TL;DR: Tống ôn, tống gió is a community ritual of Vietnamese people, especially in the Mekong Delta, to send epidemics, wandering souls, and misfortune away via a paper boat released on a river. During the Covid-19 pandemic, mass gatherings were suspended, and many rituals were held online or adjusted under disease-control regulations. The ritual is not a disease prevention measure but a way for the community to handle spiritual unease and maintain cultural connection.
What Are Tống ôn and Tống gió?
Tống ôn, tống gió is a ritual that Vietnamese people in the Mekong Delta hold annually to send "ôn hoàng dịch lệ" (plague and pestilence), wandering souls, and misfortune out of the community, usually by releasing a paper boat onto a river. In folk belief, epidemics and bad luck are imagined as forces that can be "sent away" elsewhere, so the ceremony is about community cleansing rather than individual healing.
The name of the ritual varies by region. In the western Mekong Delta, people commonly call it tống ôn, tống gió. In the central region, similar rituals have many different names depending on locality and occasion. This article discusses the ritual only as a cultural practice, not its disease-prevention or medical effectiveness.
Origin and Mechanism of the Ritual
Research by Trần Diễm Thùy (2019) indicates that beliefs about souls and spirits along with the custom of worshipping ghosts and deities of Vietnamese people in the northern region are the origin of the tống ôn, tống gió ritual; these elements followed the Vietnamese people during the southward expansion. When Vietnamese settled in the coastal areas of the central region and later moved down to the Mekong Delta, living conditions tied to rivers and fishing created the need to worship wandering souls so the community could live in peace.
This ritual is influenced by multiple religious traditions. Confucianism advocates reverence for ghosts and spirits while keeping distance; Buddhism aims for the salvation of wandering souls; Taoism uses magic to control them. All three streams are harmonized in the tống ôn, tống gió ritual in the South. This is Trần Diễm Thùy's explanation of the religious integration in the ritual.
How Is the Ceremony Performed in the Mekong Delta?
At Miễu Bà in Xóm Chài, Hưng Phú Ward, Cái Răng District, Cần Thơ City (now Hưng Phú Ward, Cần Thơ City), the tống ôn, tống gió ceremony is usually held from the 12th to the 14th of the first lunar month every year, at the shrine and on the Hậu River.
Before the ceremony, people build a large boat from a bamboo frame, covered with colored paper, with the boat's registration number, launch date, and place of manufacture written on it. During the ceremony, the officiant conducts the ritual of sending plague, pestilence, and wandering souls onto the paper boat, along with joss paper offerings, to pray for a peaceful life. After the ceremony, rice and salt are usually thrown into fire to drive away evil spirits and prevent misfortune.
In various localities in the Mekong Delta, the ritual has been simplified and integrated into occasions such as đình and miễu worship, communal work, and the Nghinh Ông festival. People make small boats from colored paper or cellophane, place rice, salt, and candles on them, and release them onto rivers and canals. In Long An and Sóc Trăng, during tống ôn, tống gió, there are also waterway soul procession ceremonies or river soul summoning ceremonies performed by Buddhist monks.
How Do Tống ôn, Tống gió in the Central Region Differ?
According to Trần Diễm Thùy (2019), the tống ôn, tống gió ritual in the central region is preserved more intact than in the Mekong Delta, where it is often merged into other festival occasions. However, the author also notes that each locality in the central region integrates its own cultural elements through the process of coexistence, so there is no single form for the entire region.
In the central region, this ritual is similar to the làm chay festival at Nhượng Bạn fishing village, Hà Tĩnh Province, and the buoy-releasing ceremony at the Nhật Lệ river mouth, Quảng Bình Province, both aimed at guiding the souls of the dead. This comparison shows that the tống ôn, tống gió ritual is not unique to one region but a variant of a broader cultural flow.
Table Comparing Epidemic-Expelling and Peace-Praying Rituals
| Ritual | Region | Time | Officiant | What Attendees Hope For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tống ôn, tống gió at Miễu Bà | Xóm Chài, Hưng Phú Ward, Cần Thơ City | 12th to 14th of first lunar month annually | Officiant at the shrine | Send away epidemics, wandering souls, pray for peace |
| Simplified tống ôn, tống gió | Many places in the Mekong Delta | End of kỳ yên festival or miễu worship | Officiant at đình, miễu | Send away misfortune, pray for peace |
| Waterway soul procession, river soul summoning | Long An, Sóc Trăng | During tống ôn, tống gió | Buddhist monks | Guide wandering souls |
| Làm chay festival | Nhượng Bạn fishing village, Hà Tĩnh Province | Not stated in source | Not stated in source | Guide the souls of the dead |
| Buoy-releasing ceremony | Nhật Lệ river mouth, Quảng Bình Province | Not stated in source | Not stated in source | Guide the souls of the dead |
How Did the Covid-19 Pandemic Change Religious Practice?
According to Trần Thị Lan Hương and Hoàng Thị Mỹ Nhị (2024), religious and belief life in Vietnam was deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, as affirmed in the work of these two authors. In such a situation, the important role of religious and belief establishments was demonstrated through promoting great national unity and contributing to pandemic prevention efforts.
Methodologically, this study is based on the theory of religious secularization, approaching the relationship between religious and belief activities and the rule-of-law state, using descriptive qualitative methods, secondary data processing, and field surveys. In the pandemic context, the results show that people and religious organizations experienced changes in awareness as well as in religious and belief practice.
Specifically, mass gatherings were temporarily suspended under disease prevention regulations. Many rituals were held online or adjusted in scale to comply with regulations. However, the article does not provide quantitative data on the number of participants in online ceremonies, so the prevalence of this form cannot be assessed. This is a data gap that needs further research.
Comparison with Early 20th Century Descriptions
Phan Kế Bính in Việt Nam phong tục (1915) described many peace-praying and exorcism ceremonies in the northern region in the early 20th century, including rituals to worship wandering souls and resolve bad luck. This is historical material showing that the need to expel epidemics and pray for peace has long existed in Vietnamese belief life, not a new phenomenon. However, Phan Kế Bính's work records northern customs and does not directly describe the tống ôn, tống gió ritual in the South, so it is only used for general contextual comparison.
Is the Ritual a Disease Prevention Measure?
No. This article presents the ritual only as a cultural practice and does not provide any medical or health recommendations. The tống ôn, tống gió ritual is a way for the community to handle spiritual unease, maintain social connection, and transmit cultural memory, not a method of disease prevention.
Conclusion
The tống ôn, tống gió ritual is a community practice to reduce unease before epidemics and risks, tied to the riverine life of Vietnamese people in the Mekong Delta and the central region. During the Covid-19 pandemic, religious and belief practices in Vietnam changed in awareness and organization, but did not disappear: mass gatherings were adjusted under regulations, and some activities shifted to online forms. Existing research has not yet provided quantitative data on the scale of these changes.
