Offering rites of the Central and South Central coast cultural region
Culture and belief A record of custom.
The rites
- Lễ Cầu ngư, cúng cá Ông (fishing prayer ceremony, offering to the Whale)Each fishing village has its own day: from the first lunar month to the fourth lunar month in the central region, the eighth lunar month in Cần Giờ; the death anniversary (giỗ) of cá Ông follows each village's custom
- Lễ vía Quan Thánh Đế Quân (festival of Quan Thánh Đế Quân)Each place has its own date: the 24th of the sixth lunar month (Hội An, Chợ Lớn), the 13th of the fifth lunar month (Cần Thơ), and some places the 13th of the first lunar month
- Lễ vía Bà Thiên Hậu (festival of Bà Thiên Hậu)The 23rd day of the third lunar month; the lễ mộc dục (statue bathing rite) is held before that; many shrines in Nam Bộ also carry Bà's palanquin in procession on the full moon of the first lunar month
- Lễ khao lề thế lính Hoàng Sa (ceremony to thank and substitute soldiers for Hoàng Sa)The second and third lunar months every year
- Cúng việc lề (communal lineage death-anniversary offering)Each lineage has its own day in the year, by their custom
- Lễ rước sắc, mừng sắc phong (procession of the royal edict and celebration of the conferment)At the beginning of the communal house festival (in Nam Bộ: the first day of the Kỳ yên festival); Phú Gia (Hà Tĩnh) on the 7th of the first lunar month
- Lễ Katê of the Chăm peopleThe 1st day of the seventh month of the Chăm calendar (around late September or October of the solar calendar)
- Lễ tảo mộ (grave-visiting rite) and ancestor offering on Ramưwan of the Chăm Bà Ni peopleThree days before the month of Ramưwan (the 9th month of the Islamic calendar of the Chăm Bà Ni)