Trung nguyên cáo tế tiên tổ văn (Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, with translation)
Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls). Full moon of the seventh lunar month; the offering to wandering spirits can be done from the first day to the fifteenth; in the South, traders also offer to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th of every month
- Used across Vietnam
- Folk practice
- Address to the ancestors
- Sacrificial oration
- Sino-Vietnamese reading
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
A sacrificial oration read at the Trung nguyên (full moon of the seventh lunar month) ceremony to report to the ancestors, offered by the tín chủ (the person making the offering) at a pagoda or temple, asking the ancestral spirits to witness and praying that both the dead and the living may benefit and all matters be harmonious.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
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Showing the version used across Vietnam.
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How it differs from the common version
Short Sino-Vietnamese sacrificial oration, read in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation; informing the ancestors of the establishment of a vegetarian altar for sutra chanting at a pagoda or temple (đền); ending with "Cẩn cáo". The source page includes a translation.
The common version: Sacrificial oration to the ancestors on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
Vietnamese gloss given by the source
Hôm nay là ngày ... tháng ... năm ... Tín chủ con là: ... ở ... Kính lạy: ... (các vị tổ, ông bà) Trước linh vị thưa rằng nhân tiết Trung nguyên Tại nơi ... (chùa hay đền thiêng) kính đặt đàn chay tụng kinh siêu độ. Ngửa xin soi xét, lạy đọc văn kinh Mong cho âm dương lưỡng lợi, cầu sao mọi việc tốt lành. Kính cẩn dâng lời
Offerings and how the rite is done
Other texts for Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls)
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text for offering to the deities at home on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsSacrificial oration to the ancestors on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
- Folk practice, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for offering to wandering spirits and sentient beings (according to Văn khấn cổ truyền Việt Nam)
- Folk practice, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for sentient beings ("Hỡi vong linh cô hồn phảng phất")
- BuddhistPrayer text for the full moon of the seventh lunar month at home, at an office, or at a shop (without sutra chanting)
- Buddhist, Offering to wandering spiritsPrayer text for the thí thực offering to wandering spirits (without sutra chanting)
- Southern Vietnam, Traders and shopkeepersShort monthly offering to wandering spirits (the 2nd and 16th)
- Southern Vietnam, Folk practiceFull prayer text for offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th ("Cô hồn xuất tại Côn Lôn")
- BuddhistVăn tế thập loại chúng sinh (Nguyễn Du)
More about Cúng rằm tháng Bảy (seventh-month full moon: ancestors and wandering souls)
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 Tết Trung nguyên, ngày 15 tháng 7 (vankhan.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