Lễ hạ điền, thượng điền (rice-planting and harvest thanksgiving ceremonies)

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Đồng Tháp, Cần Thơ, An Giang, Village communal-house rites

When

Hạ điền at the beginning of the rainy season (4th and 5th lunar months; in Đồng Tháp from the 3rd to the 5th month); thượng điền at the end of the rainy season (11th and 12th lunar months); cầu bông when the rice is in the milk stage. Đình Bình Thủy (Cần Thơ) holds Kỳ yên thượng điền on the 12th to 14th or 15th day of the 4th lunar month

Where the offerings are set

The Thần Nông altar (Xã Tắc platform) in the open air in front of the communal house courtyard or beside the communal house, in some places a separate shrine; where there is no longer an altar platform, a mat is spread to place the offerings

Who makes the offering

Hương chức (village notables) and the ban quý tế (ritual committee) of the communal house; học trò lễ (ritual assistants) chant

Offerings

Steps

1. Offering incense, wine, and tea before the Thần Nông altar according to the chant of the học trò lễ, bowing 4 times (đình An Hòa, Trảng Bàng)
2. Where the full ritual is performed, there is a văn tế (sacrificial oration) and ritual music like the Kỳ yên ceremony; where it is simple, only offerings are made
3. Ở đình Bình Thủy: đưa sắc thần du ngoạn, tế Thần Nông, thay khăn sắc thần, xây chầu đại bội, tế bàn soạn, túc yết, chánh tế, tôn vương, tế sơn quân, tống khách

Where the sources differ

• The month of the thượng điền ceremony: the research article on doanhnhanplus.vn writes that thượng điền is in the 11th and 12th lunar months, but that same article and two articles in Báo Văn Hóa record that đình Bình Thủy holds Kỳ yên thượng điền on the full moon of the 4th lunar month; đình Mỹ An Hưng holds it on the 19th and 20th days of the 11th month.

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Farmers, Folk practice

When

The hạ điền and thượng điền days of the hamlet; in some places the offering is made before the crop season

Where the offerings are set

A tent is set up in the hamlet, offerings are placed on a high table; in some places the offering is made right in the field or in front of the house

Who makes the offering

The chief officiant on behalf of the farmers in the hamlet

Offerings

Steps

1. Setting up the tent, placing offerings on a high table, without ritual music
2. The chief officiant gives thanks to Thần Nông, Hậu Tắc, and the gods of Clouds, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning who helped during the year
3. After the offering, the whole hamlet eats and drinks together

Northeast, Phong Cốc, Quảng Yên, Quảng Ninh, Village communal-house rites

When

In the 6th lunar month, before sowing the crop season

Where the offerings are set

Đình Cốc (đình Phong Cốc) and the field in front of the communal house; the Cửa Đình river

Who makes the offering

The village's chief officiant

Steps

1. Tế yết (opening rite), offering to Thần Nông (God of Agriculture) and Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity) at the communal house (đình)
2. The chief officiant goes down to the field in front of the communal house and plants the first rice plants before the villagers
3. After this planting rite, the households in the village may plant their own fields
4. Festival part: planting contest, boat race with three rounds (bơi yết, bơi giải hà, bơi chung cuộc)

Things to avoid

• By custom, if the planting rite at the communal field has not been performed, households do not plant rice in their own fields

Northern Vietnam, Phú Thọ, Cẩm Lý (Bắc Ninh), Village communal-house rites

When

Phú Thọ in the past: the hạ điền (planting rite) season usually fell in the fifth and sixth lunar months. Đền Thần Nông (Temple of the God of Agriculture) in Cẩm Lý commune: lễ khai canh (first-plowing rite) and hạ điền during the festival on the 15th and 16th of the first lunar month

Where the offerings are set

Phú Thọ: at the communal house (đình). Cẩm Lý: Đền Thần Nông on the Huyền Đinh mountain range

Offerings

Steps

1. Phú Thọ: the village performs the hạ điền rite at the communal house, with most villagers taking part
2. Cẩm Lý: offering to Thần Nông and the deities, then performing the khai canh (first-plowing) and hạ điền rites by sowing symbolic seeds and handing seeds to the hamlets

South Central Coast, Farmers, Trà Quế, Cẩm Hà, Hội An, Village communal-house rites

When

The 6th and 7th of the first lunar month (Cầu bông offering rite); the 7th is also the day of lowering the nêu (New Year pole); the offering rite is from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the 7th

Where the offerings are set

The offering platform, communal house, and hamlet shrines of the vegetable-growing village

Who makes the offering

The village elders; a Chánh bái (chief worshipper), tả hữu phân hiến (left and right assistants), a khánh tiết team, a reader of the text, and a chanter of the rite are chosen

Offerings

Steps

1. From the 24th of the twelfth lunar month the village erects the nêu (New Year pole)
2. On the 6th of the first lunar month, the deities are welcomed to the offering platform and the túc offering rite is performed
3. On the 7th, the hamlets carry offerings in procession to the shrine, present the offerings, and offer to Thần Nông, with a sacrificial oration read
4. When offering, the names of the land and village and the offerings are recited, then they bow to Thần Nông, Thành hoàng bổn xứ (the local tutelary deity), and the deceased elders of the vegetable-growing craft
5. Lowering the nêu, then entering the festival part