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Lễ Đàm tế, hết tang (Đàm tế ceremony, end of mourning)

Also called: Trừ phục, Mãn tang, Xả tang, Đoạn tang, Đạm tất, Mãn khó, Dư ai, Cúng xả tang

  • Funeral and mourning rites

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ Đàm tế, hết tang (Đàm tế ceremony, end of mourning)3 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, after giỗ hết the descendants perform the đàm tế ceremony, then discard mourning garments, burn items belonging to the mourning rites, reshape the long grave into a round grave, and bring the spirit tablet to the main altar. In Nam Bộ, đại tường is called giỗ mãn khó, and people living far away sometimes end mourning early on the very day of mở cửa mả.

At a glance

When it is held
After giỗ hết (đại tường) by two or three months, choose a good day
For whom
The deceased; ancestors and the deities worshipped in the house

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Region:

Nationwide

Folk practice

When
After giỗ hết (đại tường), choose a good day
Where the offerings are set
The mourning altar then the main altar; at the grave
Who makes the offering
The eldest son or eldest grandson together with the whole family
Offering
Other
A modest offering presented before the spirit tablet

Buddhist

When
The times for ending mourning: bách nhật, one year, two years, three years
Where the offerings are set
Before the spirit altar
Who makes the offering
The gia trì sư and the mourner
Offering
Tea, rice wine, water
Cam lồ water, scissors

South

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Folk practice

When
Giỗ mãn khó (đại tường); people living far away sometimes end mourning on the very day of mở cửa mả

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Reshape the long grave into a round grave
  2. Perform the đàm tế at the mourning altar
  3. Remove the mourning headband, discard mourning garments, put on ordinary clothes again
  4. Destroy by burning items belonging to the mourning rites
  5. Bring the spirit tablet to the main altar, remove the mourning altar

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

  1. The mourner kneels before the spirit altar
  2. The gia trì sư sprinkles cam lồ water (sái tịnh)
  3. Use scissors to symbolically cut the mourning garments or remove the mourning headband

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Folk practice

  1. A household with a person living far away performs the mourning-ending ceremony on the day of mở cửa mả so that person need not be present at the 7, 21, 49, 100 day rites
  2. The master both chants sutras and uses a comb to comb the hair and cut a small lock of hair of the person being released from mourning

Where the sources differ

  • How long after giỗ hết: Việt Nam phong tục records two months after đại tường; Gia lễ giản yếu records three months; one guide records "sau 2 năm và 3 tháng dư ai".

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Gia lễ giản yếu, phần Lễ tang (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Lễ cúng xả tang là gì? Gợi ý mẫu văn khấn xả tang (voh.com.vn)
  • Nghi thức tang lễ theo truyền thống Phật giáo (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Tục mở cửa mả ở Nam Bộ (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Sự hỗn dung văn hóa trong tín ngưỡng thờ cúng tổ tiên ở Nam bộ (giacngo.vn)

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

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