Ceremony of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and announcing to the ancestors

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Nhập linh vị, Nhập thần chủ, Giải bàn vong, Rước bát hương lên bàn thờ gia tiên, Hợp tự

By custom, when mourning ends the spirit tablet of the deceased is copied out, carried from the mourning altar up to the main altar and placed on the lower row, and the children and grandchildren announce it to the ancestors so that the deceased is worshipped together from then on.

When
Immediately after the đàm tế (end-of-mourning) ceremony; pagodas and many households in Nam Bộ do it after 49 days
For whom
Ancestors at the main altar; household deities

Prayer text for the ceremony of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and announcing to the ancestors

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice
  • Address to the ancestors

What this prayer says

Prayer text to the ancestors in the rite of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and reporting to the ancestors, recited before the altar to present to the household deities and ancestors the carrying of the deceased's spirit tablet up to the main altar after the end of mourning, asking them to witness and bless the whole family with peace and well-being.

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

Showing the version used across Vietnam.

4 more blanks

Lines that depend on the occasion

  • Tín chủ là {ho_ten} (nếu lễ gia thần) hoặc Hậu duệ tôn là {ho_ten} (nếu lễ gia tiên, tự xưng hô với vị được liệt thờ cao nhất).: Use "Tín chủ" when offering to the household deities, and "Hậu duệ tôn" when offering to the ancestors.

Other texts for Ceremony of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and announcing to the ancestors

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.

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice, Address to the ancestors

When
Immediately after the đàm tế (end of mourning) at the mourning altar
Where the offerings are set
The main altar where the ancestors are worshipped
Who makes the offering
The tín chủ (the person making the offering) or a descendant

Offerings

OfferingNotes
The newly copied spirit tablet, covered with red paper or clothRequired

Steps

  1. Đàm tế at the mourning altar
  2. Burning the old spirit tablet together with the black band wrapped around the photo frame and the sacrificial oration
  3. Carrying the spirit tablet, incense bowl and portrait up to the main altar and placing them on the lower row
  4. Announcing to the ancestors

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist, Address to the ancestors

When
After 49 days
Where the offerings are set
The ancestors' altar

Offerings

Offering
A tray of rice

Steps

  1. Preparing a tray of rice and inviting the spirit of the deceased back so that the children and grandchildren may worship at the ancestors' altar
  2. Inviting the portrait and the incense bowl of the deceased up to the ancestors' altar
  3. If the ancestors' altar already has an incense bowl, then only three incense sticks are taken from the incense bowl of the deceased and inserted there

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Folk practice, Address to the ancestors

When
After 49 days, or on the occasion of tiểu tường or đại tường, depending on each household

Steps

  1. Installing the thần chủ (spirit tablet) of the deceased on the altar together with the thần chủ of the forebears
  2. By the fifth generation of descendants (about a hundred years later) a lễ mai thần chủ is held and the thần chủ is taken away for burial

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

Sources

  • Văn khấn trong lễ tang (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn lễ rước linh vị vào chính điện và yết cáo Tiên Tổ (tuvi.vn)
  • Sau 49 ngày, có cần để bàn vong và cúng cơm hàng ngày? (phatgiao.org.vn)
  • Sự hỗn dung văn hóa trong tín ngưỡng thờ cúng tổ tiên ở Nam bộ (giacngo.vn)

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

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