Prayer text for moving the ancestors' altar to other positions within the house
Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar). When moving to a new house, replacing the altar, replacing the incense bowl, or moving the altar to another place in the house; choosing the date and time by custom
- Used across Vietnam
- Folk practice
- Address to the ancestors
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Prayer to ancestors when moving the altar to another position in the house, reporting the change of layout and asking ancestors to accept the offering and permit moving the altar from the old position to the new one; recited during the altar installation ceremony at the new place.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
Fill in before the rite
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Showing the version used across Vietnam.
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How it differs from the common version
Used when moving the altar within the same house: "nay vì trong nhà có thay đổi vị trí mặt bằng", calls the rite "Thiên di linh vị Thần đài"; opens with "Con lạy chín phương Trời, mười phương Phật", closes with "con xin dập đầu kính bái".
The common version: Prayer text for moving the altar to a new house
Offerings and how the rite is done
Other texts for Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving the altar)
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for installing a new incense bowl, addressed to the deities, grandparents and ancestors
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text for installing a new incense bowl, addressed to Thổ Công and Thổ Địa
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for changing to a new altar (VTC News)
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for moving the altar to a new house
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for moving the ancestors' altar to a new house (long version)
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text for moving the Thần Tài altar to a new house
- Folk practice, Closing thanks and burning of votive paperPrayer text of thanksgiving for moving the Thần Tài altar
- Buddhist, InvitationRite for taking down the incense bowl
- Buddhist, Installing the incense bowl or altar in its new placePrayer text for the rite of installing the incense bowl (without sutra chanting)
More about Bốc bát hương, chuyển bàn thờ (ritual of filling the incense bowl and moving 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
- Văn khấn chuyển bàn thờ gia tiên (hoatieu.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.Open