Lễ cúng hồn trâu (buffalo soul offering rite) of the Tày and Nùng people
- Rites of ethnic communities
- 2 prayer texts
- Offerings and steps
Culture and belief A record of custom.
About this rite: when it is held and for whom
Also called: Cho trâu ăn Tết, Tết Khoăn vài, Roọng Khoăn vài, Au khoăn vài, Cúng vía trâu, Lễ cúng hồn trâu của người Tày
After the ploughing and transplanting season, the head of the household holds a rite to thank the buffalo for its work, calls the buffalo's soul back, feeds the buffalo cakes, rice and wine, and lets the buffalo rest.
- When
- The 6th day of the 6th lunar month (Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn); full moon of the seventh lunar month (Nghĩa Đô, Lào Cai)
- For whom
- The soul (khoăn) of the buffalo; Thần Nông (God of Agriculture), the deity guarding livestock; ancestors
Prayer text for offering to ancestors on Tết calling the buffalo's soul on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month (in Tày, with the source's translation)
- Northeast
- Tày, Nùng
- Cao Bằng
- Folk practice
- Address to the ancestors
What this prayer says
The ancestors prayer text for the buffalo Tết on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month in the Tày language, offering a drake, buffalo-horn cakes made of fragrant sticky rice, white noodles and various fruits, inviting the grandparents and ancestors to eat and then asking them to protect the young buffaloes and calves from ticks, leeches, mosquitoes and flies and to keep them healthy and safe.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
Fill in before the rite
The prayer below is ready to read.
This text is the version from the North.
Other texts for Lễ cúng hồn trâu (buffalo soul offering rite) of the Tày and Nùng people
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.
Northwest, Tày, Nghĩa Đô, Lào Cai, Folk practice
- When
- Morning of the full moon of the seventh lunar month
- Where the offerings are set
- In front of the buffalo pen door, under the floor of the stilt house
- Who makes the offering
- The male head of the household performs the offering; the female head of the household and the buffalo herder feed the buffalo
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| Offering tray: boiled chicken, grilled fish, boiled vegetables, cakes, wine, betel leaves and areca nuts, kim ngân vàng bạc (gold and silver votive paper), fruit | Required |
| For each buffalo: one bundle of fresh grass, one handful of sticky rice mixed with salt and galangal, wine, two bánh tét (cylindrical sticky rice cakes) of the seventh month | Required |
Steps
- On the evening of the 14th, lead the buffalo back to the pen and bathe it
- The head of the household makes the full-moon offering to invite the ancestors on the stilt house
- Go down under the floor to bow, chant the offering to the heavenly deities, the earth deity and the Thổ Công (Earth God of the house); then the offering to the buffalo herd; then call each buffalo by name to come and eat the Tết meal
- Feed each one rice mixed with salt and galangal, wine, chicken meat, grilled fish and cakes; give them salt water to drink, let them eat grass, paddy and maize
- Let the buffalo rest in the pen until the afternoon
Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Folk practice
- When
- The 6th day of the 6th lunar month (tết Khoăn vài); present the offering on the ancestors' altar at the giờ Thìn (hour of the Dragon)
- Where the offerings are set
- The ancestors' altar; outside on the floor or in the yard in front of the house; the buffalo pen
- Who makes the offering
- The head of the household does it himself, without inviting a ritual master
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| Duck meat | Required |
| Bánh sừng trâu (pẻng coóc vài), wrapped in dong leaves, filled with mung bean and pork, curved like a buffalo horn | Required. a note records that few people still know how to wrap it today, replaced by bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake) and bánh coóc mò |
| Bún (rice vermicelli), xôi (steamed sticky rice), chicken meat | |
| Votive paper, wine, fruit from the home garden | |
| Branches of the núc nác tree with joints like buffalo knees, as many branches as there are buffaloes in the household | Required. placed on the offering tray in place of the buffalo |
| Red paper pasted on the buffalo pen posts and the buffalo horns | Required |
Steps
- Clean the buffalo pen, paste red paper on the pen posts and the buffalo horns
- At the giờ Thìn, present the offering on the ancestors' altar and read the prayer text
- Move the offering tray out to the floor or the yard to offer to Thần Nông (God of Agriculture) and the deity guarding livestock, asking to return the buffalo's soul
- Lead the buffalo and carry the plough and harrow to the river or stream to bathe the buffalo and wash the plough and harrow
- Before lunch, let the buffalo eat before the people: feed it cakes, bún (rice vermicelli) and a little wine, sing the buffalo-inviting song to call all nine buffalo souls back to eat
- The whole family eats the feast; the buffalo-herding children are given rice balls, duck drumsticks and cakes to take away
Things to avoid
- Do not scold or beat buffaloes and cows
- Do not repair the buffalo shed, do not repair the plough and harrow
- Rest from field work
Collected text. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.
Sources for the offerings and steps
- Cho trâu "ăn tết" tháng Bảy (baolaocai.vn)
- Con trâu trong đời sống văn hóa của người Tày, Nùng Xứ Lạng (baolangson.vn)
Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
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