What is Kim Lâu?
Kim Lâu is a folk taboo found by dividing lunar age by nine. Remainders of 1, 3, 6 or 8 count as affected, each named for whoever tradition holds is touched. It is the most avoided of the three house-building taboos.
Also called: house building age
What is Kim Lâu?
Kim Lâu is one of the three misfortunes that Vietnamese people check before building a house, alongside Hoang Ốc and Tam Tai. This misfortune is also considered when choosing a year for marriage. Among the three, Kim Lâu is usually the most avoided, and the folk saying "building a house means looking at the man's age" mostly refers to it.
How is Kim Lâu calculated?
Take the nominal age, that is the lunar age, by subtracting the year of birth from the year in which the major undertaking is planned and then adding one. Divide the nominal age by 9 and look at the remainder. A remainder of 1, 3, 6 or 8 means Kim Lâu is violated; the remaining remainders, 0, 2, 4, 5 and 7, mean it is not violated.
For example: someone born in 1990 will be 37 in nominal age in the year 2026. Dividing 37 by 9 gives 4 with a remainder of 1, so Kim Lâu is violated.
What are the four types of Kim Lâu?
Each remainder has its own name, given according to the person or subject that folk belief holds to be affected:
- Remainder 1: Kim Lâu Thân, affecting the household head himself.
- Remainder 3: Kim Lâu Thê, affecting the wife.
- Remainder 6: Kim Lâu Tử, affecting the children.
- Remainder 8: Kim Lâu Lục Súc, affecting the livestock and domestic animals in the house.
This way of naming reflects the agricultural society in which the custom took shape, when herds of livestock were a considerable part of a family's assets.
The ages that violate Kim Lâu
Counting from 12 to 75, the nominal ages that violate Kim Lâu are 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 35, 37, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 53, 55, 57, 60, 62, 64, 66, 69, 71, 73 and 75.
This list does not need to be memorised, because it is simply the result of a division. If some lookup table gives a different list, divide a few ages to see which one is mistaken.
How should Kim Lâu be read?
Kim Lâu is only a remainder calculation on one age number. It does not use the Heavenly Stems, it does not use the Five Elements, it does not use a birth chart, and everyone born in the same year receives the same result. This is folk knowledge, it has no scientific basis, and it should be read as a cultural convention rather than a prediction for each individual.
In practice, when only Kim Lâu is violated and the other two misfortunes are not, many families still go ahead, often with the custom of borrowing ages for the ritual part.
Kim Lâu lookup table by nominal age
| Nominal age (example) | Remainder when divided by 9 | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Kim Lâu Thân, affecting the household head himself |
| 2 | 2 | Not violated |
| 3 | 3 | Kim Lâu Thê, affecting the household head's wife |
| 4 | 4 | Not violated |
| 5 | 5 | Not violated |
| 6 | 6 | Kim Lâu Tử, affecting the children |
| 7 | 7 | Not violated |
| 8 | 8 | Kim Lâu Lục Súc, affecting livestock and domestic animals |
| 9 | 0 | Not violated |
Look up by NOMINAL AGE, not by full age: nominal age = year of checking − year of birth + 1. The four remainders 1, 3, 6 and 8 are the four Kim Lâu ages; the other five do not violate it.
The figures in the table match the results of the lookup tools on Nhật Nguyệt.
