Prayer text for offering to wandering spirits monthly on the 2nd and 16th (the short text, an abridged "Cô hồn xuất tại côn lôn")

Offering on the 2nd and 16th of every month. The 2nd and 16th of the lunar calendar every month, usually in the late afternoon and evening

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

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer text for the monthly offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th days of the lunar month, a shortened version, in which the tín chủ (the person making the offering) sincerely sets up the altar, offers the sweet dew feast, prays for peace for the household and for his own fate, asking for the family to be peaceful, business to be favorable, children to study well, and the world to be at peace; inviting wandering spirits from everywhere to come and receive the offerings and praying for their deliverance.

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.

How it differs from the common version

The invocation part is reduced to a single prose sentence ("Cô hồn xuất tại côn lôn... về nơi này thụ hưởng lễ vật"), omitting both the verse text and the two mantras.

The common version: Full prayer text for offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th ("Cô hồn xuất tại Côn Lôn")

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Offering on the 2nd and 16th of every month

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

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)

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.