậu is a separate house within the grounds of a communal house or pagoda, used as the place for giỗ hậu. When describing pagoda architecture, Phan Kế Bính (1915) mentions the nhà hậu: it is the place where those who bought pagoda hậu are worshipped, and on the anniversary day the pagoda must perform the offering[2]. Toan Ánh (2001) defines the nhà hậu as a separate house at communal houses and pagodas used for giỗ hậu[1]. The nhà hậu is therefore not the village's common place of worship, but is tied to the obligation to make offerings for those who handed money or rice fields to the communal house or pagoda.
Table: where hậu is registered, who presides, which book records it
| Where hậu is registered | Who presides at the giỗ hậu | Recorded in |
|---|---|---|
| Clan hall (the clan) | The clan head makes the offering, invites descendants in the clan to attend | Toan Ánh (2001)[1]; Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (2006)[3] |
| Communal house (nhà hậu at the communal house) | The caretaker or the village elder prays; village officials and notables make the offering and share the hậu portions; the villagers make a report to the Thành hoàng | Toan Ánh (2001)[1]; Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (2006)[3] |
| Pagoda (nhà hậu at the pagoda) | The abbot prays, the monk chants sutras to pray for peace and safety for the soul of the deceased | Toan Ánh (2001)[1]; Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (2006)[3] |
| The village, another commune (mother's native place) | Phan Kế Bính (1915) only names where hậu is registered, not who presides[2] |
Ngô Tất Tố recounts the custom of đặt hậu in a village (1940)
The reportage Việc làng by Ngô Tất Tố (1940) recounts a case of đặt hậu in a northern village, through the words of a villager, together with the critical attitude of a contemporary. In the reportage passage, the narrator speaks of an elderly woman seeking to đặt hậu in the village: this was not her own idea, but came from her eldest son, who saw that his aunt still had fields and a house, wanted to sell the rest but found no buyer in the village, and so consulted ông Điển, who urged the woman to đặt hậu and promised to share the money once it was done[5].
According to the account, the woman was persuaded that if she handed part of her fields to the village, the village would make anniversary and new year offerings to her forever. Finding this agreeable, she sent her son to petition the village officials, asking to hand over one mẫu of fields as hậu fields and one hundred piastres for the village to take into public funds, and to prepare a pig and a tray of glutinous rice, first to honour the spirits, then to honour the village. The village notables agreed[5].
Only when the đặt hậu petition had been completed did she realise she had walked into a trap; that was when they showed their hand: ông Điển demanded fifty, the head of the council and the lý trưởng each demanded thirty, and only then would they sign the petition. She panicked and wanted to withdraw, but they threatened that abandoning it would be cheating the village, that they would submit a petition to the mandarin, and that after her death the village would no longer carry her coffin. In the end, she only asked to reduce the honorarium for the notables[5].
The passage shows that đặt hậu was not only a matter of belief, but also a matter of money and the power of the village apparatus. The narrator in Việc làng does not hide his criticism of those who exploited the custom to squeeze out money. This is the account and commentary of a contemporary, not a neutral description of the custom.
Points on which the books disagree or are silent
The books disagree on several details. Toan Ánh (2001) and Song Mai, Quỳnh Trang (compilers, 2006) both say the person who prays at the communal house giỗ is the caretaker or the village elder, but do not state clearly which of the two presides in which case. Phan Kế Bính (1915) only describes the offerings and the village's offerings, and does not name the person who prays[2].
As for when the custom appeared, it is not yet clear how long the custom of mua hậu has existed. Phan Kế Bính (1915) records that the custom existed in the early 20th century, but does not trace its origin. The books also do not say whether the custom existed in the central region, the southern region or among other ethnic groups; the descriptions all focus on Kinh villages in the northern delta.
On village conventions recording the purchase of hậu, Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (compilers, 2006) and Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) both mention it, but cite no specific village convention. No village convention is reproduced verbatim for comparison.
Links to related articles
- Cúng giỗ vọng khi ở xa quê không về được: discusses sending anniversary offerings and cúng vọng when the living are far away, unlike giỗ hậu, which is arranging in advance for the deceased.
- Ai đứng ra cúng giỗ: con trưởng, con thứ, con gái, con dâu: discusses the order of who presides at offerings within the family, whereas giỗ hậu is the case where no one in the family presides.
Why does this custom exist?
The books on customs explain the motive of the hậu buyer by the fear of having no one to make offerings after death. Toan Ánh (2001) writes that such people "also do not want, after death, to suffer the fate of scrambling for cháo lá đa", that is, the fate of souls with no one to burn incense for them, who must fight over the offerings at rites for wandering souls[1]. This is an explanation according to folk notions about souls and anniversary offerings, not a proposition about the world beyond.
According to Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang (compilers, 2006), the hậu buyer also thought that a later heir might still abandon their anniversary, and so gave money and property to the clan, the pagoda, the temple, or the communal house[3]. This explanation shows that the custom of mua hậu was tied to the structure of the village and the lineage: when the line of descent was uncertain, people turned to an institution more durable than an individual to secure the worship.
It should also be noted that the books on customs are descriptive sources on customary practice, not methodologically grounded field research. They record what people did and believed in a region at a time, along with the author's commentary. No source says whether the custom of mua hậu still exists today, nor whether places of worship today still accept giỗ hậu according to the old rule.
