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Lễ cúng sửa nhà, sửa bếp (ritual for repairing the house or kitchen)

Also called: Cúng động thổ sửa nhà, Cúng chuyển bếp, Cúng nhóm bếp mới, Lễ tạ sau khi sửa nhà, Phá dỡ nhà cũ

  • House and land

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ cúng sửa nhà, sửa bếp (ritual for repairing the house or kitchen)4 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, before demolishing, extending, repairing the roof or moving the kitchen, the head of the household sets out an offering to ask permission from the deities who govern the land; if a person's age is considered to be in violation, someone else is asked to stand for the ritual. When the repairs are done, a lễ tạ (thank-offering ritual) is held.

At a glance

When it is held
Before major repairs to the house, repairing or moving the kitchen; after the repairs are done there is a lễ tạ (thank-offering ritual)
For whom
Hoàng thiên Hậu thổ (Heaven and Earth), quan Đương niên (the deity in charge of the year), Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ địa (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), Long mạch (dragon vein); tiền chủ (former owner), hậu chủ (later owner)
Who makes the offering
The head of the household, or the person who lends his age when the householder's age is in violation of Kim Lâu, Hoang Ốc, Tam Tai

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Folk practice

When
Before major repairs (breaking walls, raising the floor, extending, repairing the roof, repairing the kitchen, moving the altar); for minor repairs no ritual is needed (according to some guides)
OfferingQuantityVegetarian or notNotes
Meat and savoury dishes
Bộ tam sinh (the three living offerings): a whole boiled chicken, boiled chicken eggs, boiled porkMeat or fish
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
Xôi đỗ (mung bean steamed sticky rice), xôi gấc (gấc steamed sticky rice) or bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake)Meat or fish
Red oản (round glutinous rice cakes)5 piecesVegetarian
Fruit
Mâm ngũ quả (five-fruit tray)VegetarianOdd numbers of fruits, favouring red and yellow fruits
Tea, rice wine, water
water1 bowlVegetarian
rice wine1 bottle
Cigarettes1 pack
Chè (sweet soup)1 box or bagVegetarian
Rice and salt
Salt1 plateVegetarian
Rice1 bowlVegetarian
A separate plate of salt1 plateVegetarianScattered around the land after the ritual
Votive paper
Vàng tiền (votive paper money)5 offerings
Betel leaves and areca nuts
betel leaves and areca nuts5 betel leaves, 5 areca nuts or 3 prepared betel quid piecesVegetarian
Flowers
Red roses9 flowers

Folk practice, Closing thanks and burning of votive paper

When
After the repairs are finished
Offering
Other
An offering tray like the ritual before repairing the house

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Arrange the offerings on a high table
  2. Light incense, bow to the four directions and eight points, turn to the offering tray and read the prayer text
  3. Wait for the incense to burn out, burn votive paper, scatter salt and rice
  4. The person standing for the ritual personally dismantles or performs the groundbreaking first, then the workers begin
  5. Keep the salt, rice and water of the ritual for use at nhập trạch (moving into a new house)
  6. Repairing the kitchen, moving the kitchen: set out the offerings near the new kitchen, pray to Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), and when the incense has burned about two thirds, light the new kitchen fire (according to some guides)
  7. When the work is finished, hold a lễ tạ (thank-offering ritual)

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice, Closing thanks and burning of votive paper

  1. Arrange the offerings, light incense
  2. Read the prayer text to give thanks to the deities and ancestors

What is avoided

  • Do not eat first, taste or take away any of the offerings
  • Do not bargain when buying the offerings
  • When borrowing someone's age, the head of the household stays away until the ritual is finished

Where the sources differ

  • Where to place the offering tray: VOH writes that it is placed at the centre of the house or in a large yard; one guide writes that it is placed outdoors, at the area to be worked on, not inside the house. Another guide writes that when praying and at the groundbreaking, the householder who borrows an age must stay at least 50 m away from the building site.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Mâm cúng, văn khấn sửa nhà (voh.com.vn)
  • Bài văn khấn cúng sửa nhà, cách chuẩn bị mâm lễ (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
  • Văn khấn khi chuyển nhà hoặc sửa chữa lớn (vankhan.vn)
  • Lễ cúng chuyển bếp mới (docungtamlinh.com.vn)

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.