Tế lễ (communal rituals) of the villages of Thừa Thiên Huế

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Xuân tế, Thu tế, Đông chí, Tế Khai canh, Xuân thủ, Kỳ an, Thu thường, Thu báo, Chánh kỵ Thành hoàng, Tống cựu Nghinh tân, Tế hữu công, Tế Xã thần, Tế Thần Nông, Cầu hòa, Na tế, Khao văn, Đảo lệ khí, Đảo vũ, Nghinh thần, Túc yết

In the villages of Thừa Thiên Huế, each ritual session includes nghinh thần, túc yết, chính tế with three rounds of offerings, and the reading of a parallel prose văn tế in Chinese characters copied in the village's ritual text; besides the seasonal rituals, there are also the death anniversaries of Thành hoàng, khai canh, rituals of each trade, and rituals held when there is an epidemic or drought. The dataset records the transliteration part of the special issue of the journal Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, and does not record the translation.

When
Xuân tế (Xuân tự, Kỳ an), Thu tế (Thu thường, Thu báo) in the seventh lunar month, Đông chí; lễ kỵ Thành hoàng, Khai canh on the date of each village
For whom
The deities worshipped at the communal house and village shrine: Thành hoàng, the khai canh and khai khẩn founders, the first ancestors of the clans, and other deities according to the village's regulations

Văn tế tiền hiền phụ nữ của Hội Mỹ Ích làng Mỹ Lợi (Tế tiền hiền phụ nữ văn)

  • Huế
  • làng Mỹ Lợi, Thừa Thiên Huế
  • Village communal-house rites

What this prayer says

Sacrificial oration to the female tiền hiền of Hội Mỹ Ích in Mỹ Lợi village, read at the ceremony to commemorate the female predecessors and to pray for protection for the villagers.

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.

Your regional custom

This text is the version from the Centre.

Other texts for Tế lễ (communal rituals) of the villages of Thừa Thiên Huế

Versions by region, by tradition and for each part of the rite.

Offerings and how the rite is done

As commonly practised and recorded by the sources. Each family and each region may do it differently.

Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites

When
At the communal house: Xuân tự (Kỳ an) in spring, Thu thường (Thu báo) in the seventh lunar month, Đông chí; at the Thành Hoàng shrine and Khai canh shrine: lễ húy nhật (kỵ). Chính tế in the early morning, túc yết in the afternoon of the previous day
Where the offerings are set
Village communal house; Thành Hoàng shrine, Khai canh shrine
Who makes the offering
The council of elders assigns: tướng lễ (writes and reads the chúc văn), chánh bái, two phó bái (bồi tế), dẫn lễ, thông tán (xướng), chấp sự, nhạc sinh. In the past only men participated in the ritual

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Incense, lamps, agarwood, tea, bông ba, fruit offerings
Con sinh: goat, pig or cow; for major rituals, tam sinh is useddo not use buffalo; not necessarily a whole animal, take the head, tail, neck, rump, the rest is cooked into dishes
xôi (steamed sticky rice)Phước Yên village has xôi đường (sweet sticky rice)
Wine, teaoffered in three rounds
Gold and silver paperburned together with the văn tế sheet at the end of the ritual

Steps

  1. Nghinh thần (morning of the previous day): carry the spirit tablets from the separate shrines to the communal house, the ritual master reads the chúc văn
  2. Túc yết (afternoon of the previous day): a village representative reads the văn khấn to the deities
  3. Khai lễ: thông tán xướng, wash hands, inspect the offerings, strike the gong and drum three times, music, present the sacrificial offerings, offer incense, bow four times to welcome the deities
  4. Sơ hiến: offer wine, read the chúc văn (văn tế)
  5. Á hiến and chung hiến: offer wine a second and third time, without reading the chúc
  6. Ẩm phúc, thụ tộ; some villages read an additional prayer (hỗ từ)
  7. Tạ thần with four bows, burn the văn tế and gold and silver paper, tống thần, lễ tất, hương ẩm

Things to avoid

  • The wine offered is only poured to the back of the cup, not filled to the brim

Huế, làng Vinh Hòa, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites

When
On the night of trừ tịch (giao thừa), at the same time as erecting the cây nêu; on the 7th of the first lunar month the village holds a small ritual to lower the nêu
Where the offerings are set
Village communal house
Who makes the offering
Only officials and dignitaries of the village

