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Lễ cáo Long thần Thổ địa (rite to inform the Long thần and Thổ địa) before digging the grave

Also called: Tế thổ thần, Tạ thổ thần, Lễ phá thổ, Khấn đào huyệt

  • Funeral and mourning rites

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ cáo Long thần Thổ địa (rite to inform the Long thần and Thổ địa) before digging the grave2 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, before digging the grave the tang chủ (chief mourner) prays to the earth deity of the place where the burial will be made, to ask for a resting place for the deceased; when lowering the coffin there is again a rite of sacrifice to the earth deity. The pagoda calls it the rite of tạ thổ thần (thanking the earth deity), praying also to the hương linh (spirits) of the surrounding graves.

At a glance

When it is held
Before digging the grave; when lowering the coffin, the earth deity is again offered sacrifice
For whom
Long thần, Thổ địa, Hậu thổ at the place where the grave is set
Who makes the offering
Tang chủ (chief mourner)

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Folk practice, Address to the deities

When
Before digging the grave; when lowering the coffin, the earth deity of that place is again offered sacrifice
Where the offerings are set
At the plot of land where the grave is set
OfferingNotes
Offerings listed in the prayer textThe prayer text leaves a place for the tang chủ to state himself

Buddhist, Address to the deities

When
Before lowering the coffin
Where the offerings are set
At the grave

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice, Address to the deities

  1. Pray to Long thần and Thổ địa to ask for land for the deceased
  2. The thầy địa lý (geomancer) phân kim (determines the compass directions), aligns the orientation
  3. Wait for the giờ hoàng đạo (auspicious hour), then lower the coffin

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist, Address to the deities

  1. Sái tịnh (sprinkle purifying water), trị huyệt (treat the grave) with cam lồ water
  2. Tạ thổ thần (thanking the earth deity): pray to the earth deity and the hương linh (spirits) of the surrounding graves, announcing that a new hương linh has come to reside together

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Nghi thức tang lễ theo truyền thống Phật giáo (phatgiao.org.vn)

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

More ritesDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, the life cycle, village and ethnic rites.