Tang lễ (funeral rites: common rites, announcing the death, placing the body in the coffin)

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When

From the time the family member breathes their last until the lễ trừ phục (rite ending mourning) after the giỗ hết (final death anniversary)

Where the offerings are set

At home (linh sàng, linh tọa), along the funeral procession route and at the grave

Who makes the offering

The eldest son is the chief mourner; if the father has died before, the eldest grandson of the direct line takes his place

Offerings

Steps

1. At the moment of death: washing the body with agarwood water, changing clothes, placing rice and coins in the mouth, hú vía (calling back the soul)
2. Khâm liệm (dressing and wrapping the body), nhập quan (placing the body in the coffin)
3. Thành phục (donning mourning), setting up the linh sàng and the linh tọa
4. Offering rice morning and evening (triêu tịch điện)
5. Chuyển cữu (moving the coffin), chầu tổ (reporting to the ancestors)
6. Phát dẫn (the funeral procession)
7. Tế thổ thần (offering to the Earth God) and hạ huyệt (lowering the coffin into the grave)
8. Ngu tế (post-burial offering) within three days after burial; visiting the grave, mounding the grave
9. Chung thất (the 49th day), tốt khốc (the 100th day)
10. Tiểu tường (first death anniversary), đại tường (final death anniversary)
11. Đàm tế (the concluding offering), trừ phục (rite ending mourning)

Things to avoid

• While the coffin is still in the house, guests and children and grandchildren bow only two bows; after hạ huyệt they bow four bows
• The last character of the minh tinh banner must not fall on the character quỉ (ghost) or the character khốc (wail)

Where the sources differ

• The book Việt Nam phong tục (1915) describes the custom as having a phường bát âm (eight-instrument band), kèn trống (oboe and drum), offering trays to entertain guests, and đồ mã (votive paper items); the book Gia lễ giản yếu (1932) advises dropping the oboe and drum, the phường tuồng (opera troupe), the trays of bánh and xôi carried in the procession, and not entertaining guests with offering trays during the funeral.

Used across Vietnam, Buddhist

When

From the time of death until the an linh (settling of the spirit); at least 4 hours, better 24 hours after the last breath before nhập liệm (coffining)

Who makes the offering

The vị gia trì sư (chủ sám, presiding monk) together with the bereaved family

Offerings

Steps

1. Trị quan, nhập liệm
2. Phục hồn: setting up the linh altar and inviting the soul to take its place
3. Khai kinh, tiến linh
4. Phát tang
5. Triêu điện, tịch điện; every day tea is offered in the morning and rice at noon and in the afternoon (tiến linh)
6. Triệu tổ
7. Sái tịnh, nhiễu quan, quy y linh
8. Cáo đạo lộ
9. Khiển điện
10. Di quan
11. Tế độ trung (offering made midway)
12. Trị huyệt, tạ thổ thần
13. Nhiễu mộ
14. An linh

Huế, Huế, Folk practice

When

According to the day and hour that are observed; city regulation from month 7 of year 2026: no more than 72 hours from death to the funeral procession

Where the offerings are set

Mostly held at home

Who makes the offering

The bereaved family, with a đội âm công (funeral music band) handling the procession

Steps

1. Trị quan
2. Khâm liệm
3. Thành phục
4. Choosing the day and hour for khâm liệm and hạ huyệt ("coi ngày đưa ông, mệ đi")
5. Funeral procession

Things to avoid

• New city regulations: do not scatter real money, votive paper, or hell money on the funeral procession route; do not play sound too loudly

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Hoa (ethnic Chinese in Vietnam), Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Đồng Nai, Sóc Trăng, Folk practice

Where the offerings are set

At home; in urban areas the body may be kept at a funeral home or a religious facility

Who makes the offering

Children and grandchildren; in the past, guild halls and associations helped with announcing the death

