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Offering to Thổ Công and the household deities

Also called: Thổ Địa, Long Mạch, Thổ thần, Cúng thần linh tại gia, Thổ Kỳ

  • Household deities

Culture and belief A record of custom.

Prayer text for Offering to Thổ Công and the household deities3 texts, kept in Vietnamese, with an English summary.

In folk belief, Thổ Công is the deity who governs the household, called Đệ nhất gia chi chủ; the tablet worships three deities together. Whenever offering to the ancestors, people offer to and invoke Thổ Công first.

At a glance

When it is held
On sóc vọng days (the first day and the fifteenth day of the lunar month), on giỗ and Tết days; the largest ceremony is on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month
For whom
Thổ Công (Earth God of the house, Đông trù Tư mệnh Táo phủ Thần quân), Thổ Địa Long mạch Tôn thần (the Earth God of the dragon vein), and Ngũ phương Ngũ thổ Phúc đức chính thần (the five-direction, five-earth God of fortune and virtue)
Where
Thổ Công altar, Ancestral altar

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Common offerings

Tea, rice wine, water

  • Nước sạch (clean water)
  • Rượu trắng (white rice liquor)

Fruit

  • Trái cây (fruit)

Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes

  • Xôi (sticky rice)

Meat and savoury dishes

  • Gà luộc (boiled whole chicken)
  • Thịt lợn (pork, preparation unspecified)

Betel leaves and areca nuts

  • Trầu cau (betel leaf and areca nut)

Rice and salt

  • Gạo (rice)
  • Muối (salt)

Votive paper

  • Tiền vàng (votive paper money)
  • Mũ áo ông Táo (paper hats and robes for the Kitchen Gods)
Region:

Nationwide

When
On giỗ and Tết days, and on sóc vọng days; whenever offering to the ancestors, one offers to Thổ Công first
Where the offerings are set
The altar of Thổ Công, with a joint tablet for the three deities and a set of Thổ Công hats
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Votive paper
Vegetarian offerings on sóc vọng days: gold and silver paper, betel, water, fruitVegetarian
Thổ Công hats: one set of three (one woman's hat, two men's hats), together with paper clothes, paper boots, 100 paper gold ingotsThe color of the hats each year follows the element of the year: Kim white, Mộc green, Thuỷ black, Hoả red, Thổ yellow
Meat and savoury dishes
Savory offerings: boiled chicken, pork, xôi (steamed sticky rice), white wineMeat or fishOptional. Some households offer savory food; one guide notes it is used for lễ tạ (thank-offering ceremony) and Tết offerings
Rice and salt
Rice, saltVegetarian

North

Where the offerings are set
The incense bowl for the deities is placed directly on the ancestors' altar, understood as the place of worship for Thổ Công, Thổ Địa, and Táo quân

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Reciting the prayerArrange the offerings, light incense, invoke Thổ Công first, then invoke the ancestors
  2. Burning votive paperOn the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, burn the old tablet and hats, replace with a new set of hats to be worshipped until the following year

Northern Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Place the incense bowl for the deities on the ancestors' altar, do not set up a separate altar for Thổ Công

Good to know

  • Pháp Luật TP.HCM newspaper notes that the Thổ Công altar usually stands in a side bay next to the ancestral altar; homes without an ancestral altar place it in the central bay

What is avoided

  • Offerings to Thổ Công are arranged separately, do not use wilted food or leftovers

The custom

By custom, Thổ Công (Earth God of the house) watches over the household and is often called Đệ nhất gia chi chủ (the first master of the house); one tablet honours three deities together: the Kitchen God, Táo phủ Thần quân, lord of the Eastern Kitchen (Đông trù Tư mệnh), the Earth God of the dragon vein (Thổ địa Long mạch Tôn thần) and the god of fortune (Phúc đức chính thần) of the five directions and five earths (Ngũ phương Ngũ thổ). Whenever the ancestors are offered to, Thổ Công is offered to first.

Phan Kế Bính's Việt Nam phong tục (1915) records that wealthy families with a family shrine honoured the ancestors at the central altar and Thổ Công, Táo quân (Kitchen Gods) and Nghệ sư (craft patron) at the side altars; on the morning of the first day of Tết a feast was offered to the ancestors and to Thổ Công as well.

Many sources cite the saying "Đất có Thổ Công, sông có Hà Bá" (the land has its Earth God, the river has its River God) to say that every dwelling has a deity in charge, so households offer to Thổ Công out of respect for the place where they live.

Questions

Where in the house is Thổ Công worshipped?

Usually in a side bay next to the ancestral altar; homes without an ancestral altar put it in the central bay (Pháp Luật TP.HCM newspaper). Việt Nam phong tục (1915) records that wealthy families placed Thổ Công at a side altar beside the ancestors; in some northern families the deities' incense bowl on the ancestral altar is understood as the place of Thổ Công.

Who is Thổ Công?

Thổ Công is the deity who watches over the household, commonly called Đệ nhất gia chi chủ (the first master of the house). The tablet honours three deities together: the Kitchen God, Táo phủ Thần quân, lord of the Eastern Kitchen (Đông trù Tư mệnh), the Earth God of the dragon vein (Thổ địa Long mạch Tôn thần) and the god of fortune (Phúc đức chính thần) of the five directions and five earths (Ngũ phương Ngũ thổ); it is replaced every year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Văn khấn Thổ công (vankhan.vn)
  • Bài văn khấn cúng Thổ Công (dienmayxanh.com)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, mục XII Tứ thời tiết lạp, Phan Kế Bính, 1915 (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Lễ vật cúng Thổ công (plo.vn, báo Pháp Luật TP.HCM)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, Phần I, mục IV. Phụng sự tổ tôn, Phan Kế Bính, 1915 (vi.wikisource.org)

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

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