Full prayer text for offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th ("Cô hồn xuất tại Côn Lôn")
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
- Southern Vietnam
- Folk practice
- Offering to wandering spirits
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Prayer text for offering to wandering spirits on the 2nd and 16th days of each lunar month, recited when setting out the offering outdoors to invite wandering spirits and beings without refuge to receive the offerings and to pray for the household to be peaceful and business to go well.
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.
This text is the version from the South.
How it differs from the common version
Adds a verse invitation section ("Kính thỉnh: Cô hồn xuất tại côn lôn... Chết lại nhờ hớp cháo lá đa"), with several lines drawing on the Văn tế thập loại chúng sinh; two mantras instead of three.
The common version: Short monthly offering to wandering spirits (the 2nd and 16th)
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")
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsTrung nguyên cáo tế tiên tổ văn (Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, with translation)
- 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)
- 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
- Cúng cô hồn hàng tháng, bài văn khấn (docungtamlinh.com.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