Prayer text for the indoor giao thừa offering (the "Kính lạy... Cẩn cáo" version)

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

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Indoor offering

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the giao thừa (New Year's Eve) offering inside the house in the "Kính lạy... Cẩn cáo" form, paying respects to Maitreya Buddha, Hoàng Thiên Hậu Thổ, the Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ Địa (Earth God), the Táo quân (Kitchen Gods), the deities governing the area and the ancestors of both sides, inviting them to descend and witness the offerings and asking for a healthy and prosperous new year, smooth work and peace for everyone; recited at giao thừa before the altar inside the house.

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.

How it differs from the common version

Differs from the original: no line "Con lạy chín phương Trời"; begins with homage to Đức Di Lặc; invites each deity separately then ancestors, former and later owners; the vow section is parallel prose ("Minh niên khang thái, trú dạ cát tường"); ends with "Cẩn cáo".

The common version: Prayer text for the indoor giao thừa offering

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Cúng giao thừa trong nhà (New Year's Eve offering, indoors)

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

The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources

  • Văn khấn lễ giao thừa trong nhà (vankhan.vn)

Part of the open dataset Vietnamese offering prayers (văn cúng), licensed CC BY 4.0.

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