Cúng giải hạn Tam Tai (offering to resolve Tam Tai misfortune)
Also called: Cúng Tam Tai, Văn khấn Tam Tai
- Cầu an, giải hạn (prayers for peace, rites to ward off misfortune)
Culture and belief A record of custom.
In folk belief, for each age, every twelve years there come three consecutive years called Tam Tai, calculated by the tam hợp (trine) group. The person facing the misfortune sets up an offering outdoors with a tablet for the deity of the year and a bộ tam sên (three sacrificial items), says the prayers, then takes a packet of hair and fingernails to a road junction and discards it.
At a glance
- When it is held
- During the three Tam Tai years of one's age; by custom each year has a fixed offering day in the lunar calendar, some households only make the offering at the start of the year
- For whom
- The Tam Tai deity corresponding to the year (according to the table of twelve deities in this custom: Địa Vong (Earth Ruin), Địa Hình (Earth Punishment), Thiên Linh (Heavenly Spirit), Thiên Hình (Heavenly Punishment), Thiên Kiếp (Heavenly Calamity) ...); the prayer text also invokes Ngọc Hoàng Thượng đế (the Jade Emperor)
- Where
- Outdoors: in front of the house yard or on the rooftop; some people do it at a pagoda or invite a ritual master
- Who makes the offering
- The person facing Tam Tai misfortune themselves
Each family and each region may do it differently.
The offering tray
- When
- During the three Tam Tai years of one's age (calculated by the tam hợp group); by custom, each year corresponds to one deity, one fixed offering day in the lunar calendar and one direction to bow; some households make the offering monthly, some only at the start of the year
| Offering | Quantity | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objects | |||
| Tablet bearing the name of the deity of the year, red paper with black characters, pasted on a stick inserted into a cup of rice | Vegetarian | Required. The written side faces the person making the offering, placed at the innermost part of the offering table | |
| Small packet: a few strands of loose hair, fingernails, toenails of the person facing the misfortune, wrapped with a little loose change | 1 | Some guides list 3 small coins wrapped in red paper | |
| A piece of waistband cord cut into three segments | 1 | ||
| Meat and savoury dishes | |||
| Bộ tam sên (tam sanh): a piece of boiled meat, a boiled shrimp or dried shrimp, a boiled duck egg | 1 set | Meat or fish | Required |
| Incense, lamps, candles | |||
| incense | 3 sticks | Required | |
| Small candles | 3 pieces | Some guides list 1 pair | |
| Tea, rice wine, water | |||
| rice wine | 3 small glasses | Some sources add 3 cups of water or 3 glasses of tea | |
| Cigarettes | 3 cigarettes | ||
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | |||
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | 3 pieces | Vegetarian | |
| Votive paper | |||
| Giấy tiền vàng bạc (paper money and votive paper) | 3 stacks | ||
| Set of paper substitute items (male or female according to the person facing the misfortune) | 1 or 2 sets | ||
| Fruit | |||
| Plate of fresh fruit, vase of flowers | Vegetarian | ||
| Rice and salt | |||
| Plate of rice and salt | 1 | Vegetarian | |
Steps of the rite
- Look up the deity, offering day and bowing direction of the year (for example: in a Tý year the deity is Địa Vong, day 22, direction North; in a Thìn year the deity is Thiên Kiếp, day 13, direction Southeast)
- Arrange the offering table: flower vase on the right, fruit plate on the left, incense bowl in front, then candles, wine; the tablet at the innermost part; the bộ tam sên in the middle
- The person making the offering stands facing the direction of the year, lights incense, reads the prayer text
- Bow 3 times, prostrate 12 times, wait for one incense stick to burn out
- Take the packet of hair and fingernails and small change to a three-way or four-way crossroads and leave it there; or burn it together with paper money
- Scatter rice and salt on the road; bring back only the tray and utensils
What is avoided
- During the offering and while waiting for the incense to burn out, do not talk to anyone
- After taking the packet to the crossroads and leaving it, return without looking back
- The person facing the hạn must take the packet away and leave it themselves
- By custom, during the Tam Tai years avoid starting major matters such as building a house, marriage, or expanding business
Where the sources differ
- Offering day: according to the table of twelve deities, each year has its own day (the 13th, 14th, the fifteenth, the 22nd ...); one short prayer text has "ngày 15" printed in advance; Báo Thế giới và Việt Nam writes that the offering is made on a fixed day each month or on each occasion at the start of the year.
- Year of the Dragon: one guide states the offering is on the 13th; another writes that in the year Giáp Thìn the offering should be on the 14th.
Communities and regions
Sources
- Văn khấn tam tai giải hạn đầy đủ nhất năm 2023 (baoquocte.vn)
- Cách cúng giải hạn Tam Tai (hoatieu.vn)
- Văn khấn giải hạn Tam Tai (hoatieu.vn)
- Lễ cúng tam tai: phương pháp cúng, bài lễ, văn khấn, mâm lễ vật (mytour.vn)
- 2026 tam tai tuổi nào? Những điều nên làm trong năm tam tai (fptshop.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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