Thanh minh prayer text offering to the ancestors (in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, with a translation)
Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending). During Thanh minh, beginning around 4 or 5 April of the solar calendar
- Used across Vietnam
- Family rites (Confucian gia lễ)
- Address to the ancestors
- Sacrificial oration
- Sino-Vietnamese reading
Culture and belief A record of custom.
What this prayer says
A sacrificial oration read during the Thanh minh ceremony to honour ancestral forebears, with both Sino-Vietnamese text and a translation; the officiant, on behalf of the clan, invites the ancestors to attend, presents offerings, and asks for the ancestors' support.
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.
3 more blanks
How it differs from the common version
It differs from the original text in that the oration is read in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation ("Ư linh vị tiền viết... Cẩn cáo") and does not invoke the Buddha; it is read at home after having visited the graves and offered to the Gia thần; the source page prints a translation alongside.
The common version: Prayer text for the Thanh minh offering at home
Vietnamese gloss given by the source
Trước linh vị Tổ tiên thưa rằng: Thấu khắp mọi nơi, tháng (2) 3 dương khí, ơn Trời đất sinh ra người và vật Nhớ công lao vun đắp của Tiên linh, Trước hãy lo việc tu sửa mộ phần. Sau mong được cháu con thịnh vượng. Nay nhân đã sửa xong phần mộ Vậy kính mong chư vị thần linh, Cùng Tổ tiên nơi suối vàng thấu rõ. Nay đã vì đạo sáng của trời Cùng với tiết xuân hoà của người Cầu Tổ tiên gia ân phù trì, Cho mọi sự thành công tốt đẹp. Kính cẩn tâu bày
Offerings and how the rite is done
Other texts for Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)
- Folk practice, Address to the ancestorsPrayer text for the Thanh minh offering at home
- Folk practice, At the gravePrayer text when visiting and repairing graves (the version "Cung duy... Cẩn cáo")
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text at the shrine of the spirits of the cemetery
- Folk practice, At the gravePrayer text at the clan's burial ground
- Buddhist, At the gravePrayer text for the Thanh minh offering at the grave (without chanting sutras)
- Folk practice, Address to the deitiesPrayer text to deities at the grave (for tảo mộ, repairing the grave, bốc mộ)
- Folk practice, At the gravePrayer text for the offering to spirits at the grave
- Huế, làng Mỹ Lợi, Thừa Thiên HuếVăn tế Thanh minh tảo mộ làng Mỹ Lợi (Thanh minh tế văn)
More about Cúng tiết Thanh minh, tảo mộ (Thanh minh observance and grave tending)
Nhật Nguyệt articles on the rite, the custom and how to prepare.
The wording is kept exactly as published by the source. The dotted italic words are blanks for you to fill in.
Sources
- Tiết Thanh minh, Văn khấn Tiết Thanh Minh (vankhan.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