Prayer for permission to clean the altar and trim the incense sticks (the first text of VTC News)

Bao sái bàn thờ (cleaning and rearranging the altar). In the twelfth lunar month, usually after the offering to Ông Công and Ông Táo on the 23rd and before the year-end offering

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer asking permission to clean the altar and thin out the incense sticks, recited during the rite of bao sái bàn thờ; the tín chủ (the person making the offering) states name, address, date and asks the deities to witness and bless the purification so that it is solemn and pure, the incense table is in its proper place, the graves are at peace, the household dwells in peace, the wealth store is not disturbed and the fortune store is not depleted.

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

Fill in before the rite

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.

2 more blanks

How it differs from the common version

It lacks the lines "Con lạy chín phương Trời" and the lines of reverence to each deity; it goes straight to the part naming oneself and then the request to "tạm ẩn tạm lánh". The body of the prayer is almost identical to the original text.

The common version: Prayer text for bao sái bàn thờ after the offering to Ông Công and Ông Táo (asking permission before cleaning and trimming the incense sticks)

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Bao sái bàn thờ (cleaning and rearranging the altar)

Other texts for Bao sái bàn thờ (cleaning and rearranging the altar)

More about Bao sái bàn thờ (cleaning and rearranging the altar)

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

The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources

  • Bài khấn dọn bàn thờ cuối năm (vtcnews.vn)

Part of the open dataset Vietnamese offering prayers (văn cúng), licensed CC BY 4.0.

More prayer textsDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, life-cycle rites and regional rites.