Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Cúng tiễn ông bà, Cúng đưa ông bà, Lễ tạ năm mới, Mãn Tết, Cúng tiễn ông vải, Lễ tạ âm cảnh

By custom, when Tết ends the family prepares a tray of rice to thank the deities, sees off the ancestors, and then burns the votive paper that has been placed on the altar during the Tết days. The day of the rite and its name vary from place to place.

When
The 3rd day of the first lunar month for most households; in some places the 2nd, 4th, 5th or 7th day
For whom
The ancestors, who are seen off after Tết; the deities of the house

Prayer text for the year-end thank-offering rite (hóa vàng)

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the year-end thank-offering rite (lễ tạ năm mới) with burning votive paper, recited for the whole ceremony: the tín chủ (the person making the offering) presents incense, flowers, water, fruit, votive gold and silver, and offerings of tea and wine before the altar, stating that the spring feast is over and Nguyên Đán has passed, and asks to burn the votive gold and silver, to make the thank-offering to the deities, and to escort the ancestors back to the underworld, praying for protection so that the descendants may have peace and the household may prosper.

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.

Other texts for Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)

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 first lunar month for most households
Where the offerings are set
The ancestors' altar; the votive paper is burned in an open place

Offerings

OfferingQuantityNotes
Incense, flowers, water, five-fruit trayRequired
Betel leaves and areca nuts, wine, lamps and candles, cakes and sweets
Savory offering tray: xôi (steamed sticky rice), chicken, bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake) or bánh tét (cylindrical sticky rice cake), Tết dishesif the offering is savory, there is a rooster
Votive paper that has been placed on the altar during the Tết days
Sugarcanetwo stalksby custom, so that the ancestors have a staff to lean on and a carrying pole

Steps

  1. Offering the tray of rice to see off the ancestors
  2. Burning the paper money of the household deities first, of the ancestors afterwards
  3. Votive paper for those who died during the year is burned separately
  4. Holding the two stalks of sugarcane over the embers of the votive paper
  5. The descendants eat the meal of the hóa vàng rite

Things to avoid

  • During the Tết days the lamp and incense on the altar are kept from going out until the thank-offering rite

Where the sources differ

  • Day of the rite: the 3rd day (vankhan.vn, VTC News, Báo Hà Tĩnh); the 3rd day, in some places the 4th (Báo Pháp luật TP. Hồ Chí Minh); from the 4th day onward, formerly the 7th (the Tết Nguyên đán page of vankhan.vn); the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 7th day, the khai hạ day (Báo Đại biểu Nhân dân); some households keep it until the 10th day (VTC News)

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

Where the offerings are set
The Buddha altar and the ancestors' altar; a separate offering tray may be added

Offerings

Offering
Buddha altar: incense and flowers, fruit, lamps and candles, vegetarian food (rice, xôi, chè, cakes and candied fruit)
Ancestors' altar: incense and flowers, lamps and candles, betel leaves and areca nuts, tea, water, cakes and sweets, fruit
Tết offering tray, preferably a vegetarian tray

Steps

  1. Arranging the offerings, lighting candles, lighting incense at the Buddha altar and the ancestors' altar
  2. Joining the palms in prayer

Things to avoid

  • Limiting the burning of votive paper

Central Vietnam, Hội An, Folk practice

When
Around the 4th or 5th day of the first lunar month, called cúng đưa ông bà (offering to see off the ancestors)

Steps

  1. Offering to see off the ancestors, regarded as the end of Tết

More about Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)

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 tạ năm mới (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn mùng 3 Tết Bính Ngọ 2026: hóa vàng, cúng gia tiên, Thần Tài, ông vải (baohatinh.vn)
  • Lễ Tết Nguyên đán (Lễ đầu năm mới) (vankhan.vn)
  • Lễ hóa vàng đầu năm mới là gì? (vtcnews.vn)
  • Lễ vật 'hóa vàng' mùng 3 tết Tân Sửu 2021 (plo.vn, Báo Pháp luật TP. Hồ Chí Minh)
  • Nghi lễ và thực hành nghi lễ cổ truyền dịp Tết (daibieunhandan.vn)
  • Cúng đưa ông bà mùng 3 Tết: 7 lưu ý cho đúng chánh pháp (tuoitre.vn)
  • Tết của người Hội An (vnexpress.net)

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.