Cúng giải hạn Tam Tai (offering to resolve Tam Tai misfortune)

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When

During the three Tam Tai years of one's age (calculated by the tam hợp group); by custom, each year corresponds to one deity, one fixed offering day in the lunar calendar and one direction to bow; some households make the offering monthly, some only at the start of the year

Where the offerings are set

Outdoors: in front of the house yard or on the rooftop; some people do it at a pagoda or invite a ritual master

Who makes the offering

The person facing Tam Tai misfortune themselves

Offerings

Steps

1. Look up the deity, offering day and bowing direction of the year (for example according to the source's table: in a Tý year the deity is Địa Vong, day 22, direction North; in a Thìn year the deity is Thiên Kiếp, day 13, direction Southeast)
2. Arrange the offering table: flower vase on the right, fruit plate on the left, incense bowl in front, then candles, wine; the tablet at the innermost part; the bộ tam sên in the middle
3. The person making the offering stands facing the direction of the year, lights incense, reads the prayer text
4. Bow 3 times, prostrate 12 times, wait for one incense stick to burn out
5. Take the packet of hair and fingernails and small change to a three-way or four-way crossroads and leave it there; or burn it together with paper money
6. Scatter rice and salt on the road; bring back only the tray and utensils

Things to avoid

• During the offering and while waiting for the incense to burn out, do not talk to anyone
• After taking the packet to the crossroads and leaving it, return without looking back
• The person facing the hạn must take the packet away and leave it themselves
• By custom, during the Tam Tai years avoid starting major matters such as building a house, marriage, or expanding business

Where the sources differ

• Offering day: according to the table of twelve deities, each year has its own day (the 13th, 14th, the fifteenth, the 22nd ...); the short prayer text on hoatieu.vn has "ngày 15" printed in advance; Báo Thế giới và Việt Nam writes that the offering is made on a fixed day each month or on each occasion at the start of the year.
• Year of the Dragon: the page hoatieu.vn states the offering is on the 13th; the page mytour writes that in the year Giáp Thìn the offering should be on the 14th.