Lễ cúng tổ nghề (offering to the craft patron)
Also called: Giỗ tổ nghề, Cúng Thánh sư, Tiên sư, Tổ nghiệp, Giỗ tổ sân khấu, Giỗ tổ thợ mộc, Giỗ tổ kim hoàn, Cúng Tiên sư mùng 9 tháng Giêng, Nghệ sư
- Work and trade
Culture and belief A record of custom.
Thánh sư, also called Tiên sư, Nghệ sư, is the person who founded a craft and passed it down to later generations. People of the same craft build a communal shrine (miếu) to worship together, many households set up an altar at home; the death anniversary of the patron is the largest offering day of the year for the craft guild.
At a glance
- When it is held
- On the death anniversary of the patron of each craft; besides, on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, festivals, and Tết
- For whom
- Thánh sư (patron saint of the trade) of one's own trade; Hoàng thiên Hậu thổ (Heaven and Earth), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), Thổ địa (Earth God)
Each family and each region may do it differently.
The offering tray
Region:
Nationwide
- When
- On the death anniversary of the craft patron (each craft has its own day); besides, offerings are made together with the ancestors on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, festivals, Tết, and when encountering difficulties in the craft
- Where the offerings are set
- Miếu, đền, đình of the craft guild or craft village; altar of the Thánh sư at home or at the workshop
- Who makes the offering
- The whole craft guild makes offerings together at the miếu; workshop owners and household heads make private offerings
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Nhang, flowers, lamps and candles | ||
| Fruit | ||
| Ngũ quả (five-fruit tray) | Vegetarian | |
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | ||
| Betel leaves and areca nuts, wine | Vegetarian | |
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| Cakes and candies | Vegetarian | |
| Vegetarian offering tray: xôi, chè, cháo | Vegetarian | |
| Theatrical patron death anniversary: xôi, chicken, a plate of fruit, a vase of flowers, 5 bowls of plain cháo or 5 plates of vegetarian cakes, 5 plates of xôi, 5 bowls of chè, salt and rice, trầu cau, votive paper | Meat or fish | According to some guides |
| Meat and savoury dishes | ||
| Savory offering tray: chicken, roasted pig | Meat or fish | |
| Votive paper | ||
| Carpenters' patron death anniversary: additionally paper carpentry tools (saw, chisel, plane, ruler) | According to some guides | |
Central
Huế, Artisans and craft villages, Huế, Village communal-house rites
- When
- The 7th day of the second lunar month (death anniversary of the first patron Cao Đình Độ); the goldsmith lineage hall also holds offerings on the 27th day of the second month (death anniversary of the second patron Cao Đình Hương) and the 6th day of the first lunar month (Minh niên ceremony, the first opening of the year for those in the craft)
- Where the offerings are set
- Goldsmith lineage hall in Huế
- Who makes the offering
- The chánh tế (chief officiant) together with senior goldsmiths in ceremonial robes
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incense, lamps, candles | ||
| Incense and lamps, tea, wine | Vegetarian | |
| Other | ||
| Offerings like a Huế death anniversary feast | The report does not list each item | |
South Central Coast, Artisans and craft villages, Kim Bồng, Cẩm Kim, Hội An, Village communal-house rites
- When
- The 6th day of the first lunar month
- Who makes the offering
- Villagers of the Kim Bồng carpentry village
South Central Coast, Swiftlet-nest harvesters, làng Thanh Châu (Cẩm Thanh), Cù Lao Chàm (Tân Hiệp), Hội An, Village communal-house rites
- When
- The 9th and 10th days of the third lunar month; the custom of offering on the 10th day of the third lunar month dates from the building of the two shrines in the first year of the Tự Đức era (1848). At Bãi Hương shrine, the offering day formerly followed the time when the first swiftlet harvest season began.
- Where the offerings are set
- Two places: Ông Tiến shrine in Thanh Đông village, Cẩm Thanh commune, and the swiftlet craft ancestor shrine in Bãi Hương village, Tân Hiệp commune (Cù Lao Chàm).
- Who makes the offering
- The elders of the village, representatives of the clans working in the swiftlet trade; there are a chánh tế (chief officiant), tả hữu phân hiến (left and right assistant offerants), xướng tế (chanting officiant), and cổ nhạc (traditional music); today it is organized by the city's Swiftlet Harvesting Team.
Steps of the rite
Used across Vietnam, Folk practice
- Clean the patron altar, arrange the offerings
- Light incense, read the prayer text, state the name of one's craft
- When the incense has burned about two thirds, burn votive paper
- The whole workshop, the whole guild share the offerings
Huế, Artisans and craft villages, Huế, Village communal-house rites
- Three rounds of drum and gong
- Ritual music plays, the chánh tế inspects the offerings, washes his hands, and goes before the incense table
- Light lamps and incense, pour tea and wine
- The chánh tế offers incense, announces the ceremony, and kneels in worship
South Central Coast, Artisans and craft villages, Kim Bồng, Cẩm Kim, Hội An, Village communal-house rites
- Ceremony part: offering to the carpentry patron, which is also the common patron death anniversary of the crafts in the village
- Festival part of the craft village
- In the past, after the craft ancestor offering was finished, the workers would scatter to make a living far away for the whole year.
South Central Coast, Swiftlet-nest harvesters, làng Thanh Châu (Cẩm Thanh), Cù Lao Chàm (Tân Hiệp), Hội An, Village communal-house rites
- The 9th day: cleaning, decorating, arranging offerings on the altars and in the shrine cabinets.
- Evening of the 9th: the lễ túc cáo (preliminary report rite) before the ancestors and deities; only incense is offered, gongs and drums are struck, there is no xướng tế chanting and no reading of the văn tế (sacrificial oration).
- Morning of the 10th: nghinh thần (welcoming the deities), a vọng procession through the village's shrines and temples, bowing in the direction of the east where the islands with nesting swiftlets lie.
- Rite for the wandering spirits in the courtyard of the shrine (miếu), with full xướng tế (ritual chanting), chánh tế (chief sacrificer), phân hiến (assistant sacrificers), cổ nhạc (traditional music), and reading of the sacrificial oration
- Rite of offering to the trade ancestors: offering to the successive generations of trade ancestors and the water and river deities who protect the trade (Đại Càn (Great Gan); Ngũ Hành tiên nương (Five Elements Goddesses); Thành Hoàng bổn xứ (local tutelary deity); Phục Ba tướng quân (General Phục Ba); Nam Hải Ngọc Lân (Jade Scale of the South Sea); Hà Bá (River Lord); Thủy Long (Water Dragon)), with reading of the sacrificial oration
- The hội (festival) part: tug of war, football, tuồng singing, lắc thúng chai, boat racing.
Communities and regions
Sources
- Văn khấn Thánh sư (vankhan.vn)
- Văn khấn cúng tổ nghề (hoatieu.vn)
- Văn khấn tổ nghề sân khấu (hoatieu.vn)
- Bài cúng tổ nghề sân khấu (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
- Cúng giỗ tổ thợ mộc (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
- Trăm năm đất tổ kim hoàn: lễ giỗ tổ nghề (thanhnien.vn)
- Giỗ Tổ nghề mộc Kim Bồng (sggp.org.vn)
- Lý lịch Lễ giỗ tổ nghề yến Thanh Châu (Trung tâm Quản lý Bảo tồn Di sản Văn hóa Hội An, hoianheritage.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.Open