Year-end thanksgiving ceremony at đền, chùa, đình, phủ

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When

In the twelfth lunar month, before Tết Nguyên đán (Lunar New Year)

Where the offerings are set

Đền, phủ, đình, miếu, chùa where one made offerings and sought blessings at the beginning of the year

Who makes the offering

The person who made offerings at the beginning of the year, preparing the offerings and praying themselves

Offerings

Steps

1. First, present offerings at the altar of Thổ địa (Earth God) and to the temple keeper to announce one's arrival to perform the ceremony
2. Arrange the offerings on the tray or platter of the place of worship; hold the offerings with both hands, placing them from the main altar to the outermost altar
3. After placing the offerings, light incense, lighting from the inside out, with an odd number of sticks, usually three sticks; raise the incense to forehead level, bow three times, then plant it
4. Ring the bell three times, then pray; if there is a sớ, hold the sớ plate to eyebrow level and bow three times
5. Perform the ceremony from the main altar to the outermost altar; the Cô altar and Cậu altar are usually worshipped last
6. When one incense stick has burned, bow three times at each altar, take down the sớ and prayer text to burn first, then take down the offerings from the outer altar to the main altar

Things to avoid

• Dress neatly and politely when entering a place of worship
• Do not take photos or record videos without permission; keep one's words and attitude proper (according to VOH)
• Offerings at the Cô altar and Cậu altar such as mirrors and combs are left at the place of worship, not taken home (according to hoatieu.vn)

Where the sources differ

• Hoatieu.vn writes that at pagodas worshipping the Buddha there is no custom of borrowing and repaying; going to worship at the end of the year is only to give thanks; the thanksgiving ceremony is considered a necessary practice at đình, đền, miếu, phủ. VOH groups chùa, đền, phủ together in one statement: wherever one sought blessings and prayed for peace, there one repays the ceremony at the end of the year.

Northern Vietnam, đền Bảo Hà (Lào Cai), phủ Tây Hồ (Hà Nội), đền Bắc Lệ (Lạng Sơn), Mother Goddess worship (Tứ Phủ)

When

On days in the twelfth lunar month, close to Tết

Where the offerings are set

The đền and phủ worshipping the Mother Goddess and the deities of Tứ Phủ in northern Vietnam that the worshipper visited at the beginning of spring

Steps

1. Returning to the temple (đền) or phủ (Mother Goddess shrine) where prayers were made in early spring to offer incense and a thank-offering

Southeast, Hoa (ethnic Chinese in Vietnam), chùa Quan Đế, Chợ Lớn (TP. Hồ Chí Minh), Folk practice

When

Borrowing lộc on the full moon of the first lunar month (Tết Nguyên tiêu), returning it at the end of the year

Where the offerings are set

Chùa Quan Đế (the guild hall of the Teochew Chinese community) in Chợ Lớn

Offerings

Steps

1. On the full moon of the first lunar month, visitors borrow the pagoda's mandarin oranges and red lì xì envelopes to take home
2. At the end of the year, the borrower brings mandarin oranges to return them, regarded as a thank-offering to the deities and sages