Cúng Tết Hàn thực (Cold Food Festival offering)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Tết bánh trôi bánh chay, Tết mùng 3 tháng 3, Tết Hàn thực 3 tháng 3

By custom, on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month households make bánh trôi (floating rice balls) and bánh chay (sweet rice balls) to offer to ancestors. Vietnamese people still cook as usual on this day and make offerings to ancestors, without attaching it to the old legend behind the name; articles record this custom most clearly in the North.

When
The 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month
For whom
Household deities; ancestors on both sides; tiền chủ and hậu chủ (former and later owners of the land)

Prayer text for Tết Hàn thực

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

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 Tết Hàn thực (Cold Food Festival offering)

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 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month; one page records the hours of Mão, Thìn, Ngọ and that the offering should be completed before 19:00
Where the offerings are set
Ancestor altar

Offerings

OfferingQuantity
Incense, flowers, betel leaves and areca nuts
Bánh trôi (floating rice balls)5 or 3 bowls (plates)
Bánh chay (sweet rice balls)5 or 3 bowls

Steps

  1. Offer bánh trôi and bánh chay on the altar
  2. Pray to the outer deities first, then the inner deities
  3. Pray to ancestors

Things to avoid

  • One page records a taboo against offering bánh trôi and bánh chay in many colours
  • Taboo against moving residence on this day
  • Taboo against displaying fruits with thorns or a bitter taste
  • Taboo against offering lilies, crown flowers, and marigolds

Northern Vietnam, Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Nam Định, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Bánh trôi and bánh chay made from glutinous rice flourthe article records that traditional Northern cakes are made from freshly ground glutinous rice flour

Steps

  1. The whole family makes the cakes and then offers them on the altar of grandparents and ancestors

Northeast, Lạng Sơn, Cao Bằng, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Bánh coóng phùsimilar to bánh trôi of the Northern Delta, eaten with added water

Central Vietnam, Folk practice

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Fruitthe article records that Central Vietnamese offer more simply, usually offering fruit

Southern Vietnam, Folk practice

Offerings

Offering
Chè trôi nước with coconut milk

Where the sources differ

  • Tạp chí Công Thương records that Southerners offer simply, using only chè trôi nước with coconut milk; Tuổi Trẻ quotes a culinary artisan saying that Southerners almost do not make offerings, and if they do they are Northern origin and the offerings are not as complete as in the North

More about Cúng Tết Hàn thực (Cold Food Festival offering)

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 Tết Hàn thực (vankhan.vn)
  • Tết Hàn thực, Tết bánh trôi bánh chay ngày 3 tháng 3 (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn Tết Hàn thực 2026: bài cúng gia tiên và Thần Tài (fptshop.com.vn)
  • Ý nghĩa khác biệt ngày tết Hàn thực Việt Nam (tapchicongthuong.vn)
  • Tại sao Tết Hàn thực lại phải ăn bánh trôi bánh chay? (tuoitre.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.