Offerings

Steps

1. Children and grandchildren gather around the dying person
2. Cleansing the body and changing clothes (mộc dục)
3. Laying out the body and setting up the bàn vong (spirit altar)
4. Khâm liệm (dressing and wrapping the body), nhập quan (placing the body in the coffin)
5. Announcing the death; the obituary may be written in both Vietnamese and Chinese
6. Phát tang
7. Động quan (lifting the coffin), burial or cremation

Things to avoid

• The body is placed so as to avoid blocking the ancestors' altar

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Gia Định, Sài Gòn, Folk practice

When

From after the burial until the giỗ mãn khó (đại tường)

Steps

1. Sơ ngu right after returning from the burial, tái ngu the next day
2. On the third day, the lễ mở cửa mả (opening the grave ceremony) is held, then tam ngu is performed
3. Every day, rice is offered two or three meals (lễ hiến thực); on sóc and vọng days a larger tray is prepared, called cúng tuần
4. Seven weeks (thất thất trai tuần) according to Buddhism
5. Tốt khốc at 100 days, ending the lễ hiến thực
6. Tiểu tường (first anniversary)
7. Đại tường, that is the giỗ mãn khó, the end of mourning; from then on a giỗ (cát kỵ) is held yearly
8. The thần chủ (spirit tablet) is brought into the common altar after 49 days, or on the occasion of tiểu tường or đại tường, depending on the household

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

When

From the time the relative is dying until the lễ an sàng after the burial; the time of khâm liệm and the day of burial are determined by the monk

Where the offerings are set

The coffin is placed in the middle of the house (if the person died in an accident, it is placed at the side wing); in front of the head of the coffin is the offering table with the portrait, a vase, and a plate of fruit arranged in the manner of đông bình tây quả, an incense bowl, and a pair of candlesticks; a few metres away is a table hung with a picture of the Buddha, usually Địa Tạng Vương Bồ tát (Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva)

Who makes the offering

The monk presides over the chanting and reads the văn tế (sacrificial oration); children and grandchildren observe mourning; the ban đạo tì carry the coffin, usually helped without pay by the hội hồi hương; the ceremonial band

Offerings

Steps

1. Chanting sutras for cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) at the point of death; when the person stops breathing, news is announced and the pagoda is asked for a monk to determine the hour of dressing and the day of burial
2. Lễ nhập quan (coffining)
3. Lễ phát tang (thành phục), the monk reads the Thành phục văn
4. Lễ triêu tịch: offering rice in the morning and evening while the coffin rests at home, the monk reads the Triêu tịch văn; guests coming to pay respects bow to the Buddha then bow to the linh sàng, and the family bows in return
5. Lễ đề phan: the monk writes the name, age and native place of the deceased on the phan (lá triệu)
6. Lễ cáo từ đường on the last night of the wake: the lá phan and the tablet are carried to the từ đường in place of the coffin
7. Lễ thiết minh sanh late on the last night: the monk holds the lá phan and leads the bereaved around the coffin, in some places a Nại Hà bridge is set up
8. Lễ khiển điện: a tray is set up for the điện so that the đạo tì may enter
9. Lễ động quan: the monk breaks the quàn, the ông dưng quan directs the đạo tì to carry the coffin out to the gate
10. Cáo đạo lộ at the gate
11. Lễ phát dẫn: the sons, leaning on staffs, walk backwards to block the linh xa, the monk reads the Phát dẫn văn
12. Funeral procession with ceremonial insignia: phương tướng, hoành, minh tinh, hương án, thực án, linh xa, nhạc lễ, đại dư
13. Lễ hạ huyệt at the hour already determined (or delivery to the cremation furnace), the soul is welcomed home
14. Lễ an sàng (sơ ngu), an sàng feast for those who joined the procession; on the third day the lễ khai mộ (opening the grave) is held

Things to avoid

• At the moment of burial, people whose zodiac year is in conflict stay away elsewhere
• The last word on the lá triệu is counted by the four words quỷ, khốc, linh, thính: for males it must fall on linh, for females on thính, and must not fall on quỷ or khốc
• By custom the bereaved family and close guests stay awake the whole night