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Lễ giải hạn đầu năm (year-beginning rite to ward off misfortune) of the Tày and Nùng peoples

Also called: Then giải hạn, Lễ cầu an đầu năm của người Tày

  • Rites of ethnic communities

Culture and belief A record of custom.

By custom, at the beginning of the year the family invites a Then master, a Tào master or a pựt master to the house to perform a cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) rite: offering incense, pouring tea, presenting the sớ (petition), casting the divination blocks. The words of the offering are Then words in the ethnic language, and the newspapers do not record them.

At a glance

When it is held
After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year), from the first lunar month to the beginning of the second lunar month
For whom
Ancestors, the saints, Bà Mụ (Mẻ bjooc)

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

North

Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Văn Quan, Lạng Sơn, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)

When
After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year), the master chooses an auspicious day
Where the offerings are set
In the middle of the house, below the ancestors' altar; or at the master's house
Who makes the offering
Then master (mè then) or Tào master (lạo slay)
OfferingQuantityVegetarian or notNotes
Meat and savoury dishes
Chicken3Meat or fishRequired. Basic offerings
Pig's head1Meat or fishOptional. May additionally include
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Cakes and candiesVegetarian
Other
Three trays: the saints' tray, the tray of the ancestral grandparents, and the tray of hung tin quan hạn3Required. Each tray has one bowl of raw rice with incense stuck in it and a paper-cut effigy, and one boiled chicken with the whole gizzard, liver and heart

Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Quảng Uyên, Cao Bằng, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)

When
After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year)
Where the offerings are set
At the house of the head of the household or at the master's house
Who makes the offering
Then master, pựt master (giàng) or Tào master

Tày, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)

When
The end of the first lunar month, the beginning of the second lunar month
Where the offerings are set
On the stilt house of the head of the household
Who makes the offering
Then master; nàng hương (unmarried girls who assist with the rite), chàng khóa
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Objects
Giải hạn tray: a drawing of a tiger, a drawing of the five demons, a five-colour flag, rice, an oil lamp, a bowl of rice for giải hạn, effigiesVegetarianRequired
Mâm chúng sinh (tray for all beings): five-colour flag, rice, incense, foodMeat or fishRequired
Incense, lamps, candles
Mâm bà mụ (tray for the Midwife Goddesses): boiled chicken, flower plant, incense, lamp, books and notebooks, five grains, cakes and sweetsMeat or fishRequired
Other
Mâm cốc cầu (tray for the cốc cầu rite): boiled chicken, rice, incense, cầu nối số (bridge for joining the thread of life), cầu mệnh (bridge for life), red cloth and black cloth lining the bridge, cakes and sweets, flowers and fruitRequired
Meat and savoury dishes
Mâm tam sinh (slam sleng) (three-living-things tray): one live chicken, two pieces of raw meat, rice, incenseMeat or fishRequired
Đa tháp: one chicken, one duck, a cage for the chicken and duck, rice, wine, a carrying pole, one whole banana bunchMeat or fishRequired

Communities and regions

More about Lễ giải hạn đầu năm (year-beginning rite to ward off misfortune) of the Tày and Nùng peoples

Sources

  • Độc đáo lễ giải hạn đầu năm của người Tày, Nùng (baolangson.vn)
  • Lễ giải hạn đầu năm của người Tày, Nùng ở Cao Bằng (dantocmiennui.baotintuc.vn)
  • Nghi thức văn hóa tín ngưỡng Lễ Cầu an của dân tộc Tày (baodantoc.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.