Văn tế (or khấn) to uncles, aunts, maternal uncles, aunts, elder and younger brothers at the burial
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
- Used across Vietnam
- Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)
- Sacrificial oration
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
Sacrificial oration read at the burial to reverently report before the spirit tablet of uncles, aunts, or siblings, offering incense, flowers, oil and wine, and expressing grief over the bond of kin.
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.
Showing the version used across Vietnam.
4 more blanks
How it differs from the common version
Same framework as the oration for grandparents and parents, used when one has to preside over the mourning for a paternal uncle, paternal aunt, maternal aunt, maternal uncle, or a sibling without children: omit the phrases "vâng lời" and "cùng cả nhà lớn nhỏ", and change the six four-character lines to "di luân nghĩa trọng, cốt nhục tình thâm".
The common version: Văn tế (or khấn) to grandparents and parents at the funeral
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
- 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)Thành phục văn (oration at the phát tang ceremony, when mourning garments are put on)
- 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
- Gia lễ giản yếu, phần Văn tế và văn khấn (vi.wikisource.org, trang 15 tới 17 của bản 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.Open