Lễ Thành hoàng làng (village tutelary deity ceremony) at the đình (communal house) and miếu (shrine)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Tế đình, Xuân tế, Thu tế, Kỳ yên, Lễ Kỳ yên, Cúng đình, Túc yết, Đàn Cả, Lệ ba năm rước thần, Xã tế Ngũ thổ, Ngũ cốc, Mở hiệu trống đầu xuân

By custom, each village worships a Thành hoàng at the đình or miếu. Worshippers recite prayers according to a model text; the village conducts tế (sacrificial rites) with a tế committee and văn tế (sacrificial oration); in the South, the Kỳ yên ceremony lasts three days with Túc yết, Đàn Cả, and hát bội (classical opera).

When
On holidays, Tết, sóc vọng (first and fifteenth days of the lunar month), and village festival days; in the South, it is the Kỳ yên (cầu an) ceremony of the đình
For whom
The village's Bản cảnh Thành hoàng (local tutelary deity); in the South, Tiền hiền (forefathers) and Hậu hiền (foremothers) are also worshipped

Prayer text for Thành hoàng at Đình, Đền, Miếu

  • Used across Vietnam
  • Folk practice

What this prayer says

Prayer text to the Thành hoàng (village tutelary deity) recited for the whole ceremony at the communal house, temple or shrine, addressing Hoàng Thiên Hậu Thổ, Thái tuế and the Bản cảnh Thành hoàng with the Great Kings; the person making the offering presents offerings, incense, flowers and steamed rice cakes and asks the deities to witness and bless them with health, all good things, wealth and prosperity.

The prayer below is kept in Vietnamese, the language it is read aloud in during the rite.

Fill in before the rite

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Showing the version used across Vietnam.

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Other texts for Lễ Thành hoàng làng (village tutelary deity ceremony) at the đình (communal house) and miếu (shrine)

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.

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When
On holidays, Tết, seasonal festivals, sóc (first day), vọng (fifteenth day), and village festival days; some places hold festivals in spring, autumn, or on the deity's birthday or death anniversary
Where the offerings are set
At the altars in đình, đền, miếu, phủ

Offerings

OfferingQuantityNotes
Vegetarian offerings: incense, flowers, tea, fruit, phẩm oản (rice cakes)offered at the altar of Buddha and Bodhisattvas (if any) and the altar of Thánh Mẫu (Holy Mother)
Savory offerings: chicken, pig, giò (Vietnamese sausage), chả (pork roll), cookedplaced at the Công đồng altar (Ngũ vị quan lớn, the five great mandarins)
Offerings to Thần Thành Hoàng and Thư điền: boiled pork leg, xôi (steamed sticky rice), wine, money, votive paper
Raw offerings: eggs, rice, salt, meat bait5 raw duck eggs on a plate of salt and rice, 2 raw chicken eggs in two small cups, one piece of meat scored into five partsoffered to quan Ngũ Hổ, Bạch xà, Thanh xà at the lower Công đồng altar
Sơn trang savory feast: crab, snail, eel, chili, lemon, xôi chè nếp cẩm (black sticky rice sweet soup)prepared in the number 15corresponding to the 15 deities worshipped at the Sơn trang altar
Offerings at the Cô (young female spirits) and Cậu (young male spirits) altars: oản (rice cakes), fruit, incense and flowers, mirror and comb, hia (shoes), nón (conical hat), paper toys

Steps

  1. Lễ trình (introductory offering): first offer to Thần Thổ địa and the temple keeper to ask permission to enter and worship
  2. Arrange the offerings again, display them on trays, and present them with both hands to the altars, starting from the main altar outward
  3. After placing offerings at all altars, light incense; light from inside out, with an odd number of sticks, usually three
  4. Ring the bell three times, then recite prayers; if there is a sớ (petition), place it on a plate, raise it to eyebrow level, and bow three times
  5. Worship from the Công đồng altar into the main sanctuary, then to the two side bays, and finally to the Cô and Cậu altars
  6. After one incense cycle, bow three times to ask to conclude the ceremony, burn the sớ first, then burn votive paper for each altar, and remove offerings from the outer altars to the main altar
  7. Mirrors, combs, and khăn chầu (medium's scarves) at the Cô, Cậu, and Mẫu altars are left on the altar for the temple keepers to arrange

Where the sources differ

  • On the order of worship: hoatieu.vn and vankhan.vn (ritual websites) write that some places first offer to the Thổ địa altar and the temple keeper before entering the main altar; the ritual page of vankhan.vn adds that if the đền or miếu does not have those altars, worship starts from the Công đồng altar or from the main sanctuary first.
  • On offerings to Thành Hoàng: vankhan.vn writes that savory offerings are commonly used (boiled pork leg, xôi, wine); the pagoda-visiting page of hoatieu.vn writes that offerings to Thành Hoàng and Thư điền must be vegetarian (the Thành hoàng làng page of hoatieu.vn itself copies the same as vankhan.vn).

