Cúng giao thừa trong nhà (New Year's Eve offering, indoors)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Cúng giao thừa gia tiên, Giao thừa tại cơ quan, cửa hàng, Văn khấn giao thừa trong nhà

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
Household deities and ancestors

Prayer text for the indoor giao thừa offering

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Indoor offering

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.

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Other texts for Cúng giao thừa trong nhà (New Year's Eve offering, indoors)

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, Indoor offering

When
At giao thừa (New Year's Eve), after the house has been tidied and the altar cleaned since the afternoon of the 30th
Where the offerings are set
Indoors: the ancestors' altar
Who makes the offering
head of the household

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Incense, flowers, votive paper, lamps and candlesRequired
Betel leaves and areca nuts, wine, cakes and sweets
Tray of savory Tết dishes

Steps

  1. In the afternoon of the 30th, sweep and clean, tidy the altar, remove old incense sticks leaving only 1 or 3 incense sticks
  2. One person goes to the cemetery to offer incense and invite the ancestors to return and witness the Tết days (do not offer incense at new graves)
  3. Arrange the offerings on the altar, light candles, offer incense, and pray

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.