TL;DR: In folk belief, you take tuổi mụ and divide it by 9; a remainder of 1, 3, 6 or 8 means the year is Kim Lâu, and many families avoid marrying or building a house in that year. For marriage, the common custom is to check the bride's tuổi mụ; for example, in 2027 a bride born in 2002 (tuổi mụ 26, remainder 8) is Kim Lâu Lục Súc. This is a traditional convention with no research to verify it, and the year after an affected year is always unaffected.
What is Kim Lâu and why do people avoid marrying in a Kim Lâu year?
Kim Lâu is the age-related misfortune most often mentioned when checking ages for marriage and house building. In folk belief, you take the person's tuổi mụ (lunar age, counted as birth year plus one) and divide it by 9; if the remainder is 1, 3, 6 or 8, that year is said to be Kim Lâu, and people usually avoid marrying, breaking ground or making large purchases in that year. The oral rhyme used to remember it is "one, three, six, eight Kim Lâu; building a house, taking a wife, buying a buffalo, do not".
The book Phong thủy thực hành trong xây dựng và kiến trúc nhà ở by Vũ Đức Huynh states that this remainder always falls into the four frames Khảm, Chấn, Càn and Cấn (1, 3, 6 and 8), which is why folk tradition uses it as the way to calculate a Kim Lâu year; the name comes from the story of "Ông Kim Lâu" in Chinese legend[1].
How is Kim Lâu calculated for marriage using tuổi mụ?
There are three steps. First, take the birth year in the lunar calendar: people born in January or February of the solar calendar before Tết belong to the previous lunar year. Second, calculate tuổi mụ by subtracting the birth year from the marriage year and adding 1. Third, divide tuổi mụ by 9 and look at the remainder: remainders of 1, 3, 6 and 8 mean the year is affected; remainders of 0, 2, 4, 5 and 7 mean it is not.
Vũ Đức Huynh's book gives the example of age 46: 46 divided by 9 gives 5 with a remainder of 1, so age 46 is a Kim Lâu year, and this is the heaviest case, Kim Lâu Thân[1]. The book also considers age 61: divided by 9 it gives 6 with a remainder of 7, so it is not affected and remains a usable age for building a house[1].
Adding the digits of the age together until a single digit remains gives the same result, because the digit sum of a number has the same remainder when divided by 9 as the number itself; a total of 9 corresponds to a remainder of 0. For example, age 46 gives 4 + 6 = 10, then 1 + 0 = 1, affected; age 47 gives 4 + 7 = 11, then 1 + 1 = 2, not affected.
Do you check the bride's age or the groom's age?
For marriage, the common custom in many places is to check the bride's tuổi mụ; some families also check the groom's age. For building a house, the household head's age is checked.
The books do not agree on this point. Vũ Đức Huynh's book records another way of calculating age for building a house and taking a wife that is quite different, based on a nine-year cycle called cửu trạch vận niên, and says that method only counts the son's age because of the patrilineal concept[1].
How do the four types of Kim Lâu differ?
Each remainder corresponds to one type, and according to the belief, one person in the family meets the misfortune:
| Remainder | Frame according to the Lạc Thư | Name | Who meets the misfortune, according to the belief |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khảm | Kim Lâu Thân | The person being assessed |
| 3 | Chấn | Kim Lâu Thê | Wife (or husband) |
| 6 | Càn | Kim Lâu Tử | Children |
| 8 | Cấn | Kim Lâu Lục Súc | Livestock, business affairs |
Vũ Đức Huynh ranks Kim Lâu Lục Súc as the light type, with the other three being heavier[1].
The book Phong thủy tài vượng, compiled by Trần Sinh and Minh Châu, lists the four types in the order first, second, third, fourth: Nhất Kim Lâu Thân (the household head meets the misfortune), Nhị Kim Lâu Thê (the household head's wife meets the misfortune), Tam Kim Lâu Tử (the children meet the misfortune), Tứ Kim Lâu Lục Súc[2].
In 2026 and 2027, which birth years for the bride are Kim Lâu?
The table below uses division by 9 for tuổi mụ from 19 to 39; birth years are lunar years.
| Tuổi mụ | Remainder | Type | Birth year, if marrying in 2026 | Birth year, if marrying in 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | Kim Lâu Thân | 2008 | 2009 |
| 21 | 3 | Kim Lâu Thê | 2006 | 2007 |
| 24 | 6 | Kim Lâu Tử | 2003 | 2004 |
| 26 | 8 | Kim Lâu Lục Súc | 2001 | 2002 |
| 28 | 1 | Kim Lâu Thân | 1999 | 2000 |
| 30 | 3 | Kim Lâu Thê | 1997 | 1998 |
| 33 | 6 | Kim Lâu Tử | 1994 | 1995 |
| 35 | 8 | Kim Lâu Lục Súc | 1992 | 1993 |
| 37 | 1 | Kim Lâu Thân | 1990 | 1991 |
| 39 | 3 | Kim Lâu Thê | 1988 | 1989 |
Tuổi mụ not in the table (20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38) are not affected according to division by 9.
Is it correct to look only at the last digit of the age?
No. Vũ Đức Huynh's book calls the habit of treating any age ending in 1, 3, 6 or 8 as affected a misunderstanding, and stresses that you must use the remainder when divided by 9[1]. For example, age 31 ends in 1 but divided by 9 gives a remainder of 4, not affected; age 18 ends in 8 but divided by 9 gives a remainder of 0, not affected; conversely, age 21 ends in 1 but divided by 9 gives a remainder of 3, Kim Lâu Thê.
Can you marry in your zodiac year?
The zodiac year is the year that repeats the zodiac animal of the birth year, meaning tuổi mụ 13, 25, 37 and 49. In folk custom some families avoid major undertakings in the zodiac year and some do not; this is a separate taboo, not Kim Lâu. Tuổi mụ 25 is not Kim Lâu (remainder 7), while tuổi mụ 37 is both a zodiac year and Kim Lâu Thân (remainder 1).
Can you marry in a Kim Lâu year?
According to folk belief it should be avoided, but many families still marry in a Kim Lâu year. The usual approach is to move the wedding to the following lunar year, because the year right after an affected year is always an unaffected year (a wedding planned for late in the solar year sometimes only needs to be moved past Tết); or to ask someone of another age to stand in for part of the ceremony, which Vũ Đức Huynh's book records as something folk tradition still does when building a house[1].
Kim Lâu is not among the steps of the wedding ceremony as recorded. The book Việt Nam phong tục by Phan Kế Bính describes that before the matchmaking proposal there is "checking that the two ages do not clash", and before the wedding the two families must not be in mourning, after which the groom's family chooses an auspicious day and month[3]. That passage does not mention Kim Lâu.
Does Kim Lâu have a scientific basis?
No research has verified that marrying in a Kim Lâu year makes a marriage less enduring or brings misfortune to children. Kim Lâu is a convention of feng shui books and folk custom, and the books themselves even calculate differently on whose age to check and which type to assign to which frame.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: families that keep the custom should check the bride's tuổi mụ according to the lunar year before drawing a conclusion, because mistaking the birth year for those born before Tết is the most common error; families that do not keep the custom have no reason to postpone a wedding that is already fully prepared because of Kim Lâu.
