Lễ Chầu tổ (ceremony of reporting to the ancestors)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Triều tổ lễ cáo, Triệu tổ, Yết tổ, Cáo tổ

By custom, the descendants report to the ancestors that someone in the household has just died. Sources place this ceremony at two different times: before the funeral procession (carrying the hồn bạch (white soul cloth) or the linh vị (spirit tablet) to report to the ancestors) or after burial and the hồi linh (rite of bringing back the soul).

When
After the hồi linh (rite of bringing back the soul) according to the prayer-text page; old books and the pagoda place it before the day of the funeral procession
For whom
Tiên tổ (forebears) at the main altar or the clan house

Prayer text for the Chầu Tổ ceremony (Triều Tổ lễ cáo)

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Address to the ancestors

What this prayer says

Prayer to the ancestors in the lễ Chầu Tổ (ceremony of reporting to the ancestors), announcing to the ancestors that a deceased family member has been buried and the lễ hồi linh (rite of calling back the soul) has been performed; recited before the ancestral altar after the spirit tablet is brought back.

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.

4 more blanks

Other texts for Lễ Chầu tổ (ceremony of reporting to the ancestors)

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, Address to the ancestors

Where the offerings are set
The main altar for worshipping the ancestors; younger branches report at the clan-branch house
Who makes the offering
Hậu duệ tôn (the descendants) obeying the elders of the household

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Hương hoa, chuối oản, trầu cau, đèn nến, xôi gàlisted in the prayer text of vankhan.vn

Steps

  1. Report to the ancestors that the relative has died and has been buried

Where the sources differ

  • When it is performed: the page vankhan.vn places Lễ Chầu tổ after the Hồi linh rite, once burial is complete; the book Việt Nam phong tục places the reporting to the ancestral shrine within the lễ chuyển cữu (rite of moving the coffin) on the day before the funeral (originally the rite of carrying the coffin, now only the hồn bạch is carried, and a household without its own ancestral house turns the coffin one round); the page phatgiao.org.vn places the lễ Triệu tổ (rite of summoning the ancestors) about two days before the day of the coffin's departure.

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist, Address to the ancestors

When
About two days before the day of the coffin's departure (lễ Triệu tổ)
Where the offerings are set
Tự đường (clan house)

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Linh vị (spirit tablet), di ảnh (portrait), bát nhang (incense bowl) and offeringsRequired

Steps

  1. The bereaved family invites the linh vị, di ảnh and bát nhang to the tự đường
  2. Place the linh vị on a small table facing the ancestors' altar
  3. The descendants put down their staffs and mourning caps, then perform the rite reporting to the ancestors

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

Sources

  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn Lễ Chầu Tổ trong tang lễ (tuvi.vn)
  • Việt Nam phong tục, thiên I chương IX Tang ma (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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