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Cúng 49 ngày (forty-ninth-day rite for the deceased)

Also called: Chung thất, Tuần chung, Lễ Chung thất, Thất thất, Cúng thất tuần, Văn khấn 49 ngày

  • Funeral and mourning rites

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cúng 49 ngày (forty-ninth-day rite for the deceased)2 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

In funeral custom shaped by Buddhism, on the forty-ninth day after a death the family holds the Chung thất rite for the deceased, led by the eldest son or the senior grandson. The common prayer text is shared with the hundredth-day rite (Tốt khốc).

At a glance

When it is held
The 49th day after the death
For whom
The deceased; ancestors and the deities worshipped in the house as witnesses
Where
Pagoda
Who makes the offering
The eldest son or the eldest grandson

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Common offerings

Other

  • Mâm lễ (offering tray, items not named)
When
The 49th day after death (lễ Chung thất)
OfferingNotes
Other
Offerings listed in the prayer textThe prayer text leaves a place for the head of the household to state them

Steps of the rite

  1. Reciting the prayerThe eldest son or the eldest grandson by the direct line stands and says the prayer
  2. Reciting the prayerInvite the deceased together with the ancestral spirits to come and receive the offerings
  3. Reciting the prayerRespectfully announce to the deities worshipped in the house

Good to know

  • Safety (fire, burning votive paper)Giác Ngộ newspaper notes that many families burn coil incense continuously on the altar of the newly deceased; it advises trimming the incense stubs to avoid fire, and short, fast-burning incense in small homes
  • According to Giác Ngộ newspaper, after the chung thất rite nearly all families stop the daily rice offering and only burn incense; some dismantle the spirit altar and move the portrait to the ancestral altar, others keep it until the 100th day, the first or the second anniversary

What is avoided

No source we have found describes what is avoided for this rite.

The custom

Phan Kế Bính (1915) writes: the forty-ninth day is called tuần chung thất; it has a sacrificial rite, and some families take it to a pagoda for a vegetarian ceremony, asking monks to recite repentance sutras for three nights or seven days and nights so that the soul may rise to the Pure Land.

In the Northern Buddhist view that Giác Ngộ newspaper draws from the Kṣitigarbha Sutra (kinh Địa Tạng), the consciousness of the dead passes through the intermediate state for at most 49 days before rebirth; so during those 49 days relatives offer rice and water daily, with more solemn offerings on each seventh day. On the seventh week, according to Buddhist guidance, many families make offerings to monks, release animals and give alms, dedicating the merit to the deceased.

Questions

What is the 49th-day offering called?

The 49th-day rite is called Chung thất, the seventh of the seven-day periods, closing seven weeks of seven days each. Phan Kế Bính (1915) writes: the forty-ninth day is called tuần chung thất.

Must the 49th-day offering fall exactly on the day?

By custom, the Chung thất rite is held on the 49th day after the death. Giác Ngộ newspaper, from the Buddhist point of view, holds that prayers for the deceased and merit dedicated to them need not wait for the 49th day and are better done the sooner the better; the article also notes places whose village custom holds a 100th-day rite instead of a 49th-day one.

Which sutras are recited for the 49th-day rite?

Phan Kế Bính (1915) notes that some families take the rite to a pagoda for a vegetarian ceremony, asking monks to recite repentance sutras for three nights or seven days and nights. Giác Ngộ newspaper writes that the recitation need not be the Medicine Buddha (Dược Sư), Kṣitigarbha (Địa Tạng) or Amitābha (Di Đà) sutra, alongside repentance rites, offerings to monks, alms and releasing animals, with the merit dedicated to the deceased.

Is rice offered to the newly deceased until the 49th or the 100th day?

There are two practices in two sources. Phan Kế Bính (1915) writes that at the 100th day (tốt khốc) a feast is offered and the twice-daily offerings then stop. Giác Ngộ newspaper writes that many families offer rice and water daily for at least 49 days, and that after the chung thất rite nearly all families stop the daily rice offering and only burn incense.

Are guests invited to the 49th-day offering?

By custom, yes. Phan Kế Bính (1915) writes that from the shrouding to the end of mourning, every periodic rite invited relatives, villagers and guests; one guide describes the Chung thất rite as an occasion for descendants and relatives to gather in memory of the deceased.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn 49 ngày, 100 ngày cho người đã mất (tuvi.vn)
  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Cúng cơm và thắp hương làm sao cho đúng? (giacngo.vn)
  • Cúng cơm cho hương linh sau ngày chung thất? (giacngo.vn)
  • Vì sao tuần thất thứ 7 (49 ngày) người thân thường cúng trai tăng, phóng sanh? (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Không cúng chung thất liệu người chết có siêu thoát? (giacngo.vn)

Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

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