Cúng giao thừa ngoài trời (New Year's Eve offering, outdoors)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Lễ Trừ tịch, Cúng hành khiển, Văn khấn giao thừa ngoài trời

By custom two rites are held at the turn of the lunar year: an outdoor table to see off the Hành khiển (the official believed to oversee the old year) and welcome the new one, and an indoor rite at the ancestral altar. Prayer texts are divided along these two settings.

When
The night of the 30th (or 29th) of the twelfth lunar month, at the shift into the hour of the Rat of the first day of Tết
For whom
The Quan Hành khiển (Administrator) of the old year and the new year together with the deities

Prayer text for the giao thừa offering outdoors

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Outdoor offering

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the giao thừa (New Year's Eve) offering outdoors, presented to the Buddhas, Hoàng Thiên and Hậu Thổ, the venerable deities, the Hành khiển officials of the old and new years, along with the Táo quân and the spirits governing this region; recited at giao thừa to see off the old year, welcome the new year, and ask for protection so the family may be healthy, peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous in their work.

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.

Other texts for Cúng giao thừa ngoài trời (New Year's Eve offering, outdoors)

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, Outdoor offering

When
Exactly at giao thừa (New Year's Eve)
Where the offerings are set
Outdoors: a table placed in front of the house door
Who makes the offering
The head of the household

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Incense, flowers, lamps and candlesRequired
Betel leaves and areca nuts
Clothes and hats for the deities (votive paper)
Boiled pig's head
Boiled rooster
xôi (steamed sticky rice)
bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake)
rice wine

Steps

  1. Before the hour of the Rat, perform the rite to send off the administrator of the old year and then welcome the administrator of the new year
  2. The head of the household lights lamps and candles, pours wine, and prays before the altar
  3. Pray the name and title of the Hành khiển of the year (12 deities rotating according to the 12 zodiac animals)
  4. After three rounds of incense, burn the prayer text together with votive paper

More about Cúng giao thừa ngoài trời (New Year's Eve offering, outdoors)

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

  • Lễ cúng giao thừa, lễ Trừ tịch ngày 30 Tết (vankhan.vn)

Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

More prayer textsDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, life-cycle rites and regional rites.