Offering ritual for Tết Đoan ngọ

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Tết giết sâu bọ, Mùng 5 tháng 5, Tết Đoan dương, Tết nửa năm

By custom, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is Tết Đoan ngọ, popularly called the festival for killing insects; households make offerings to ancestors with rượu nếp (fermented glutinous rice), bánh tro (ash cake) and early-season fruits. The offerings differ by region: the North has cơm rượu (fermented glutinous rice) and bánh gio (ash cake); the Central region has duck meat and chè kê (millet sweet soup); the South has bánh ú (pyramid-shaped sticky rice cake) and chè trôi nước (glutinous rice balls in sweet soup).

When
The 5th day of the 5th lunar month, at the hour of the Horse
For whom
Household deities; ancestors on both sides; tiền chủ and hậu chủ (former and later owners of the land)

Prayer text for Tết Đoan Ngọ

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

Prayer text for Tết Đoan ngọ, offering gifts to Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ Địa (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), ancestors on both sides, and the former and later owners of the house, asking them to witness the sincerity and bless the head of the household with health, peace, and freedom from misfortune in all four seasons. Recited during the Tết Đoan ngọ offering ceremony.

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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Your regional custom

Showing the version used across Vietnam.

Other texts for Offering ritual for Tết Đoan ngọ

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

When
The 5th day of the 5th lunar month, performed at the hour of the Horse (11:00 to 13:00)
Where the offerings are set
Ancestor altar

Offerings

Offering
Incense, flowers, votive paper
water
Rượu nếp (fermented glutinous rice)
Early-season fruits: mận (plums), hồng xiêm (sapodilla), dưa hấu (watermelon), vải (lychee), chuối (bananas)
Bánh tro (bánh gio, ash cake)

Steps

  1. Arrange the offerings on the ancestors' altar
  2. Light incense and pray at the hour of the Horse
  3. Early in the morning, by custom, eat rượu nếp and fruits to "kill insects"

Things to avoid

  • A commercial page notes taboos against leaving shoes and sandals scattered, and against dropping money on this day

Northern Vietnam, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Cơm rượu nếp cái hoa vàng (fermented yellow-flower glutinous rice) or rượu nếp cẩm (fermented black glutinous rice)one page notes it is a mandatory component for people of the North
Bánh gio (bánh tro) eaten with mật mía (sugarcane molasses)
Mận (plums), vải thiều (lychees) and seasonal fruits
Incense, fresh flowers, votive paper

Central Vietnam, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Duck meataccording to the belief here, duck meat is cooling; the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is also duck season
Chè kê (millet sweet soup) eaten with bánh tráng vừng (sesame rice cracker)not present in every province; one page notes it is a dish of the Quảng region people
Cơm rượu nếp pressed into square blocks
Incense, fresh flowers, fruits, votive paper, tea and wine

Where the sources differ

  • Báo Quốc tế, Báo Văn Hóa and docungtamlinh.com.vn note the Central region's specific dishes are duck meat and chè kê; an article on phatgiao.org.vn notes the Central region has bánh ú tro and chè kê in some localities

Southern Vietnam, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Bánh ú Bá Trạng (bánh ú nước tro, alkaline water pyramid-shaped sticky rice cake)pyramid-shaped, larger than the northern bánh tro
Chè trôi nước (glutinous rice balls in sweet soup)served with sugar water and coconut milk
Cơm rượu rolled into round balls
Fruits, often including vải thiều (lychees)
Incense, fresh flowers, votive paper

More about Offering ritual for Tết Đoan ngọ

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 Tết Đoan Ngọ (vankhan.vn)
  • Cúng Tết Đoan Ngọ 2026: Văn khấn và lễ vật (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
  • Văn khấn Tết Đoan Ngọ (mùng 5 tháng 5 Âm lịch) (baoquocte.vn)
  • Văn khấn Tết Đoan Ngọ mùng 5 tháng 5 (tuvi.vn)
  • Tết Đoan Ngọ: Mâm cúng ba miền khác nhau thế nào? (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Tết Đoan ngọ: một nếp thương trong văn hóa Việt (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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