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Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)

Also called: Tết cơm mới, Tiết Thường tân, Rằm Hạ nguyên, Lễ mừng lúa mới

  • Festivals through the year

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)5 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, after the tenth-month harvest, households cook xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice from the new crop to offer to ancestors and deities in thanks for a rice season, called Tết cơm mới (New Rice Festival) or tiết Thường tân (the Thường tân seasonal observance); in many places it is held on the full moon of the tenth lunar month, that is the full moon of Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial).

At a glance

When it is held
The first day, the tenth day, or the full moon of the tenth lunar month, depending on the locality
For whom
Household deities; ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides; in some places a prayer is addressed to đức Thần Nông (the God of Agriculture)
Where
Ancestral altar

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Common offerings

Incense, lamps, candles

  • Hương (incense sticks)
  • Nến (candles)

Flowers

  • Hoa tươi (fresh flowers)

Tea, rice wine, water

  • Trà (tea)

Fruit

  • Trái cây (fruit)

Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes

  • Xôi (sticky rice)
  • Cơm mới (rice of the new harvest)

Betel leaves and areca nuts

  • Trầu cau (betel leaf and areca nut)

Other

  • Mâm lễ (offering tray, items not named)
Region:

Nationwide

When
The first day, the tenth day, or the full moon of the tenth lunar month, depending on the locality
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice cooked from the new cropVegetarian
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense, flowers, lamps and candles
Betel leaves and areca nuts
Betel leaves and areca nuts, tea and fruitVegetarian
Other
Offering tray for the ancestorsOne guide notes a savory offering tray, another notes a vegetarian offering tray

North

Red River Delta, Folk practice

OfferingQuantityVegetarian or not
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Cakes made from glutinous rice: bánh giầy, bánh trôi, bánh nếpVegetarian
Xôi đỗ xanh (mung bean sticky rice), xôi vò, or xôi gấc (gấc sticky rice)Vegetarian
Chè đỗ xanh (mung bean sweet soup), chè hạt sen (lotus seed sweet soup), or chè trôi nước (glutinous rice ball sweet soup)3 or 5 cupsVegetarian
Meat and savoury dishes
Whole boiled chicken, boiled pork, giò lụa (Vietnamese pork roll), fried spring rollsMeat or fish
Canh mọc (meatball soup), canh măng (bamboo shoot soup), or canh miến (vermicelli soup)Meat or fish
Tea, rice wine, water
Fruit, betel leaves and areca nuts, wine, water, chrysanthemums or rice ears, incense, candlesVegetarian

South

Mekong Delta, Folk practice

OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Cakes made from the new rice: bánh bao, bánh tétMeat or fishSome guides note there are cake-making contests
Xôi gấc (gấc sticky rice), xôi đậu xanh (mung bean sticky rice), or xôi ngũ sắc (five-colour sticky rice)Vegetarian
Cakes for offering wrapped in banana leavesVegetarianSome guides record it as a familiar dish of people in the Mekong Delta
Meat and savoury dishes
Roast pig or a whole boiled chickenMeat or fish
Pork braised with duck eggs, snakehead fish braised in a pot, giò lụa (Vietnamese pork roll)Meat or fish
Bitter melon soup stuffed with meatMeat or fish
Gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls)Meat or fish

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. PreparationCook xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice from the new crop to offer to ancestors and deities
  2. Reciting the prayerPray to ancestors
  3. Give new glutinous rice and first-of-season gifts to grandparents, parents, craft teachers, and physicians

Red River Delta, Folk practice

  1. PreparationMake cakes from the new glutinous rice and then offer them to ancestors and deities

What is avoided

  • One guide notes that offerings made at the pagoda on this day do not include savory offerings

The custom

By custom, after the eighth-month harvest, households cook xôi (steamed sticky rice), rice and cakes from the new crop to offer to ancestors and deities in thanks for the season, hence the names Tết cơm mới (New Rice Festival) and tết Thường tân; a folk verse says "on the full moon of the tenth month, ten people carry ten loads of offerings".

Báo Pháp luật Việt Nam notes that the full moon of the tenth month is one of the three great full moons of the year, with that of the first month (Thượng nguyên) and of the seventh month (Trung nguyên); for Buddhists it is also a time to turn the mind to practice.

Where the sources differ

  • Date of the ceremony: one guide notes that Trùng thập (the tenth day of the tenth month) and Hạ nguyên (the full moon of the tenth month) are usually combined into one and only some areas hold it; another notes it is held on the first day, the tenth day, or the full moon, most commonly the tenth day; Buddhist guidance and báo Pháp luật Việt Nam associate it with the full moon of the tenth lunar month
  • Offering tray: one guide notes "mâm lễ mặn thơm ngon tinh khiết"; another copies the same sentence but writes "mâm lễ chay"

Communities and regions

More about Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)

Sources

  • Văn khấn Lễ Trùng thập (10-10) và Tết Hạ nguyên (Lễ cơm mới) (15-10) (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn Khấn Tết Hạ Nguyên, Tết Cơm Mới, Tết Trùng Thập (hoatieu.vn)
  • Văn khấn cúng rằm tháng 10 Âm lịch 2024 tại gia (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Rằm tháng Mười, rằm Hạ nguyên, Tết lúa mới (baophapluat.vn)

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

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