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Lễ Thành phục (rite of formally assuming mourning)

Also called: Phát tang, Thọ tang, Mặc đồ tang, Chịu tang

  • Funeral and mourning rites

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Lễ Thành phục (rite of formally assuming mourning)5 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

By custom, thành phục is the rite in which descendants put on mourning garments and gather around the coffin, from then on formally assuming mourning and receiving visitors. In folk practice it is called phát tang; at the pagoda there is a ritual of chanting blessings over the mourning garments and then handing them to the bereaved family.

At a glance

When it is held
After the body is placed in the coffin, when the mourning garments are fully prepared; in the past, a few days later, nowadays usually done immediately
For whom
The deceased (before the coffin); ancestors as witnesses
Where
Before the mourning altar, around the coffin

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Folk practice

When
A few days after the body is placed in the coffin, when the mourning garments are fully prepared (according to Việt Nam phong tục); nowadays usually right after encoffining, before receiving visitors
Who makes the offering
The eldest son or the eldest grandson; descendants line up in order
OfferingNotes
Objects
Incense table, single table, offerings
Mourning garments of children: khăn sô (coarse mourning turban), mũ chuối (banana-leaf hat), áo sô (coarse mourning shirt), dây lưng bằng chạc (belt of twisted cord)Required. Gia lễ giản yếu (Simplified Family Rites) records: mũ sô (coarse mourning hat), áo gai (hemp shirt), dây lưng chuối (banana-leaf belt)
Mourning garments of grandchildren: mũ mấn (mourning hat), white turban, white clothesGia lễ giản yếu records: mũ vải to (large cloth hat), áo vải to (large cloth shirt)
Mourning garments of sons-in-law, brothers, relatives: white turban, white clothes
Bamboo staff when the father dies, vông staff when the mother diesSons lean on it when carrying the coffin to the grave

Buddhist

When
After khai kinh (opening the sutra chanting), tiến linh (inviting the spirit)
Who makes the offering
The gia trì sư (chanting master) and the bereaved family
OfferingNotes
Objects
Mourning garmentsRequired

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Set up linh sàng (mourning bed), linh tọa (mourning seat), place hồn bạch (spirit tablet)
  2. Descendants put on mourning garments, let down their hair, line up and weep
  3. Offer sacrifice or pray for thành phục

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

  1. The gia trì sư chants blessings over the mourning garments
  2. Chant "Ngũ phục chi nhơn các thọ kỳ phục" then hand the mourning garments to the bereaved family to wear
  3. From then on formally announcing the death and receiving visitors

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Gia lễ giản yếu, phần Lễ tang (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Nghi thức tang lễ theo truyền thống Phật giáo (phatgiao.org.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.