Steps

  1. Read the Tống cựu văn to thank and send off the deities who watched over the old year (Hành khiển, Hành binh, Phán quan and their retinues)
  2. Read the Nghinh tân văn to welcome the deities who will watch over the new year

Huế, làng Thủ Lễ, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites

When
Tế Xã thần on the Mậu day of the second month; tế Na (to drive away epidemic demons) on the 3rd of the third month; Xuân tế and Thu tế share the same văn cung nghinh
Where the offerings are set
Tế Xã thần arranges four seats of different heights in the middle and two seats on each side (Ngũ Thổ, Ngũ Cốc), sharing one incense table; tế Na is held on the road, arranging a row of four seats
Who makes the offering
Tế Xã thần: three members participate in the ritual, two members keep the bell and drum, two chant, one reads the chúc, two lead, two pour wine, all wearing ritual robes

Offerings

Offering
Incense table with enough incense burner, box, lamps
rice wine
Tế Na (rite of Na): whips for the trành đồng (boy mediums) to hold, one painted white tiger figure

Steps

  1. Tế Xã thần (offering to the village god): jointly offer to Thần Nông (God of Agriculture), Hậu Tắc (God of Grain), Câu Long (Dragon of the Fields), Thành Hoàng (village tutelary deity), Ngũ Thổ (Five Earth Gods), Ngũ Cốc (Five Grains), and the successive Điền Tuấn (field officials) in one ceremony for simplicity, and read the chúc văn (congratulatory text)
  2. Tế Na (rite of Na): choose about ten trành đồng (boy mediums) holding whips, one boy holds a white tiger figure and goes in four directions to chase away demons, pouring wine as they go; read the văn tế (sacrificial oration) announcing to the gods of the year and the twelve Na gods

Huế, làng Bác Vọng Đông, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites

When
Twice a year: on the 11th and 12th days of the first lunar month (lễ Minh niên, the Minh niên ceremony) and on the 18th day of the fifth lunar month (lễ húy nhật, the death anniversary, giỗ Bà Tơ)
Where the offerings are set
Miếu Bà Tơ (shrine of Bà Tơ) by the Bồ River
Who makes the offering
Villagers of Bác Vọng Đông

Offerings

OfferingQuantity
Lễ Minh niên (Minh niên ceremony): cow, pig, duckone of each
Lễ húy nhật (death anniversary ceremony): cow, pig, xôi (steamed sticky rice), wine

Steps

  1. Offer at the miếu (shrine), read the văn tế (sacrificial oration) in Chinese characters
  2. On the death anniversary there are boat races on the Bồ River in front of the miếu (shrine)
  3. The village also holds a cầu ngư (prayer for good fishing) at the miếu (shrine)

Huế, làng Mỹ Lợi, Thừa Thiên Huế, Village communal-house rites

When
Tế hữu công (offering to those with merit, the khai canh, khai khẩn, hậu khẩn) on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month; Thanh minh ceremony jointly offering at the two unclaimed graves of the Bùi family and to former officials; Đông chí (winter solstice) offering to the founding ancestors, khai canh, khai khẩn
Where the offerings are set
Đình làng (communal house, originally a miếu khai canh, shrine of the khai canh)

Steps

  1. Read the văn tế (sacrificial oration) in Chinese characters announcing to the khai canh (eight persons), hậu khai khẩn (fifteen persons), hậu khẩn (nine persons) and the founding ancestors of the families

The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.

Sources

  • Trích tuyển văn tế làng xã Thừa Thiên Huế, Phần thứ ba: Văn tế trong các lễ cúng kỵ hàng năm. Chuyên đề của Tạp chí Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, số 7 (141), 2017 (vjol.info.vn)
  • Trích tuyển văn tế làng xã Thừa Thiên Huế, Phần thứ nhất: Đôi nét về tín ngưỡng thần linh ở làng xã Thừa Thiên Huế (Lê Nguyễn Lưu). Chuyên đề của Tạp chí Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, số 7 (141), 2017 (vjol.info.vn)
  • Trích tuyển văn tế làng xã Thừa Thiên Huế, Phần thứ hai: Văn tế trong các lễ cúng theo mùa quanh năm. Chuyên đề của Tạp chí Nghiên cứu và Phát triển, số 7 (141), 2017 (vjol.info.vn)

Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

More prayer textsDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, life-cycle rites and regional rites.