Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Tết Hạ nguyên, Tết cơm mới, Tiết Thường tân, Rằm Hạ nguyên, Lễ mừng lúa mới

By custom, after the tenth-month harvest, households cook xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice from the new crop to offer to ancestors and deities in thanks for a rice season, called Tết cơm mới (New Rice Festival) or tiết Thường tân (the Thường tân seasonal observance); in many places it is held on the full moon of the tenth lunar month, that is the full moon of Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial).

When
The first day, the tenth day, or the full moon of the tenth lunar month, depending on the locality
For whom
Household deities; ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides; in some places a prayer is addressed to đức Thần Nông (the God of Agriculture)

Prayer text for Tiết Thường tân (New Rice)

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

The prayer text for Tiết Thường tân (Cơm mới, New Rice Festival) is recited for the whole ceremony, paying respects to Heaven and Earth, the Buddhas, Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ Địa (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods) and ancestors on both sides; the tín chủ (the person making the offering) presents offerings including betel leaves and areca nuts, incense, flowers, and rice from the new crop to give thanks for the harvest and ask for protection for the descendants.

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.

Lines that depend on the occasion

  • ngày mồng Một (mồng Mười Rằm) tháng Mười: Choose according to the day your household performs the new rice ceremony: the first day, the tenth day, or the full moon of the tenth lunar month.

Other texts for Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)

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

When
The first day, the tenth day, or the full moon of the tenth lunar month, depending on the locality
Where the offerings are set
Ancestor altar

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice cooked from the new crop
Incense, flowers, lamps and candles
Betel leaves and areca nuts, tea and fruit
Offering tray for the ancestorsvankhan.vn notes a savory offering tray, hoatieu.vn notes a vegetarian offering tray

Steps

  1. Cook xôi (steamed sticky rice) and rice from the new crop to offer to ancestors and deities
  2. Pray to ancestors
  3. Give new glutinous rice and first-of-season gifts to grandparents, parents, craft teachers, and physicians

Things to avoid

  • Offerings made at the pagoda on this day do not include savory offerings (according to one site)

Where the sources differ

  • Date of the ceremony: vankhan.vn notes that Trùng thập (the tenth day of the tenth month) and Hạ nguyên (the full moon of the tenth month) are usually combined into one and only some areas hold it; hoatieu.vn notes it is held on the first day, the tenth day, or the full moon, most commonly the tenth day; phatgiao.org.vn and báo Pháp luật Việt Nam associate it with the full moon of the tenth lunar month
  • Offering tray: vankhan.vn notes "mâm lễ mặn thơm ngon tinh khiết"; hoatieu.vn copies the same sentence but writes "mâm lễ chay"

Red River Delta, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingQuantity
Cakes made from glutinous rice: bánh giầy, bánh trôi, bánh nếp
Whole boiled chicken, boiled pork, giò lụa (Vietnamese pork roll), fried spring rolls
Xôi đỗ xanh (mung bean sticky rice), xôi vò, or xôi gấc (gấc sticky rice)
Canh mọc (meatball soup), canh măng (bamboo shoot soup), or canh miến (vermicelli soup)
Chè đỗ xanh (mung bean sweet soup), chè hạt sen (lotus seed sweet soup), or chè trôi nước (glutinous rice ball sweet soup)3 or 5 cups
Fruit, betel leaves and areca nuts, wine, water, chrysanthemums or rice ears, incense, candles

Steps

  1. Make cakes from the new glutinous rice and then offer them to ancestors and deities

Mekong Delta, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Cakes made from the new rice: bánh bao, bánh tétA source notes there are cake-making contests
Roast pig or a whole boiled chicken
Xôi gấc (gấc sticky rice), xôi đậu xanh (mung bean sticky rice), or xôi ngũ sắc (five-colour sticky rice)
Pork braised with duck eggs, snakehead fish braised in a pot, giò lụa (Vietnamese pork roll)
Bitter melon soup stuffed with meat
Gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls)
Cakes for offering wrapped in banana leavesthe source records it as a familiar dish of people in the Mekong Delta

More about Cúng rằm tháng Mười (full moon of the tenth lunar month offering), Tết Hạ nguyên (Lower Primordial Festival), lễ cơm mới (new rice ceremony)

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

  • Văn khấn Lễ Trùng thập (10-10) và Tết Hạ nguyên (Lễ cơm mới) (15-10) (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn Khấn Tết Hạ Nguyên, Tết Cơm Mới, Tết Trùng Thập (hoatieu.vn)
  • Văn khấn cúng rằm tháng 10 Âm lịch 2024 tại gia (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Rằm tháng Mười, rằm Hạ nguyên, Tết lúa mới (baophapluat.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.