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Cúng rằm tháng Tư (full moon of the fourth lunar month offering), lễ Phật đản (Buddha's Birthday ceremony)

Also called: Rằm tháng 4

  • Festivals through the year

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Cúng rằm tháng Tư (full moon of the fourth lunar month offering), lễ Phật đản (Buddha's Birthday ceremony)3 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

The full moon of the fourth lunar month is the day Buddhists commemorate the birth of the Buddha; Buddhists attend ceremonies at the pagoda, at home they offer flowers, tea, and fruit before the Buddha altar and pray to ancestors as on other full moon days.

At a glance

When it is held
Full moon of the fourth lunar month; Buddha's Birthday week from the 8th to the 15th of the fourth lunar month
This year (2026)
Next year (2027)
For whom
Đức Phật Thích Ca Mâu Ni (Shakyamuni Buddha); at home, additionally offer to deities and ancestors as on the full moon day
Where
Pagoda, Buddha altar, Ancestral altar

Lunar calendar

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

A statue of the newborn Buddha on a lotus pedestal in a gilded bathing basin, ringed by roses and orchids; behind it a Maitreya statue, seven small Buddha statues, two fruit towers and lotus lanterns.
The altar of the newborn Buddha at Giác Ân pagoda for Vesak, 2022.Photo: Phương Huy, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Flowers
Fresh flowers
Tea, rice wine, water
TeaVegetarian
Fruit
FruitVegetarian
Incense, lamps, candles
Fragrant incense
Other
Offering tray of foodSimple or elaborate depending on each household's circumstances

Steps of the rite

  1. Attend the ceremony at the pagoda; the Buddha bathing ritual (pouring fragrant water over the statue of the infant Buddha)
  2. Reciting the prayerAt home: offer incense and flowers, pray before the Buddha altar, then pray to ancestors

What is avoided

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

The custom

Lễ Phật đản (Buddha's Birthday) is held every year on the full moon of the fourth lunar month to commemorate the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha; since 1999 the United Nations has recognised the day as a world spiritual and cultural festival (Vesak).

One guide notes that the Theravada tradition places the Buddha's birth on the full moon of the fourth month and the Mahayana tradition on the 8th; VTC News notes that Buddha's Birthday week runs from the 8th to the 15th of the fourth lunar month.

Communities and regions

More about Cúng rằm tháng Tư (full moon of the fourth lunar month offering), lễ Phật đản (Buddha's Birthday ceremony)

Sources

  • Văn khấn cúng lễ Phật đản 2026 (vtcnews.vn)
  • Văn khấn lễ Phật đản tại nhà 2023 (hoatieu.vn)
  • Huế sẵn sàng đón Phật đản (vnexpress.net)

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.