Thành phục văn (oration at the phát tang ceremony, when mourning garments are put on)
Tang lễ (funeral rites: common rites, announcing the death, placing the body in the coffin). From the time a family member passes away until burial; the same text is also used at the memorial ceremonies afterward
- Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source)
- Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)
- Sacrificial oration
- Sino-Vietnamese reading
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Sacrificial oration read at the thành phục rite, when the bereaved family formally puts on mourning garments to announce the death of the deceased. Its content laments the pain of losing a parent and presents the mourning rites according to customary practice, asking the spirit of the deceased to witness.
The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.
Fill in before the rite
The prayer below is ready to read.
This text is the version from the South.
How it differs from the common version
A Hán Việt oration read in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, eight lines, opening with "Ô hô! Thung thụ (Huyên thất) sương xâm" and ending with "Phục duy thượng hưởng"; no Buddhist chanting, no bowing to the deities, no declaration of name, address, date or month.
The common version: Prayer text for the Lễ Thành Phục
Offerings and how the rite is done
Other texts for Tang lễ (funeral rites: common rites, announcing the death, placing the body in the coffin)
- Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)Văn tế (or khấn) to grandparents and parents at the funeral
- Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)Văn tế (or khấn) to uncles, aunts, maternal uncles, aunts, elder and younger brothers at the burial
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsSample prayer text for báo tang (announcing a death to the ancestors when someone in the household has passed away)
- Folk practiceSample prayer text for nhập quan (placing the body in the coffin)
- Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)Phụng minh tinh nghi tiết and the words of announcement at the từ đường (final night of the wake)
- Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)Khiển điện nghi tiết and the words of announcement at khiển điện (before động quan)
- Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)Phát dẫn văn (oration when the funeral procession sets off)
The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.
Sources
- Lý Việt Dũng, Nghi thức và văn cúng đám tang ở Nam Bộ, Tạp chí Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, số 2 (73), 2009 (vjol.info.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