Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)
Also called: Tết Thanh minh, Lễ tảo mộ, Đi thanh minh
- Festivals through the year
Culture and belief A record of custom.
By custom, at Thanh minh the descendants go to the cemetery to clear grass, add earth to the graves, pray to the spirits at the graves, then pray before each grave, and afterwards return home to make offerings to the ancestors. In the South, many places tend graves mainly around Tết; the Chinese community in Nam Bộ keeps the Thanh minh observance very strongly.
At a glance
- When it is held
- Thanh minh solar term
- For whom
- Spirits at the cemetery (Thổ địa (Earth God), Long mạch (dragon vein), Sơn thần (mountain god)); the souls of deceased relatives at the graves; ancestors at home
- Where
- Grave, Ancestral altar, Buddha altar
Each family and each region may do it differently.
The offering tray
At the grave
Incense, lamps, candles
- Hương (incense sticks)
- Đèn (altar lamp)
Tea, rice wine, water
- Rượu trắng (white rice liquor)
Fruit
- Trái cây (fruit)
Meat and savoury dishes
- Thịt lợn (pork, preparation unspecified)
Betel leaves and areca nuts
- Trầu cau (betel leaf and areca nut)
Votive paper
- Tiền vàng (votive paper money)
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes
- Xôi (sticky rice)
- Chè (sweet dessert soup)
Meat and savoury dishes
- Gà luộc (boiled whole chicken)
Nationwide
Folk practice
- When
- During Thanh minh, beginning around 4 or 5 April of the solar calendar, lasting about 15 days
- Where the offerings are set
- At the cemetery: the offering is placed at the common place of worship (the shrine of the spirits), then incense is lit at each grave. At home: the ancestors' altar
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Incense, lamps | ||
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | ||
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | Vegetarian | |
| Votive paper | ||
| votive paper and paper money | ||
| Tea, rice wine, water | ||
| Rượu, thịt (rice wine, meat) | Meat or fish | Chân giò (pork trotter), boiled chicken or a slice of lean giò (Vietnamese pork roll) |
| Fruit | ||
| Flowers and fruit | Vegetarian | |
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup), boiled chicken | Meat or fish | |
Buddhist
- When
- The third lunar month, around April of the solar calendar
- Where the offerings are set
- At the graves, and at the place of offering, gathered in the house; the pagoda instructs not to set offerings on the floor or on the ground
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Incense, flowers, fruit | Vegetarian | At the graves; the kind and number of fruits are up to the person |
| Tea, rice wine, water | ||
| Plain water | Vegetarian | At the graves |
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) or a bowl of white rice, cakes and sweets | Vegetarian | At the graves |
| Offering to the Buddha: incense, flowers, tea, fruit, food (xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup) or a bowl of white rice) | Vegetarian | At home; prepare fully or according to circumstances |
| Other | ||
| Offering to the chư Thiên (celestial beings) and Thần linh (spirits) | Prepared as for the offering to the Buddha | |
| Flowers | ||
| Offering to the souls of the deceased and the ancestors: flowers, fruit, a tray of rice | Vegetarian | A vegetarian tray, or a tray with tam tịnh nhục (the three clean meats) |
North
| Offering | Vegetarian or not |
|---|---|
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | |
| Xôi gấc (red sticky rice with gấc fruit) | Vegetarian |
| Meat and savoury dishes | |
| Duck meat | Meat or fish |
South
Folk practice
- When
- Many places tend graves before Tết (the custom of the 25th of the twelfth lunar month); during Thanh minh, graves are swept and repaired if needed
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Hoa (ethnic Chinese in Vietnam), Cần Thơ, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Folk practice
- When
- Thanh minh; many households tend graves one or two weeks earlier to avoid the crowds. A representative of a hội quán (community hall) said this is the only grave-tending occasion of the year for the Chinese community
- Where the offerings are set
- At the grave or the nghĩa từ (communal burial place of the community), and an offering tray placed in the middle of the house
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Meat and savoury dishes | ||
| Tam sên (pork, eggs, shrimp) or the tam sinh set (pork, chicken, dried squid) | Meat or fish | The Cần Thơ newspaper noted that pork is indispensable |
| Roast pork, roast duck, chicken | Meat or fish | |
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Bánh bò (honeycomb cake), bánh bao (steamed bun), bánh pía (mung bean pastry), bánh đào tiên (peach-shaped cake), bánh tài phát (prosperity cake) | Meat or fish | |
| Flowers, fruit, xôi (steamed sticky rice) and chè (sweet soup) | Vegetarian | |
| Votive paper | ||
