Cúng tiết Lập xuân (offering on the Lập xuân solar term)
- Festivals through the year
- 2 prayer texts
- Offerings and steps
Culture and belief A record of custom.
About this rite: when it is held and for whom
Also called: Lễ cúng Lập xuân, Cúng giao thời tiết Lập xuân
By custom, Lập xuân is the solar term that opens the twenty-four solar terms; some households hold a ceremony outdoors and then make offerings to the ancestors indoors to welcome the new flow of energy and to cầu mùa (prayer for a good harvest). This ceremony is less common than the other tết, and many households only burn incense with flowers and fruit.
- When
- Ngày Lập xuân, khoảng 4 hoặc 5 tháng 2 dương lịch
- For whom
- Deities (of which the outdoor offering invokes Thần Nông and the deities of the solar terms); tiền chủ, hậu chủ; ancestors
Prayer text for the Lập xuân offering indoors
- Used across Vietnam
- Folk practice
- Indoor offering
What this prayer says
Prayer text for the Lập xuân (Beginning of Spring) offering inside the house, recited before the altar of the ancestors and the deities governing the household land; the tín chủ (the person making the offering) presents incense, flowers, tea, fruit, paper money and votive paper, and asks for protection so that everyone in the family may be safe, work may go smoothly, and misfortune may be avoided.
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.
5 more blanks
Other texts for Cúng tiết Lập xuân (offering on the Lập xuân solar term)
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
- Ngày Lập xuân, khoảng 4 hoặc 5 tháng 2 dương lịch; báo ghi khung giờ 7 đến 11 giờ sáng hoặc 15 đến 19 giờ chiều
- Where the offerings are set
- Two trays: the offering tray to the deities is placed outdoors, the offering tray to the ancestors is placed indoors
Offerings
| Offering | Notes |
|---|---|
| A pig's head or boiled chicken | the traditional offering tray for the turning of the season according to the newspaper article |
| bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake) | one newspaper records bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake) or bánh tét (cylindrical sticky rice cake) |
| Candied fruit and sweets | |
| Betel leaves and areca nuts | |
| Flowers, fruit | |
| Water or wine | |
| Vàng mã (votive paper) | |
| An incense bowl or two candles on the incense table |
Steps
- Make the offering outdoors first
- Then make the offering to the ancestors indoors
Things to avoid
- Do not argue or fall into discord
- Do not borrow or lend, demand repayment of debts, or repay debts
- Avoid saying unlucky things
Where the sources differ
- Scale of the offering: the newspaper Pháp luật Việt Nam describes two trays, with pig's head or chicken, bánh chưng; vietbao.vn records that many families only make a simple offering with fruit, bánh chưng or bánh tét
The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.
Sources
- 4/2 là ngày Lập Xuân cần lưu ý gì, văn khấn cúng Lập Xuân 2026 (vietbao.vn)
- Văn khấn tiết lập xuân 2024 (hoatieu.vn)
- Hôm nay mới thực sự là ngày Lập Xuân, khởi đầu năm 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.Open