Why Vietnamese worship on the first day of the lunar month: the meaning of the Sóc day in folk belief

Why Vietnamese People Make Offerings on the First Day of Each Month: The Meaning of the Sóc Day in Folk Belief

What is the Sóc day?

In East Asian culture, the first day of each lunar month is called the Sóc day. According to the old calendar system, Sóc is the moment when the moon lies between the Earth and the sun, when the moon cannot be seen from the earth; this day, together with the full moon day, is also known as sóc vọng. It marks the beginning of a new lunar cycle, symbolising birth and origin. Vietnamese people regard the Sóc day as a moment of interchange between heaven and earth, when yin and yang blend, and so making offerings at the start of the month has become an indispensable feature of belief.

What is the origin and philosophical basis of the custom of making offerings on the first day of the month?

The custom of making offerings on the first day of the month stems from the wet-rice agricultural belief and the yin-yang harmony thinking of the ancient Vietnamese. The lunar cycle governed the rhythm of crops, tides, and even human health. The Sóc day is seen as the day of the deities and of heaven and earth, an occasion for people to express reverence to the supernatural powers and to their ancestors, and to pray for protection for a peaceful new month and smooth work.

From a cultural perspective, Vietnamese people have a saying, "making offerings all year round is not equal to the full moon of the first lunar month", yet the first-day offering is consistently valued, showing the maintenance of a continuous connection with the spiritual world. The moral principle of "when drinking water, remember the source" is expressed through each small offering tray, simple though it may be, yet full of sincerity.

What is the spiritual and feng shui meaning of the first day of the month?

A new beginning and driving away bad things, how so?

According to folk belief, the first day of the month is a time when cosmic energy transforms, so burning incense and making offerings helps the household cleanse the misfortunes of the old month and receive new prosperity. Many people also avoid doing big things or speaking harsh words on this day because they believe it will affect the whole month.

Why does the first-day offering help connect with ancestors and deities?

The first-day offering tray is usually presented to the ancestors, the thổ công (land deity), and the thần tài (wealth deity) if there is one, to report household matters and pray for protection. Burning incense with the thought that the incense fire maintains the presence of ancestors in daily life creates an invisible thread binding the generations.

What does the first-day offering include?

The offering tray need not be elaborate, and usually includes:

• Incense, fresh flowers, clean water
• Betel and areca, tea, wine
• Rice, salt (to symbolise sufficiency)
• A tray of five fruits or seasonal fruits
• Optionally sticky rice, sweet soup, floating rice cakes, or vegetarian dishes depending on the family's circumstances

For business families, the first day of the month usually includes an offering to the thần tài and thổ địa with the wish for good trade.

According to Toan Ánh (2001), the sóc vọng days (the first day and the full moon day) are also days for offerings to the Thổ công. On these days, vegetarian offerings are the common form, with offerings consisting only of gold paper, silver paper, betel and water, and fruits; even so, not a few households choose savoury offerings, following the rule of offering first and eating afterwards, as long as sincerity is shown, and if the offering is savoury then wine is indispensable, besides which there may be sticky rice, chicken, pork trotters, or a whole tray of dishes. On death anniversaries and Tết, when the household prepares a feast, the offering to the Thổ công also uses the savoury feast. The book Phong tục thờ cúng tổ tiên trong gia đình Việt Nam by Toan Ánh (2001) states: "in every case, the ceremony announcing to the ancestors includes an offering to the Thổ công, and people invoke the protection of the Thổ công as they invoke the ancestors; although it is called an offering to the Thổ công, when making it one must invoke all the deities recorded in the tablet". In other words, the ceremony announcing to the ancestors cannot omit the offering to the Thổ công, and the invocation, though directed to the Thổ công, must still cover all the deities named in the tablet.

How is the first-day prayer text recited?

