Lễ cầu an đầu năm (New Year prayer for peace and safety)
- Cầu an, giải hạn (prayers for peace, rites to ward off misfortune)
- 6 prayer texts
- Offerings and steps
Culture and belief A record of custom.
About this rite: when it is held and for whom
Also called: Cầu an, Cầu bình an đầu năm, Dâng sớ cầu an, Lễ cầu quốc thái dân an
By custom, at the start of the year Vietnamese people go to a pagoda or ask the pagoda to perform a ceremony praying for the family to have a peaceful year. The pagoda explains that this is an occasion for repentance and good deeds followed by dedication of merit, unlike the lễ dâng sao giải hạn (rite to offer stars and ward off misfortune) of folk belief. The text includes a prayer at the pagoda and the repentance chants for cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) recited during the ceremony.
- When
- From Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) to the full moon of the first lunar month; in Huế it is held in a spread-out way from the 2nd day of Tết
- For whom
- Buddhas, Bodhisattvas (Quán Thế Âm, Dược Sư), the Three Jewels
Prayer text to the Buddha (pagoda ceremony for cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) at the beginning of the year)
- Used across Vietnam
- Buddhist
What this prayer says
Prayer text to the Buddha in the early-year pagoda cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony, offering incense before the Great Hero Hall and bowing to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the Three Jewels; the tín chủ (the person making the offering) sincerely repents, vows to do good deeds, and asks for protection so that the family may be free of illness and mental affliction and have smooth fortune. Recited throughout the ceremony.
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.
Showing the version used across Vietnam.
3 more blanks
How it differs from the common version
The version from Pháp luật Việt Nam newspaper of the template "Văn khấn lễ Phật": opens with "Con xin thành tâm cúi lạy chín phương Trời", uses "tên đầy đủ là", has a blank for the pagoda name; adds "si mê lầm lạc"; writes "không làm điều dữ" instead of "Thề tránh điều dữ"; ends with "Tâm nguyện lòng thành tâm kính bái thỉnh... chứng giám" instead of "Chúng con lễ bạc tâm thành... được phù hộ độ trì".
The common version: Văn khấn lễ Phật (prayer text for offering to the Buddha)
Other texts for Lễ cầu an đầu năm (New Year prayer for peace and safety)
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, Buddhist
- When
- From Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year) to the full moon of the first lunar month
- Where the offerings are set
- At the pagoda: the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar first, then the nhà thờ Mẫu (Mother Goddess hall), and finally the nhà Tổ (ancestral hall of the pagoda)
- Who makes the offering
- Buddhists and local people perform the ceremony themselves; the pagoda holds a general cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| Incense, fresh flowers, ripe fruit, oản phẩm (rice-flour offerings), xôi (steamed sticky rice), chè (sweet soup) | vegetarian offerings |
| Lotus flowers, huệ flowers, mẫu đơn flowers, ngâu flowers, chrysanthemums | flowers for offering to the Buddha according to one source |
| Sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety) | Optional. if a sớ (petition) is written, it is placed on the offering tray |
| Donation money | Optional. placed into the donation box |
Steps
- Prepare vegetarian offerings, dress properly
- Enter the pagoda through the right door, leave through the left door (according to one source)
- Present the offerings, light incense, read the prayer text at the Tam Bảo (Three Jewels) altar
- Make offerings at the other altars
- Put donation money into the box, do not place it on the altar
Things to avoid
- Do not present meat offerings in the Buddha hall; meat offerings are presented only at the altars of the Thánh (Saints), Mẫu (Mother Goddesses), and Đức Ông if the pagoda has them
- Do not place votive paper, hell money, or real money on the altars of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Huế, Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Buddhist
- When
- From the 1st and 2nd days of Tết until the full moon of the first lunar month; Huế people do not concentrate it on the full moon day
- Where the offerings are set
- At pagodas in the city and in villages (more than 100 pagodas in the province hold the Lễ cầu an đầu năm, according to the provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Board)
- Who makes the offering
- Monks and nuns preside over the ceremony; families of lay Buddhists and Buddhists submit sớ cầu an (petitions for peace and safety) and attend the ceremony on the registered day
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| The family's sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety) | some pagodas only hold a ceremony for quốc thái dân an (national peace and people's safety) and do not accept petitions from individual households |
| Incense offered to the Buddha |
Steps
- The family submits the sớ cầu an (petition for peace and safety) and registers the day to attend the ceremony with the pagoda
- The pagoda holds the cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony over many sessions in the first lunar month, each session brief
- Some pagodas chant the Dược Sư sutra, light Diên Thọ lamps, and open a Dược Sư dharma assembly to pray for quốc thái dân an (national peace and people's safety)
- Those who cannot attend may offer incense to the Buddha and pray at home
Things to avoid
- Do not burn votive paper during the cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) ceremony (according to the announcement of the provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Board)
The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.
Sources
- Lễ cầu an và cầu tài lộc đầu năm mới (baophapluat.vn)
- Có nên cúng sao giải hạn tập thể? (baophapluat.vn)
- Người Huế "cầu an" trong thầm lặng (baovanhoa.vn)
- Đi chùa cầu an ở Huế: không có cảnh ồn ào chen lấn, tập trung đông đúc (baovanhoa.vn)
Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
More prayer textsDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, life-cycle rites and regional rites.Open