What is Hoang Ốc?
Hoang Ốc sorts lunar age into six positions, counted through the tens first then on by the units digit. Three of the six are considered unfavourable.
Also called: house building age
What is Hoang Ốc?
Hoang Ốc is one of the three taboos that Vietnamese people check before breaking ground to build a house, alongside Kim Lâu and Tam Tai. The name of the taboo literally means "deserted house", which is also the name of the most inauspicious palace in the counting cycle.
Which palaces make up the six Hoang Ốc palaces?
The counting cycle has six palaces, memorised through the verse "first Cát, second Nghi, third Địa Sát, fourth Tấn Tài, fifth Thọ Tử, sixth Hoang Ốc". The three palaces considered good are Nhất Cát (settled living, smooth progress), Nhì Nghi (a prosperous household) and Tứ Tấn Tài (blessings and fortune arriving). The three palaces considered bad are Tam Địa Sát (popularly associated with illness), Ngũ Thọ Tử (the most avoided, associated with separation) and Lục Hoang Ốc (a deserted, empty house, where endeavours struggle to succeed).
How is the Hoang Ốc age calculated?
Hoang Ốc is calculated on tuổi mụ (the lunar age, counted as one year at birth), by taking the year the house is to be built, subtracting the year of birth and adding one. The counting cycle starts from the 10-year mark: 10 is Nhất Cát, 20 is Nhì Nghi, 30 is Tam Địa Sát, 40 is Tứ Tấn Tài, 50 is Ngũ Thọ Tử, 60 is Lục Hoang Ốc, then 70 returns to Nhất Cát. From the tens mark of your age, you continue counting the units digit, each step moving to the next palace.
For example, age 37: start at the 30 mark, which is Tam Địa Sát, count seven more steps to Tứ Tấn Tài, a good palace.
Some documents teach a shortcut of adding the two digits of the age together and dividing by 6. This shortcut gives the same result as the traditional counting method at every two-digit age, because the sum of the two digits is exactly the tens digit plus the units digit.
The ages that fall under Hoang Ốc
From 12 to 75, the ages falling into the three bad palaces are 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 54, 56, 57, 60, 63, 65, 66, 69, 72, 74 and 75.
How should Hoang Ốc be read?
Hoang Ốc is a six-step counting cycle on an age number, making no use of Can Chi (the sexagenary cycle), Ngũ hành (the five elements) or a birth chart. This is folk knowledge, it has no scientific basis, and everyone born in the same year receives the same result.
What do the six Hoang Ốc palaces mean?
| Tuổi mụ (example) | Palace | In violation or not | Meaning according to popular belief |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Tam Địa Sát | In violation | A bad palace, popular belief holds that the household head is prone to illness. |
| 13 | Tứ Tấn Tài | Not in violation | Building a house at this age brings blessings and fortune. |
| 14 | Ngũ Thọ Tử | In violation | The worst palace, avoided in folk custom for fear of separation and loss. |
| 15 | Lục Hoang Ốc | In violation | A bad palace, a deserted and empty house, where endeavours struggle to succeed. |
| 16 | Nhất Cát | Not in violation | Building a house at this age brings settled living and smooth progress in all matters. |
| 17 | Nhì Nghi | Not in violation | Building a house at this age brings a prosperous household and benefits in wealth. |
The Hoang Ốc cycle repeats every six ages, so the six rows above cover every case. The traditional counting method goes through the tens digit first and only then continues with the units digit.
The figures in the table match the results of the lookup tools on Nhật Nguyệt.
