Tế âm linh (offering to wandering souls)
Also called: Tế cô đàn, Lễ tế âm hồn, Cúng hăm ba (Huế), Tế chiến sĩ trận vong
- Offerings to wandering spirits
Culture and belief A record of custom.
Tế âm linh is a ceremony of the whole village or ward to remember those who died with no one left to worship them. In Huế, the 23rd day of the fifth lunar month is the common death anniversary of those who died when the capital fell in 1885; every household sets up an offering tray in front of the door, and the miếu Âm Hồn and the đàn Âm Hồn hold tế ceremonies. In An Khê and the Bình Định region, the miếu cô hồn and the nhà âm linh beside the communal house are named Thanh Minh tự.
At a glance
- When it is held
- In Huế: the 23rd day of the fifth lunar month; at communal houses in the central region: incorporated into the spring and autumn tế ceremonies, the full moon of the seventh lunar month, or Thanh minh
- For whom
- Âm linh and cô hồn of the whole community: people who died in upheavals, soldiers killed in battle, those who died with no one to worship them
Each family and each region may do it differently.
The offering tray
Central
Huế, Huế, Folk practice
- When
- The 23rd day of the fifth lunar month (the day Huế capital fell, in the year Ất Dậu 1885); households make offerings from the 23rd to the 30th of the fifth month, from afternoon to night
- Where the offerings are set
- The offering tray is placed in the yard or in front of the house; only households with a family member who died in the house make offerings at the altar
- Who makes the offering
- Every family, village, and ward organization in Huế
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Incense, flowers, tea, fruit, betel leaves and areca nuts | Vegetarian | |
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup) | Vegetarian | |
| Vegetarian dishes | ||
| Cassava, sweet potatoes | Vegetarian | |
| Votive paper | ||
| Paper money and votive paper | ||
| Tea, rice wine, water | ||
| A large water jar or a barrel of tea | Vegetarian | Required. Some guides say "must remember to have", placed beside the offering tray |
| Objects | ||
| A fire lit beside the offering tray | Required. Some guides say "must remember to have" | |
Huế, Huế, Village communal-house rites
- When
- The 22nd and 23rd days of the fifth lunar month; on the 12th day of the sixth lunar month there is the custom of collective grave visiting for those who died
- Where the offerings are set
- The miếu Âm Hồn (at the corner of Mai Thúc Loan and Lê Thánh Tôn streets, inside the Thành Nội) and the đàn Âm Hồn
- Who makes the offering
- At the miếu: village elders serve as chief celebrant and ritual chanter, the phường bát âm plays music, in the evening monks mount the altar for chẩn tế; at the đàn Âm Hồn: the Huế Monuments Conservation Centre organizes it
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Other | ||
| Traditional tế offerings | ||
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Boiled corn, sweet soup, fruit, cháo thánh, rice balls, salt | Vegetarian | The offering tray at the đàn Âm Hồn |
| Xôi and zinc coins placed in a large tray | Vegetarian | The presiding monk scoops and tosses them into the yard during the chẩn tế ceremony, children pick them up |
Central Highlands, An Khê, Gia Lai, Village communal-house rites
- When
- Falling within the major festivals of the communal house during the year: cúng khai sơn (opening of the mountains, early in the first lunar month), quý xuân (the rằm of the second lunar month), the rằm of the seventh lunar month, quý thu (the rằm of the eighth lunar month); separately, Thanh Minh tự in An Phú ward holds its offering at the Thanh minh festival.
- Where the offerings are set
- The shrine of wandering spirits stands separately, or the house of the dead is next to the communal house's deity hall, bearing the name "Thanh Minh tự"; also called miếu âm hồn (shrine of wandering souls), nhà âm hồn (house of wandering souls), nhà cô hồn (house of wandering spirits).