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Village communal-house rites

When
Lễ Kỳ yên (cầu an), the largest Thành hoàng ceremony of the year of the Southern đình, usually lasting three days
Where the offerings are set
The village's đình thần (communal house of the deity)
Who makes the offering
Tế committee: chủ tế (chánh tế, chief sacrificer), bồi tế (assistant sacrificer), đông xướng (eastern chanter), tây xướng (western chanter), nội tán (inner celebrant), chấp sự (ritual assistant), gong and drum players; there are nhạc lễ (ritual music) and đào thài (opera singers)

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Pig (lễ Thỉnh sanh offering)in the past a live pig was offered before the outer Hội đồng altar; nowadays many places use a pig already slaughtered
Tam sinh: beef, goat, pigofferings of the diên tế (communal banquet offering) according to hoatieu.vn
Betel leaves, wine, incense, lamps, votive paperoffering tray for the procession of the Tổ hát bội (patron of hát bội)
Xôi (steamed sticky rice), roast pig, fruit, cakesOptional. offerings brought by each household to the communal house, depending on trade and on the heart

Steps

  1. Procession of the Tổ hát bội (where hát bội is performed)
  2. Lễ Thỉnh sắc: carrying the deity's sắc (patent of investiture) back to the communal house, with incense rounds, wine rounds, and reading of the văn tế
  3. Nghinh thần (welcoming the deity), chanting sutras for cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) (some communal houses)
  4. Lễ Thỉnh sanh
  5. Tế Túc yết: the hương chức (village notables) present themselves to the deity; inspection of offerings, incense round, three wine rounds, offering of fruit, offering of cakes, tea round, reading of the văn tế in Chinese characters
  6. Xây chầu, khai trống rồi hát chầu (hát bội)
  7. Chánh tế (Đàn Cả, Đoàn Cả): the order is nearly the same as Túc yết, with the chant "Tạ thần" instead of "Nghinh thần"
  8. Tế Tiền hiền, Hậu hiền
  9. Lễ hồi sắc (returning the sắc), bringing the deity's sắc back to its place of worship

Where the sources differ

  • On timing: hoatieu.vn writes that Kỳ yên takes place only in spring, many places hold it on the full moon of the second lunar month or the full moon of the third lunar month (Sài Gòn Giải Phóng also writes the full moon of the second or third lunar month); hoatieu.vn itself also writes that Kỳ yên may be combined with the Thượng điền or Hạ điền ceremony depending on the place, and the text of the văn tế of Lăng Ông Bà Chiểu says it is held in autumn; Báo Văn Hóa writes that đình Bình Thủy (Cần Thơ) holds Kỳ yên Thượng điền on the full moon of the fourth lunar month and also has a Hạ điền ceremony.
  • On the hour of the Tế Túc yết: fptshop writes the afternoon of the first day; hoatieu.vn writes that properly it should be at night or in the afternoon, nowadays at Lăng Ông Bà Chiểu it is held in the morning.

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

Sources

  • Văn khấn tại Đình, Đền, Miếu (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn khấn Thành Hoàng làng (hoatieu.vn)
  • Các bài văn khấn đi lễ chùa đầu năm (VOH, Đài Tiếng nói Nhân dân TP.HCM)
  • Văn khấn tạ lễ cuối năm ở Đền, đình, chùa, miếu phủ (hoatieu.vn)
  • Những nghi lễ chính tại đền, miếu, phủ (vankhan.vn)
  • Văn cúng, văn tế lễ Kỳ Yên (hoatieu.vn)
  • Khám phá lễ hội Kỳ Yên ở Nam Bộ (fptshop.com.vn)
  • Rước lễ Kỳ Yên (Sài Gòn Giải Phóng)
  • Độc đáo Lễ hội Kỳ yên đình Bình Thủy, Cần Thơ (Báo Văn Hóa)

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

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