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Cải táng, bốc mộ (reburial, exhumation)

Also called: Cải cát, Sang cát, Bốc mả, Cải mả, Sang tiểu, Sửa mộ, Dời mộ, Chuyển mộ, Cát táng

  • Funeral and mourning rites

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cải táng, bốc mộ (reburial, exhumation)9 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By the custom of the North and North Central regions, after the mourning period ends the descendants open the grave, arrange the remains in a tiểu (small earthenware urn) and rebury them elsewhere, offering prayers to the earth god of both places before and after. One newspaper article says the South does not have this custom. The pagoda prepares a separate ritual consisting of six chanting sessions.

At a glance

When it is held
After the three-year mourning period ends or a few more years; also done when the grave must be repaired or moved
For whom
The deceased; Long mạch (dragon vein), Sơn thần (Mountain God), Thổ thần (Earth God) at the old grave and the new grave; ancestors

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Region:

Nationwide

When
The earlier rites are held 7 to 10 days before the day of exhumation, at least 3 days; the hour for digging and lowering into the grave depends on what the family arranges
Where the offerings are set
The old grave, the new grave plot, and before the altar at home
Who makes the offering
The family does it themselves; one should go to the pagoda to hold a cầu siêu (prayer for the dead) rite beforehand
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
At the grave: incense, fruit, plain water, xôi (steamed sticky rice) or a bowl of white rice, cakes and sweetsVegetarianThe type and number of fruits are optional
Incense, lamps, candles
At home: incense, fruit, a tray of vegetarian rice, fresh milkVegetarian

North

When
After three years of mourning end, or a few more years
Where the offerings are set
The từ đường (family ancestral house), the old grave, and the plot where the new grave is placed
Who makes the offering
The children of the deceased
OfferingNotes
Objects
Tiểu sành (small earthenware urn)Required. Wealthy households use a quan quách (coffin and outer coffin) with khâm liệm (encoffining rites) as at the time of hung táng (burial)
Tea, rice wine, water
Nước vang (scented water) to sprinkle on the bones

Central

North Central Coast, Nghệ Tĩnh, Thanh Chương, Folk practice

When
After being buried for more than 3 years
Where the offerings are set
The common cemetery of the clan branch
Who makes the offering
The family members of the clan branch

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

  1. Offer prayers at the old grave, announce the chosen day of exhumation, and invite the spirit to come home to hear the sutras
  2. Offering at the plot of land where the new grave is placed
  3. Offering at home
  4. Offering before the hour of digging the grave
  5. Offering at the lowering of the coffin into the grave at the new grave
  6. Thank-offering at home after completion
  7. Each session: nguyện hương (incense invocation), văn bạch (spoken petition), lễ tán Phật (praise of the Buddha), tụng kinh (sutra chanting), phục nguyện (renewal of vows), hồi hướng (dedication of merit), tam tự quy (three refuges)

Northern Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. The day before, a lễ cáo (announcement rite) is held at the từ đường
  2. On the day of reburial, prayers are offered to Thổ công (Earth God of the house) at the place of the new grave; before and after moving the grave, prayers are offered to Long mạch, Sơn thần, Thổ thần at the old and the new places
  3. Open the grave, gather the bones and arrange them in the tiểu sành, sprinkle nước vang
  4. Cover it very tightly, not letting sunlight enter
  5. Take it to be buried in another plot; a reburied grave is mounded in a round shape (a hung táng grave is mounded in a square shape)

North Central Coast, Nghệ Tĩnh, Thanh Chương, Folk practice

  1. Exhume the grave and bring the remains up to the clan branch's own plot in the cemetery
  2. Arrange the graves by rank: ancestors in the top row, a wife's grave beside her husband's (men on the left, women on the right), then the later generations

Southern Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. According to the newspaper article, the South does not have the custom of cải táng: the deceased is buried once, and the remains are not exhumed into a tiểu

What is avoided

Northern Vietnam, Folk practice

  • When opening the grave, if one encounters a golden snake, red silk threads wrapped around the coffin, or a warm dry grave pit, or water pooling like milk, it is considered a grave that has kết phát (gathered auspicious energy), and it must be filled in at once

North Central Coast, Nghệ Tĩnh, Thanh Chương, Folk practice

  • A person who committed suicide may not be buried in the clan's common cemetery

Where the sources differ

  • Hour for bốc mộ (exhumation): folk custom exhumes at night and covers the remains so that no sunlight reaches the bones (Việt Nam phong tục; Buddhist guidance recounts that notion); two pieces of Buddhist guidance say it is not necessarily done at night, and that there is no need to make much of choosing the hour, year, month, or direction.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Bốc mộ, cải táng và những điều cần làm trước khi bốc mộ (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương X Cải táng (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Tại sao ở miền Bắc có tục cải táng, miền Nam không? (nongnghiepmoitruong.vn)
  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)

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

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