Prayer text announcing to the ancestors when carrying the spirit tablet up to the main altar (within the đàm tế ceremony)

Ceremony of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and announcing to the ancestors. Immediately after the đàm tế (end-of-mourning) ceremony; pagodas and many households in Nam Bộ do it after 49 days

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

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer text reporting to the ancestors in the Đàm tế rite when carrying the spirit tablet to the main altar, recited before the ancestral altar to present the moving of the deceased's portrait and tablet from the mourning place to be placed at the ancestral altar after the end of mourning, asking the ancestors to witness and receive the soul.

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.

3 more blanks

How it differs from the common version

A short version read right during the đàm tế ceremony: it only bows to the ancestors and asks to move the portrait and the bài vị from the mourning place to the ancestors' altar; it does not bow to the deities.

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

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Ceremony of carrying the spirit tablet into the main hall and announcing to the ancestors

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

Collected text. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

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.