Prayer text for the year-end thank-offering rite (hóa vàng)
Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper). The 3rd day of the first lunar month for most households; in some places the 2nd, 4th, 5th or 7th day
- Used across Vietnam
- Folk practice
Culture and belief A record of custom.
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.
Showing the version used across Vietnam.
Offerings and how the rite is done
Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)
Other texts for Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)
- Folk practicePrayer text for hóa vàng on the 3rd day of Tết, according to Văn khấn cổ truyền Việt Nam (Traditional Vietnamese Prayer Texts)
- Folk practicePrayer text for the thank-offering rite (the version "Kính lạy... Cẩn cáo", hóa vàng rite, Tết Khai hạ)
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for offering to the ancestors on the 3rd day of Tết (lễ tạ ông vải)
- BuddhistPrayer text for the end-of-Tết offering (3rd day) (Buddhist version)
- BuddhistPrayer text for the end-of-Tết offering (hóa vàng offering) (without sutra chanting)
- Folk practicePrayer text for offering to Ông Táo on the 7th of the first lunar month (lễ khai hạ, offered together with the ancestors and the deities)
More about Lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper)
Nhật Nguyệt articles on the rite, the custom and how to prepare.
- Festival customsWhen Is the Votive Paper Burning Ceremony to See Off Ancestors After Tet, and What Should You Prepare?
- Festival customsTet worship rituals in northern Vietnam from the 23rd of the 12th lunar month to the vang ma burning rite: sequence, offerings and meaning
- Festival customsTết Rites in Southern Vietnam: Welcoming the Ancestors, the Giao Thừa Offering, Tết Nhà on the Third and the Farewell
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)
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.Open