Prayer text for offering to the deities at home on the full moon of the seventh lunar month
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 deities
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Prayer text to the deities in the rằm tháng Bảy (full moon of the seventh lunar month) offering at home, addressing Thái tuế, Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity), Thổ địa (Earth God), Táo quân (Kitchen Gods) and the deities governing the area, presenting incense, flowers and offerings and asking them to witness and bless the family with health, peace and growing fortune. Recited when praying to the deities before the altar.
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.
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 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)
- 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
- Bài cúng rằm tháng 7 âm lịch tại nhà (phatgiao.org.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