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First-of-the-year well offering

Also called: Tết Giếng, Cúng tạ giếng, Cúng thần giếng, Lấy nước đầu năm, Cúng giếng đêm giao thừa

  • House and land

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for First-of-the-year well offering5 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, on giao thừa (New Year's Eve) night or in the morning of the first days of the year, people set up an offering beside the village well or the household well to thank the well god and to take the first gourd of water of the year. In some places, this is combined with the Tết Nhà, Tết Vườn, Tết Giếng offerings on the third day.

At a glance

When it is held
On giao thừa (New Year's Eve) night or the morning of the first day of Tết; in some places, the third day of Tết
For whom
Thần Giếng (Well God), Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ địa (Earth God), Long mạch (dragon vein), and deities governing water sources
Where
Beside the village well or the household well; for a drilled well, the offering tray is placed in a clean spot near the well
Who makes the offering
One representative per household

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

When
On giao thừa (New Year's Eve) night after the outdoor offering, or in the morning of the first day of Tết; in some places, the offering is made on the third day together with the year-end thanks offerings (Tết Nhà, Tết Vườn, Tết Giếng)
OfferingQuantityVegetarian or notNotes
Incense, lamps, candles
Đèn cầy (candles)1 pair
Flowers
Flower vase1 vase
Fruit
Ripe bananas1 bunchVegetarianSome guides note a five-fruit tray
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup)Vegetarian
Betel leaves and areca nuts
Betel leaves and areca nutsVegetarianSome guides note 5 betel leaves, 5 areca nuts
Tea, rice wine, water
rice wineOne guide gives "rượu thuốc" (medicinal wine), another gives white wine, tea, filtered water
Votive paper
votive paper and paper money
Rice and salt
Rice and saltVegetarian

Steps of the rite

  1. On the afternoon of the 30th of Tết, draw water and fill the jars and vessels for storage
  2. Set up the offering, read the well prayer text
  3. Burn votive paper, drop three coins into the well
  4. Draw the first water of the year (the custom of drawing water lasts about half an hour from giao thừa)
  5. Bring the water home, perform the offering at home

What is avoided

  • Do not pour wine, salt, or rice into the well (according to some guides)
  • Until the offering and burning of votive paper are finished, do not draw the first gourd of water

Where the sources differ

  • Order of drawing water and making the offering: both guides have the sentence "after the offering, burn votive paper and drop three coins into the well, then draw water", but there is also the sentence "after drawing water, make the offering at the well altar, then go home".

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Bài cúng Giếng đêm Giao thừa, đầu năm (hoatieu.vn)
  • Bài cúng giếng đầu năm (docungtamlinh.com.vn)

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

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