The prayer text is usually recited with sincerity, and exact wording is not mandatory. Its main content includes:

• Reverence to the deities governing the house (thổ công, táo quân)
• Reverence to the ancestors and departed grandparents
• A report on the Sóc day at the start of the month
• Prayers for peace, good fortune, and health for the whole family
• A promise to do good deeds and live well

A standard prayer text can be consulted from reputable cultural sources, but the most important thing remains the sincerity of the person praying. According to the records of Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), after arranging the offerings on the altar and lighting incense and lamps, the household head announces to the ancestors the reason for the ceremony and invites them to partake; the household head must invite all the forebears from the five generations down, together with all departed uncles, aunts, and relatives on both sides.. The nho script is the type commonly found in old prayer texts, yet the nôm script is also used by not a few people, especially in families where the husband has passed away and the wife is usually the one who attends to the offerings..

How should incense be offered on the first day of the month?

Incense is offered to the household deities first and then to the ancestors, and a house with a Buddhist altar offers only vegetarian offerings. That is the general principle recorded by Song Mai and Quỳnh Trang, compilers (2006), when discussing the custom of offering incense and worship at home by Vietnamese people on the occasions of tuần and tiết. According to these two authors, on those days the offerings usually include incense, lamps, tea, fruit, wine, clean water, betel and areca, and votive money; the lamps (candles) are usually a pair placed on either side of the altar, higher than the other items, symbolising the two discs of sun and moon, and are lit throughout the ceremony. According to the book's explanation, odd numbers are associated with the yin world, so when burning incense one must burn an odd number; the offerings on the altar may be shared, but if the altar has several incense bowls then incense must be burned in each of them..

According to Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), the closing sequence of the ceremony proceeds as follows: after the first round of incense is nearly spent, people light one more round, and only then ask permission to burn votive paper; while the votive paper burns, the cup of ceremonial wine is usually poured onto the pile of ashes, because folk belief holds that in this way the departed can receive the offerings that the living present, and the votive paper is transformed into real money and goods in the underworld; next, the offerings are taken down.. As for the gestures during worship, this book records that in a vái the fingers are interlaced, while in a lễ the two palms are pressed together at chest level.

Why must one wait until the incense round is finished before the closing rite?

Folk custom still avoids holding the closing rite early, and one must wait until the incense round has completely burned out, because people believe that the time the incense is still burning is when the ancestors are partaking of the offerings that their descendants reverently present.. According to the records of Toan Ánh (2001), at that moment the y môn curtain on the altar is lowered and is only raised after the closing rite is complete; the y môn is usually lowered only when the ceremony announcing to the ancestors includes a savoury feast, so that the forebears on the altar bed may enjoy the offerings without the descendants looking up.. Toan Ánh (2001) also holds that the closing rite is to thank the ancestors for witnessing the sincerity of the descendants and partaking of the offerings, because at the announcement the descendants have made the ancestors set aside other work to come and witness this ceremony; usually only the household head undertakes the closing rite, but in careful households, besides the household head, other members also perform this closing rite..

How do the first-day and full-moon offerings differ?

Although both are important offering days in the month, there is a distinction:

Both aim at peace, but the Sóc day emphasises beginnings, while the Vọng day is associated with fullness and completeness. It should be added that this distinction is the common understanding; the custom books consulted here, such as Toan Ánh (2001) and Song Mai, Quỳnh Trang, compilers (2006), usually group the first day and the full moon day together in the sóc vọng category and describe the offerings to the Thổ công on those two days as much the same.

A modern perspective and notes on practice

In contemporary society, many young people still maintain the first-day offering custom as a way of preserving cultural identity, even if they do not fully believe in the spiritual element. The offerings should be made in a civilised and thrifty manner, without waste and without superstition. What matters is a sincere and good-hearted attitude, not outward form.

Cultural experts advise that, whether or not one makes offerings, living well, doing good deeds, and being filial to one's parents mean far more than a large offering tray. However, maintaining this small ritual gives people a quiet space for reflection, gratitude, and turning towards their roots. The descriptions of custom above are mainly the way of worship of the Kinh people in the North according to the custom books cited, so when applying them in other regions or among other ethnic groups, they should be checked against local custom.