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Lễ cầu an đầu năm (New Year prayer for peace and safety)

Also called: Cầu bình an đầu năm, Dâng sớ cầu an, Lễ cầu quốc thái dân an

  • Cầu an, giải hạn (prayers for peace, rites to ward off misfortune)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ cầu an đầu năm (New Year prayer for peace and safety)6 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, at the start of the year Vietnamese people go to a pagoda or ask the pagoda to perform a ceremony praying for the family to have a peaceful year. The pagoda explains that this is an occasion for repentance and good deeds followed by dedication of merit, unlike the lễ dâng sao giải hạn (rite to offer stars and ward off misfortune) of folk belief. The text includes a prayer at the pagoda and the repentance chants for cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) recited during the ceremony.

At a glance

When it is held
From Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) to the full moon of the first lunar month; in Huế it is held in a spread-out way from the 2nd day of Tết
For whom
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas (Quán Thế Âm, Dược Sư), the Three Jewels
Where
Pagoda

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Common offerings

Incense, lamps, candles

  • Hương (incense sticks)

Flowers

  • Hoa tươi (fresh flowers)
  • Hoa sen (lotus)
  • Hoa huệ (tuberose)
  • Hoa mẫu đơn (peony)
  • Hoa ngâu (Chinese rice flower)
  • Hoa cúc (chrysanthemum)

Fruit

  • Trái cây (fruit)

Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes

  • Oản (molded sticky rice offering cake)
  • Xôi (sticky rice)
  • Chè (sweet dessert soup)

Objects

  • Sớ (written petition)
  • Tiền (real money, red envelopes)
Region:

Nationwide

When
From Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) to the full moon of the first lunar month
Where the offerings are set
At the pagoda: the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar first, then the nhà thờ Mẫu (Mother Goddess hall), and finally the nhà Tổ (ancestral hall of the pagoda)
Who makes the offering
Buddhists and local people perform the ceremony themselves; the pagoda holds a general cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Incense, fresh flowers, ripe fruit, oản phẩm (rice-flour offerings), xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup)VegetarianVegetarian offerings
Flowers
Lotus flowers, huệ flowers, mẫu đơn flowers, ngâu flowers, chrysanthemumsFlowers for offering to the Buddha according to one source
Objects
Sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety)Optional. If a sớ (petition) is written, it is placed on the offering tray
Donation moneyOptional. Placed into the donation box

Central

Huế, Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Buddhist

When
From the 1st and 2nd days of Tết until the full moon of the first lunar month; Huế people do not concentrate it on the full moon day
Where the offerings are set
At pagodas in the city and in villages (more than 100 pagodas in the province hold the Lễ cầu an đầu năm, according to the provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Board)
Who makes the offering
Monks and nuns preside over the ceremony; families of lay Buddhists and Buddhists submit sớ cầu an (petitions for peace and safety) and attend the ceremony on the registered day
OfferingNotes
Objects
The family's sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety)Some pagodas only hold a ceremony for quốc thái dân an (national peace and people's safety) and do not accept petitions from individual households
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense offered to the Buddha

South

TP.HCM, Buddhist

When
The full moon of the first lunar month; some people come to the pagoda a day early
Where the offerings are set
Pagodas, such as Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda (former District 3)
OfferingNotes
Objects
Cầu an petition issued by the pagodaBuddhists register their names and ages early to receive it
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense, lamps, lotus flowersOffered at the foot of the Quán Thế Âm (Avalokiteshvara) statue in the pagoda yard

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

  1. PreparationPrepare vegetarian offerings, dress properly
  2. Enter the pagoda through the right door, leave through the left door (according to one source)
  3. Reciting the prayerPresent the offerings, light incense, read the prayer text at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar
  4. Make offerings at the other altars
  5. Put donation money into the box, do not place it on the altar

Huế, Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Buddhist

  1. PreparationThe family submits the sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety) and registers the day to attend the ceremony with the pagoda
  2. The pagoda holds the cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony over many sessions in the first lunar month, each session brief
  3. Some pagodas chant the Dược Sư sutra, light Diên Thọ lamps, and open a Dược Sư dharma assembly to pray for quốc thái dân an (national peace and people's safety)
  4. Those who cannot attend may offer incense to the Buddha and pray at home

Southern Vietnam, TP.HCM, Buddhist

  1. PreparationRegister names and ages with the pagoda and receive the cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) petition
  2. Reciting the prayerSit in the main hall, tuck the petition on the head and pray with joined palms while the monk reads out the names and ages
  3. Lighting incenseBurn incense and offer lamps and lotus flowers at the foot of the Quán Thế Âm statue in the yard
  4. Some people take fish to the canal beside the pagoda to release them

Good to know

  • Safety (fire, burning votive paper)Buddhist guidance notes that many pagodas now do not allow incense to be burned inside for safety; visitors burn it at the large censer in front of the pagoda, then go to each altar to pray
  • SubstitutesThe fullest offering at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar has five items: incense, candles, flowers, fruit and water; without all of them, just one plate of incense, flowers and fruit is placed at the Tam Bảo altar
  • Pháp luật Việt Nam newspaper notes that worshippers wear neat, decent clothing in harmonious colours

What is avoided

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

  • OfferingsDo not present meat offerings in the Buddha hall; meat offerings are presented only at the altars of the Thánh (Saints), Mẫu (Mother Goddesses), and Đức Ông if the pagoda has them
  • OfferingsDo not place votive paper, hell money, or real money on the altars of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Huế, Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Buddhist

  • OfferingsDo not burn votive paper during the cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony (according to the announcement of the provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Board)

The custom

According to Pháp luật Việt Nam newspaper, the cầu an rite is a pagoda rite at the start of the year, praying for a peaceful mind and for the family and relatives to be safe; Buddhism does not teach the star-offering rite to ward off misfortune (dâng sao giải hạn), which comes from Tang-dynasty Taoism in China and was held at temples and palaces of the Mother Goddesses rather than at pagodas.

Questions

What is the cầu an rite?

The cầu an rite is held by pagodas at the start of the year, praying for a peaceful mind and for the family and relatives to be safe (Pháp luật Việt Nam newspaper). Families submit cầu an petitions with their names and ages and the pagoda performs the rite; according to Báo Văn hóa, some pagodas in Huế recite the Medicine Buddha (Dược Sư) sutra and light Diên Thọ (longevity) lamps.

On which days is the New Year cầu an rite held?

The cầu an rite is held from Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) to the full moon of the first lunar month. In Huế people do not crowd onto the full-moon day: Thiên Minh Pagoda holds cầu an rites from the 2nd day of Tết through the full moon of the first month. In TP.HCM, Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda holds the rite on the afternoon of the 14th of the first month and on the full-moon day.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Lễ cầu an và cầu tài lộc đầu năm mới (baophapluat.vn)
  • Có nên cúng sao giải hạn tập thể? (baophapluat.vn)
  • Người Huế "cầu an" trong thầm lặng (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Đi chùa cầu an ở Huế: không có cảnh ồn ào chen lấn, tập trung đông đúc (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Người Sài Gòn dâng sớ cầu an tại chùa Vĩnh Nghiêm rằm tháng Giêng (thanhnien.vn)
  • Rằm tháng giêng 2026 ở TP.HCM: Đi chùa, thả hoa đăng, cầu an tại đâu? (thanhnien.vn)
  • Rằm tháng Giêng, người dân TP.HCM đi chùa cầu an (plo.vn)

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

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