- Who makes the offering
- Villagers, the tế board of the communal house
Huế, làng Thủ Lễ, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites
- When
- Once every three years, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month (offering to the childless dead of the clans in the village)
- Where the offerings are set
- Set out in three bays, in each bay a throne is placed on the inner side, long mats are spread as seats, before each throne an incense table with a censer, box, and lamp; in the courtyard a table is placed as a place for washing hands
- Who makes the offering
- Three tế chủ (chief sacrificers) take turns serving as clan heads; one xướng (chanter), one reader of the chúc (eulogy), six dẫn lễ (ritual guides), all wearing ceremonial robes
Huế, làng Mỹ Lợi, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites
- When
- On the 12th day of the second lunar month, Hội Mỹ Ích holds a joint offering from early morning to evening (the hội was founded in 1851); the village also holds an offering at the nghĩa trủng (burial ground for the unclaimed dead) when it chạp mộ (visits and tends graves)
- Where the offerings are set
- The area of the đình and market of Mỹ Lợi
- Who makes the offering
- The branches of Hội Mỹ Ích: the Tư Văn branch handles the offering to the tiền hiền (founding ancestors), the women's branch handles the offering to the female tiền hiền
Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites, At the grave
- When
- In the twelfth lunar month each year, on the occasion when the village chạp mả (visits and tends graves) (according to the rule establishing the nghĩa trủng from the 17th year of Tự Đức, 1864)
- Where the offerings are set
- The nghĩa trủng area (the burial ground of graves that no one offers to) of the xã thôn (village commune)
- Who makes the offering
- Villagers go together to tảo mộ (tend the graves)
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Pig, xôi (steamed sticky rice), wine, fruit, rice, porridge, clothes, hats, paper money | Meat or fish | The offerings of the offering at the nghĩa trủng were provided by the mandarin who sent people to sacrifice once a year, according to the approval of King Tự Đức that the journal quotes from Đại Nam thực lục |
Steps of the rite
Huế, Huế, Folk practice
- Set up the offering tray in the yard or in front of the door
- Place the water jar and light the fire beside the offering tray
- Light incense and pray in remembrance of those who died
Huế, Huế, Village communal-house rites
- On the 22nd: put up the tent, decorate the miếu and the outdoor offering tray
- Morning of the 23rd, around 7 o'clock: khai kinh, sutra chanting
- Noon of the 23rd: noon offering
- 14:00 on the 23rd: tế âm hồn (offering to wandering souls) according to the tế ritual, reading the văn tế (sacrificial oration)
- Evening of the 23rd: the đăng đàn chẩn tế ceremony led by one presiding monk and six sutra masters
- After the ceremony: release birds, eels, and fish
Central Highlands, An Khê, Gia Lai, Village communal-house rites
- Offering to the cô hồn (wandering spirits) and âm linh (wandering souls) together with the sacrifice of the communal house
- Reading the văn tế (sacrificial oration) and văn chúc (eulogy) that name Tiêu Diện Đại Lực Sĩ (the one worshipped to govern the wandering spirits)
Huế, làng Thủ Lễ, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites
- Reading the văn tế for the cô hồn vô tự (wandering spirits with no descendants) of the clans in the village
Huế, làng Mỹ Lợi, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites
- Offering to the cô hồn
- Offering to the male tiền hiền
- Offering to the female tiền hiền
- After each round of offering, the feast is taken down and the poor and beggars are invited to share it
Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites, At the grave
- The whole village goes out to the burial ground to clear grass and tend the graves
- Setting out the offerings, in many places with the reading of a văn tế (sacrificial oration)
Where the sources differ
- Year the shrine and the altar were built: one account records that the miếu Âm Hồn (shrine of wandering spirits) was built from the years 1885; another account records that the đàn Âm Hồn (altar of wandering spirits) was established by the court in 1894 under the reign of Thành Thái, nine years after the fall of the citadel. The two structures are different, and newspaper articles sometimes confuse the names.
- Ritual of sacrifice: a survey article records that the sacrifice at the shrine followed "nghi thức tế lễ của Khổng giáo" (Confucian ritual of sacrifice) and only then came the chẩn tế (offering to the hungry spirits) by the monk; the sacrifice at the đàn Âm Hồn in recent years includes quán tẩy (purification), thượng hương (offering incense), hiến tước (offering wine), reading the chúc văn (eulogy), and presenting offerings; in 2017 there was for the first time a great Buddhist requiem ceremony at the altar.
Communities and regions
Sources
- Lễ tế âm hồn ngày thất thủ kinh đô (vankhan.vn)
- Người Huế cúng lễ Âm hồn, cơ hội phát huy văn hóa bản địa (doanhnghiephoinhap.vn)
- Trang nghiêm Lễ tế Đàn Âm Hồn tưởng niệm ngày Thất thủ Kinh đô năm 1885 (baophapluat.vn)
- Di tích miếu Âm Hồn tại thành phố Huế (mytour.vn)
- Lần đầu tổ chức đại lễ cầu siêu ở đàn Âm Hồn (sggp.org.vn)
- Về nội hàm của chữ 'Tự' trong 'Thanh Minh tự' ở An Khê, Gia Lai (doanhnhanplus.vn)
- Trích tuyển văn tế làng xã Thừa Thiên Huế, Phần thứ ba: Văn tế trong các lễ cúng kỵ hàng năm. Chuyên đề của Tạp chí Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, số 7 (141), 2017 (vjol.info.vn)
Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
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