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Cúng Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương tại nhà (offering to the Hùng Kings at home)

Also called: Giỗ Tổ mùng 10 tháng 3, Mâm cơm giỗ Tổ, Cúng vua Hùng tại gia

  • Ancestors and death anniversaries

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cúng Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương tại nhà (offering to the Hùng Kings at home)4 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương (death anniversary of the Hùng Kings) is a national ceremony; besides the ceremony at Đền Hùng, many households prepare an offering tray and offer incense at home to remember the merit of the Hùng Kings in founding the country. Since 2018 Phú Thọ has encouraged every household to prepare an offering tray in gratitude on the 10th day of the third lunar month.

At a glance

When it is held
The 10th day of the third lunar month
This year (2026)
Next year (2027)
For whom
The Hùng Kings, the National Ancestors of the Vietnamese people
Where
Ancestral altar
Who makes the offering
The whole family, children and siblings gather together to prepare the offering tray

Lunar calendar

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

A three-tier altar draped in red with a brass incense burner, two candlesticks, a vase of gladioli and a tall arranged fruit tray; behind it a large bronze-drum face, the words Lễ hội Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương and five-colour flags.
The altar to the Hùng Kings set up at Đặng Trần Côn lower secondary school for the Giỗ Tổ commemoration, 2009.Photo: Prenn, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Region:

Nationwide

When
The 10th day of the third lunar month, when the State and the people hold the Giỗ Tổ rites (Báo Lai Châu)
Where the offerings are set
The altar in the house
OfferingQuantityVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake)18 piecesMeat or fishSome guides note that they symbolize the 18 reigns of the Hùng Kings
bánh giầy (round sticky rice cake)18 piecesVegetarian
Meat and savoury dishes
Savory offerings: boiled rooster or pork, xôi gấc (red sticky rice) or xôi vò (mung bean sticky rice), fried spring rolls, giò lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage), bamboo shoot soup or mọc soupMeat or fish
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense, flowers, tea, five-fruit trayVegetarian
Tea, rice wine, water
Wine, clean water, rice, saltVegetarian

North

Phú Thọ, Việt Trì, xã Chu Hóa, Folk practice

When
On the 10th day of the third lunar month, at the same time as the Giỗ ceremony at điện Kính Thiên
Where the offerings are set
The family altar
OfferingQuantityVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake)Meat or fishRequired
bánh giầy (round sticky rice cake)VegetarianRequired
Plain cooked rice4 bowls placed at the four corners of the trayVegetarianRequired
Meat and savoury dishes
A bowl of dipping sauce1 bowl placed in the middle of the round trayMeat or fish

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Laying out the offeringsArrange the offering tray on the altar
  2. Reciting the prayerLight incense, read the prayer text
  3. Sharing the blessed offeringsTake down the offerings, the whole family partakes of the offerings

Northern Vietnam, Phú Thọ, Việt Trì, xã Chu Hóa, Folk practice

  1. PreparationChildren and grandchildren gather to cook the offering tray
  2. Laying out the offeringsPresent the offering tray on the altar, remember the merit of the Hùng Kings
  3. The elders tell the children and grandchildren about the Hùng Kings worship

What is avoided

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

The custom

According to an article by Nguyễn Tiến Khôi (Phú Thọ Historical Science Association), the Vietnamese chose the 10th day of the third lunar month as Giỗ Tổ; from the worship of each household's, clan's and village's ancestors, they jointly worship the Hùng Kings as the ancestors of the whole nation.

On 6/12/2012 (6 December 2012), UNESCO inscribed "Tín ngưỡng thờ cúng Hùng Vương ở Phú Thọ" (the worship of the Hùng Kings in Phú Thọ) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Báo Văn hoá).

Questions

What date is the Hùng Kings' anniversary?

Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương falls on the 10th day of the third lunar month every year (Báo Lai Châu, Báo Văn hoá). In 2027 (Đinh Mùi), the 10th day of the third lunar month falls on 16 April 2027.

What is on the Hùng Kings' anniversary offering tray?

An article on Phú Thọ (Vietnam News Agency, published in Báo Hà Tĩnh) notes that the tray for the founding kings needs bánh chưng, bánh giầy and plain rice, with a bowl of dipping sauce in the middle of the round tray and four bowls of rice at the four corners. One guide adds incense, flowers, tea, a five-fruit tray, rice wine, water, rice, salt and savory dishes such as boiled chicken, xôi gấc, fried spring rolls and giò lụa.

How is the Hùng Kings' anniversary observed at home?

In Phú Thọ, the family gathers to cook a tray of food and offers it at the family altar on the 10th day of the third lunar month, at the same time as the ceremony at điện Kính Thiên; preparing such trays at home began in 2018 in Chu Hóa and Hy Cương communes (Việt Trì city) and then spread (Báo Hà Tĩnh, citing the Vietnam News Agency).

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương tại nhà, đền thờ (dienmayxanh.com)
  • Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương: nguồn gốc, ý nghĩa, phong tục cần biết (vankhan.vn)
  • Tín ngưỡng thờ cúng Hùng Vương thể hiện đạo lý uống nước nhớ nguồn của người Việt, ThS Nguyễn Tiến Khôi, đăng lại từ baophutho.vn (baolaichau.vn)
  • Tín ngưỡng thờ cúng Hùng Vương: di sản mang đậm bản sắc cội nguồn dân tộc Việt (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Mâm cơm giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương, nét đẹp văn hóa người dân Phú Thọ (baohatinh.vn)

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

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