Lễ giải hạn đầu năm (year-beginning rite to ward off misfortune) of the Tày and Nùng peoples
- Rites of ethnic communities
- Offerings and steps
Culture and belief A record of custom.
About this rite: when it is held and for whom
Also called: Then giải hạn, Lễ cầu an đầu năm của người Tày, Giải hạn đầu năm
By custom, at the beginning of the year the family invites a Then master, a Tào master or a pựt master to the house to perform a cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) rite: offering incense, pouring tea, presenting the sớ (petition), casting the divination blocks. The words of the offering are Then words in the ethnic language, and the newspapers do not record them.
- When
- After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year), from the first lunar month to the beginning of the second lunar month
- For whom
- Ancestors, the saints, Bà Mụ (Mẻ bjooc)
Offerings and how the rite is done
As commonly practised and recorded by the sources. Each family and each region may do it differently.
Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Văn Quan, Lạng Sơn, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)
- When
- After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year), the master chooses an auspicious day
- Where the offerings are set
- In the middle of the house, below the ancestors' altar; or at the master's house
- Who makes the offering
- Then master (mè then) or Tào master (lạo slay)
Offerings
| Offering | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | Required. basic offerings |
| Cakes and candies | ||
| Pig's head | 1 | Optional. may additionally include |
| Three trays: the saints' tray, the tray of the ancestral grandparents, and the tray of hung tin quan hạn | 3 | Required. each tray has one bowl of raw rice with incense stuck in it and a paper-cut effigy, and one boiled chicken with the whole gizzard, liver and heart |
Steps
- Find a master to choose the day, prepare the offerings, welcome the master to the house
- The head of the household offers incense
- The master phũng trà (pours one round of tea at the trays)
- Presenting the sớ (petition): announcing to the ancestors, inviting the ancestors to come and receive the offerings
- Inviting the saints to judge: the master casts two wooden blocks to ask for the divination result
- The following steps depend on each master's way of officiating and on the wishes of the head of the household
Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Quảng Uyên, Cao Bằng, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)
- When
- After Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year)
- Where the offerings are set
- At the house of the head of the household or at the master's house
- Who makes the offering
- Then master, pựt master (giàng) or Tào master
Steps
- Find a Then master or pựt master to choose the day, prepare the offerings, welcome the master
- Nhập môn, thỉnh tướng: announcing and inviting the ancestors to come and receive the offerings
- Bốc mệnh
- Trừ tà
- Hành yên, lập phú: praying for peace and safety, and for wealth and fortune
Northern Vietnam, Tày, Rites led by Then, Tào and Pựt masters (Tày, Nùng, Thái)
- When
- The end of the first lunar month, the beginning of the second lunar month
- Where the offerings are set
- On the stilt house of the head of the household
- Who makes the offering
- Then master; nàng hương (unmarried girls who assist with the rite), chàng khóa
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| Giải hạn tray: a drawing of a tiger, a drawing of the five demons, a five-colour flag, rice, an oil lamp, a bowl of rice for giải hạn, effigies | Required |
| Mâm bà mụ (tray for the Midwife Goddesses): boiled chicken, flower plant, incense, lamp, books and notebooks, five grains, cakes and sweets | Required |
| Mâm cốc cầu (tray for the cốc cầu rite): boiled chicken, rice, incense, cầu nối số (bridge for joining the thread of life), cầu mệnh (bridge for life), red cloth and black cloth lining the bridge, cakes and sweets, flowers and fruit | Required |
| Mâm tam sinh (slam sleng) (three-living-things tray): one live chicken, two pieces of raw meat, rice, incense | Required |
| Đa tháp: one chicken, one duck, a cage for the chicken and duck, rice, wine, a carrying pole, one whole banana bunch | Required |
| Mâm chúng sinh (tray for all beings): five-colour flag, rice, incense, food | Required |
Steps
- Tẳng pựt: the head of the household sends someone to the Then master's house to invite him, and sets out a tray to welcome him
- Sái tịnh đàn tràng (purifying the altar); the head of the household hands over a bowl of rice with three incense sticks stuck in it; the master uses fire and incantations, and there is a rite of sweeping the house
- Giải hạn (rite to ward off misfortune): the Then master wears a red long tunic and a Then hat, sings to invite the Midwife Goddesses (Mẻ bjooc) down to receive the offerings; the masters and the nàng hương dance in attendance
More about Lễ giải hạn đầu năm (year-beginning rite to ward off misfortune) of the Tày and Nùng peoples
Nhật Nguyệt articles on the rite, the custom and how to prepare.
Sources
- Độc đáo lễ giải hạn đầu năm của người Tày, Nùng (baolangson.vn)
- Lễ giải hạn đầu năm của người Tày, Nùng ở Cao Bằng (dantocmiennui.baotintuc.vn)
- Nghi thức văn hóa tín ngưỡng Lễ Cầu an của dân tộc Tày (baodantoc.vn)
Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
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