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Cúng 100 ngày (100th-day ceremony)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Tốt khốc, Bách nhật, Trăm ngày, Thôi khóc, Văn khấn 100 ngày

By custom, the 100th-day period is called tốt khốc, meaning that from then on the family stops weeping and stops offering rice twice a day. The common prayer text is shared with the 49th-day ceremony.

When
The 100th day counting from the day of death; in some places it is counted as 3 months and 10 days from the day of burial
For whom
The newly deceased; the spirit of the deceased and the deities worshipped in the house jointly witness it

Prayer text for the Tốt Khốc 100th-day ceremony

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the Tốt Khốc ceremony at 100 days, also called the bách nhật ceremony, read before the altar of the recently deceased; it pays homage to the Buddhas, ancestors and household deities, offers incense, flowers, rice and water in remembrance, and seeks to dedicate merit and pray for the spirit to be at peace.

The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.

Fill in before the rite

Name, address and regional custom

Your name and address appear in the prayer below and are kept on this device only.

Your regional custom

Showing the version used across Vietnam.

7 more blanks

How it differs from the common version

How this text differs from the original: it is a separate text for the 100th-day ceremony (the model-book version uses one text for both the 49th day and the 100th day): present-day prose, stating clearly "đến nay đã tròn một trăm ngày", and without the passage "Núi Hỗ sao mờ, nhà Thung bóng xế".

The common version: Prayer text for the lễ Chung thất (49 days) and Tốt Khốc (100 days)

Other texts for Cúng 100 ngày (100th-day ceremony)

Versions by region, by tradition and for each part of the rite.

Offerings and how the rite is done

As commonly practised and recorded by the sources. Each family and each region may do it differently.

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When
The 100th-day period (tốt khốc, meaning to stop weeping)
Where the offerings are set
Before the spirit tablet of the deceased at home
Who makes the offering
The eldest son or the eldest grandson

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Offerings listed in the prayer textthe prayer text leaves a blank for the head of the household to fill in himself

Steps

  1. Offering one feast
  2. From then on the family stops offering rice twice a day and stops weeping at irregular times

Where the sources differ

  • Where to count the 100 days from: the main text of Gia lễ giản yếu and the prayer-text pages count from the day of death; the note in Gia lễ giản yếu says that by our custom it is usually counted from the time of burial, making 3 months and 10 days.

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

When
After 49 days up to 100 days

Steps

  1. According to the reply on phatgiao.org.vn, after 49 days the vong altar can already be dissolved, and it is not necessary to wait until the end of 100 days
  2. In some places the mourning-ending ceremony is held at the bách nhật (100th-day) period

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When
Every day, two times, morning and evening, from after the lễ thành phục (rite of assuming mourning) until the tuần tốt khốc (100 days)
Where the offerings are set
The linh tọa (seat of the soul); in great households the hồn bạch (spirit tablet) is carried from the linh sàng (funeral bed) to the linh tọa
Who makes the offering
The children and grandchildren in the household

Offerings

OfferingNotes
A basin of water, a face towel, betel leaves and areca nuts in the morningoffered as when the person was alive
Rice, soup, and a few dishes according to the family's meal
Incense, lamp, water, tea or wine

Steps

  1. In the morning, bring a basin of water, a face towel, betel leaves and areca nuts to the place of the bed, cry three times, carry the hồn bạch (spirit tablet) out to the linh tọa, then make the offering
  2. In the evening, after the offering is made, carry it back to the linh sàng (funeral bed), lower the curtain and cover with a blanket
  3. At the tuần tốt khốc (100th-day ceremony) a feast is held, and then the twice-daily offerings stop

Where the sources differ

  • How long rice is offered: the book Việt Nam phong tục and prayer-text pages say until 100 days; the page phatgiao.org.vn answers in the spirit of Buddhism that offerings are needed only until the end of 49 days.

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Folk practice

When
Every day, two or three meals after burial, until the lễ tốt khốc at 100 days

Offerings

OfferingNotes
The daily offering riceRequired
A more generous offering tray on the days of sóc and vọng (first and fifteenth day of the lunar month)called cúng tuần

Steps

  1. The tang chủ (chief mourner) offers rice every day, called the lễ hiến thực
  2. On the first day of the lunar month and the fifteenth day of the lunar month a larger feast is prepared (cúng tuần)
  3. The hiến thực ends after 100 days, on the occasion of tốt khốc

More about Cúng 100 ngày (100th-day ceremony)

Nhật Nguyệt articles on the rite, the custom and how to prepare.

Collected text. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources for the offerings and steps

  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Sau 49 ngày, có cần để bàn vong và cúng cơm hàng ngày? (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Sự hỗn dung văn hóa trong tín ngưỡng thờ cúng tổ tiên ở Nam bộ (giacngo.vn)
  • Gia lễ giản yếu, phần Lễ tang (vi.wikisource.org)
  • Nghi thức tang lễ theo truyền thống Phật giáo (phatgiao.org.vn)

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

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