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Cúng giỗ hết (Đại tường) (final death-anniversary offering)

Also called: Giỗ thứ hai, Giỗ mãn tang, Hết tang

  • Ancestors and death anniversaries

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cúng giỗ hết (Đại tường) (final death-anniversary offering)7 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, giỗ hết is the final death anniversary within the mourning period, usually held more solemnly than giỗ đầu (first death anniversary); after this giỗ the family ends mourning. From the third year onward the giỗ becomes a giỗ thường (ordinary death anniversary).

At a glance

When it is held
The second year after the date of death; some accounts give 2 years and 3 months after the date of death. The day before there is a rite reporting to the deities
For whom
The spirit of the deceased; ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides; Thổ thần (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), Long mạch (Dragon Vein) are invoked first
Where
Ancestral altar
Who makes the offering
Children and grandchildren; after this rite mourning dress is ended

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Common offerings

Incense, lamps, candles

  • Hương (incense sticks)

Flowers

  • Hoa tươi (fresh flowers)

Fruit

  • Trái cây (fruit)

Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes

  • Oản (molded sticky rice offering cake)
  • Xôi (sticky rice)

Meat and savoury dishes

  • Thịt lợn (pork, preparation unspecified)
  • Tôm (shrimp)
  • Cua (crab)
  • Gà (chicken, preparation unspecified)

Votive paper

  • Vàng mã (votive paper offerings)
Region:

Nationwide

When
The death date of the deceased in the second year; the day before, a report is made to the deities
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Votive paper
Votive paper, incense, flowers, phẩm oản (offerings of steamed rice cakes)Vegetarian
Fruit
Seasonal fruitVegetarian
Meat and savoury dishes
Savory offering tray: pork, shrimp, crab, xôi (steamed sticky rice), chickenMeat or fishSome guides record that giỗ hết is held solemnly

North

Red River Delta, Hà Nội, Folk practice

When
The giỗ marking that mourning is about to end or has ended; the timing is not the same in every household
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Meat and savoury dishes
Giỗ feast: boiled chicken, xôi (steamed sticky rice), giò (Vietnamese sausage), nem (spring rolls), bamboo shoot soup, bóng (puffed pork skin), mọc (pork balls), mushroomsMeat or fishDishes commonly found in Hà Nội and northern delta feasts
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
A full bowl of rice, a boiled egg, a pinch of saltMeat or fishAccording to the memory of some suburban villages, not a mandatory offering

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Reciting the prayerThe day before: invoke Thổ Công, Táo quân, Long mạch, reporting that tomorrow is the day of giỗ hết
  2. Reciting the prayerOn the day itself: invoke the ancestors, invite the spirit of the deceased being commemorated
  3. After the rite the family ends mourning dress (end of mourning)
  4. After giỗ hết a good day is chosen for the cải cát (reburial) rite

Red River Delta, Hà Nội, Folk practice

  1. Giỗ đầu and giỗ hết may be held on a large scale, inviting relatives and villagers
  2. Later giỗ occasions mainly invite siblings, children and grandchildren, and close relatives

What is avoided

No source we have found describes what is avoided for this rite.

The custom

Phan Kế Bính (1915) calls giỗ hết the đại tường rite; he records that from the shrouding through tiểu tường and đại tường, at every observance rich families hold grand sacrifices and poor families simple offerings, and relatives and guests are always invited.

Where the sources differ

  • Timing: one guide records giỗ hết as the giỗ "vào 2 năm 3 tháng sau ngày mất"; another records it as held on the death date in the second year; the văn tế text in the first guide again writes "hăm bốn tháng tròn"
  • Ending mourning dress: one guide notes that the family ends mourning dress after giỗ hết; Phan Kế Bính records that giỗ hết comes after two years, and only two months after đại tường is a day chosen for the rite of removing mourning, called đàm tế, when all mourning clothes are put away

Questions

Is the final death anniversary after 2 years or 3 years?

Giỗ hết is the second death anniversary: Phan Kế Bính (1915) records that after two years comes giỗ hết (đại tường), and two months later the đàm tế rite ends all mourning dress; one guide gives the date of death in the second year, another gives 2 years and 3 months after the death. The figure of three years is the mourning period: Phan Kế Bính notes that after the first anniversary mourning clothes are worn until the end of three years.

What are tiểu tường and đại tường?

Tiểu tường is the first anniversary, after one year; đại tường is the final anniversary, after two years (Phan Kế Bính, 1915). He notes that between the two there are two burnings of votive paper: the first is called mã biếu (gift paper), the second is the paper actually offered to the deceased.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn Thổ Thần, Táo Quân, Long Mạch và các vị Thần Linh trước Lễ Đại Tường, Giỗ Hết (tuvi.vn)
  • Văn khấn Lễ Tiểu Tường và Lễ Đại Tường, Giỗ Đầu, Giỗ thứ Hai (tuvi.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)

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.