| Five-coloured paper pasted on the graves | New graves get only white paper pasted on, long-standing graves get five colours | |
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Incense, lamps, paper money and votive paper, paper clothes | ||
Steps of the rite
Used across Vietnam, Folk practice
- PreparationClear grass, add earth, repair the graves
- Reciting the prayerPlace the offering at the common place of worship, light lamps and incense, bow three bows, then pray to the spirits at the cemetery
- Lighting incenseWhile waiting for the incense to burn, light incense and pray before each grave of the family
- Burning votive paperWhen two thirds of the incense stick has burned, make the farewell offering, burn votive paper, and ask for the lộc (blessed offerings)
- Return home to make offerings to the household deities and the ancestors
Used across Vietnam, Buddhist
- Reciting the prayerChoose to read the prayer text (without chanting sutras) or perform the rite with sutra chanting
- The offering at the graves and the offering at home are two separate texts
Southern Vietnam, Folk practice
- Grave tending takes place mainly around Tết
- PreparationThanh minh is a convenient time to sweep and repair graves
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Hoa (ethnic Chinese in Vietnam), Cần Thơ, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Folk practice
- PreparationAfter the first lunar month, see to mounding the graves and repainting the headstones
- PreparationThe day before, the offerings are prepared; early in the morning the offerings are brought to the graves
- Laying out the offeringsFive-coloured paper is pasted on the graves, the offerings are laid out
- Reciting the prayerThe elders make the offerings first, then the descendants in turn, in order of seniority
- There is a separate portion of offerings for Thổ Địa (Earth God) placed at the corner of the grave
- Sharing the blessed offeringsAfter the offering, the whole family eats and drinks right at the grave or brings everything home
Good to know
- Common mix-upsThe pagoda's guidance says there is no taboo on the kind of flower or on the number of flowers or fruits
- SubstitutesIf there is no tea, plain water is offered; if there is no incense, a heartfelt intention stands in for it
What is avoided
No source we have found describes what is avoided for this rite.
The custom
According to Dr. Dương Hoàng Lộc in Thanh Niên, Thanh minh is an observance of Chinese origin; in Vietnam it centres on visiting and tending graves and making offerings to ancestors, with almost no spring outing.
Phan Kế Bính (1915) notes that the Vietnamese did not celebrate Thanh minh as a festival, but many took the occasion to tend graves: clearing grass, adding earth, then returning home to make a feast for the ancestors.
Questions
When is the Thanh minh offering made?
It is made during Thanh minh, the solar term that begins around 4 or 5 April and lasts 15 to 16 days, until about 19 or 20 April; in 2026 Thanh minh ran from 5 to 20 April. In the South, many places tend graves mainly before Tết.
Is the Thanh minh offering made at home first or at the grave first?
By custom, the grave comes first and home afterwards: descendants clear the grass and add earth to the grave, place the offering at the shared shrine to pray to the spirits of the cemetery, light incense and pray before each grave, give thanks and burn votive paper, then return home to make offerings to the household deities and ancestors.
What is offered at Thanh minh?
The offering at the cemetery consists of incense and lamps, betel and areca, votive paper money, rice liquor and meat (pork hock, boiled chicken or a slice of lean pork roll), and fruit. According to Dr. Dương Hoàng Lộc in Thanh Niên, Thanh minh offerings in the North often include xôi gấc (red sticky rice) and duck.
How do the Hoa (ethnic Chinese) in Vietnam observe Thanh minh?
The Hoa community in Nam Bộ keeps Thanh minh strongly: they go to the graves or to nghĩa từ (the community's shared burial grounds) to make offerings with flowers, fruit, sticky rice and sweet soup, roast duck, roast pork, chicken and many kinds of cakes; old graves are covered with five-coloured paper, new graves with white paper. The secretary of the Nghĩa An assembly hall in TP.HCM says it is the only grave-tending occasion of the year.
Communities and regions
More about Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)
Sources
- Văn khấn Tết thanh minh (vankhan.vn)
- Tiết Thanh minh, Văn khấn Tiết Thanh Minh (vankhan.vn)
- Tổng hợp các bài cúng thanh minh 2026 (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
- Tiết Thanh minh: Vì sao người Việt chỉ tảo mộ, không du xuân như Trung Quốc? (thanhnien.vn)
- Việt Nam phong tục, mục XII Tứ thời tiết lạp, Phan Kế Bính, 1915 (vi.wikisource.org)
- Tảo mộ ngày giáp tết (sggp.org.vn)
- Tết Thanh Minh mang ý nghĩa "uống nước nhớ nguồn" (baocantho.com.vn)
- Tết Thanh Minh của người Hoa ở Sài Gòn (vnexpress.net)
Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
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