Offering on the 2nd and 16th of every month

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Cúng cô hồn hằng tháng của người buôn bán, Cúng ngoài sân, Cúng cô hồn mùng 2, 16

According to the pages already loaded, offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th of every month is a custom of traders, especially in the South: setting out a tray of congee, rice and salt in the yard, in front of the shop.

When
The 2nd and 16th of the lunar calendar every month, usually in the late afternoon and evening
For whom
Wandering spirits, souls without a place to rely on; deities of the place of business

Prayer text for offering to wandering spirits monthly on the 2nd and 16th (the "văn khấn miền Nam" text)

  • Southern Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Offering to wandering spirits

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the monthly offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th days of the lunar month, paying homage to Địa Tạng Vương Bồ Tát (Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva), Mục Kiền Liên Tôn giả (Venerable Maudgalyāyana), Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ địa (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods) and all governing deities, asking for protection for the tín chủ (the person making the offering) and the whole family to be healthy, wealth and fortune to prosper, the household to thrive, good things to come and bad things to be taken away.

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

This text is the version from the South.

2 more blanks

How it differs from the common version

Theo khung khuôn sách (niệm Phật ba lần, "Kính lạy" Địa Tạng Vương Bồ Tát, Mục Kiền Liên Tôn giả, Thành hoàng, Thổ địa, Táo quân), không có lời thỉnh cô hồn; chỉ xin phù hộ cho tín chủ và toàn gia.

The common version: Short monthly offering to wandering spirits (the 2nd and 16th)

Other texts for Offering on the 2nd and 16th of every month

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.

Southern Vietnam, Traders and shopkeepers, Folk practice, Offering to wandering spirits

When
The 2nd and 16th of the lunar calendar every month
Where the offerings are set
In the yard, in front of the house, shop, company
Who makes the offering
Small traders, business households

Offerings

OfferingQuantityNotes
Thin plain congee12 bowls, in some places 5 to 7 bowls
Rice, saltone plate
waterthree cups
Incense, two candles
Paper money and votive paper, clothes for sentient beings
Fruit, flowers, betel leaves and areca nuts
Cakes and candies, slab sugar, xôi (steamed sticky rice) or chè, puffed rice, potatoes, boiled corn, sugarcane
Chicken, roast pigOptional. depending on means, the tray at a shop or company is usually fuller than the tray at home

Steps

  1. Set out the tray in the yard
  2. Light incense, read the prayer text
  3. Burn votive paper together with the prayer text sheet
  4. Scatter rice and salt

The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources

  • Cúng cô hồn cần gì? Hướng dẫn chuẩn bị và thực hiện (didongviet.vn)
  • Cúng cô hồn hàng tháng, bài văn khấn (docungtamlinh.com.vn)
  • Cúng cô hồn miền Nam và miền Bắc (docungtamlinh.com.vn)

Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

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