Prayer text for the thôi nôi ceremony in the South

Cúng thôi nôi, đầy năm (first-birthday ceremony, full-year ceremony). When the baby is exactly 12 months old, counted by the lunar calendar

  • Southern Vietnam
  • Folk practice

Culture and belief A record of custom.

What this prayer says

Prayer for the thôi nôi (first-birthday ceremony) in southern Vietnam, offering to the Buddhas, Great Compassionate Quan Thế Âm Bodhisattva, the Tiên chúa (Heavenly Ladies), the twelve groups of Tiên Nương, the thirty-six palaces of Tiên Nương, Thổ Công (Earth God of the house) and the earth's veins, the Thổ Địa (Earth God) proper and paternal and maternal ancestors, giving thanks for a safe birth for mother and child and asking protection so the child eats and sleeps well, is intelligent and safe, and the family is peaceful; recited during the whole ceremony.

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.

Your regional custom

This text is the version from the South.

5 more blanks

How it differs from the common version

It keeps all five lines of homage as in the original (including the Thập nhị bộ Tiên Nương) and adds a chant to Quan Thế Âm; it changes the order of self-identification (parents' names, address, then the child's name); the name of the occasion is left blank for the person praying to fill in; it uses Southern pronunciation ('Thổ địa chánh thần'); it ends with 'Chúng con thành tâm dâng lễ'.

The common version: Prayer text for the Mụ offering (đầy cữ, đầy tháng, đầy năm)

Offerings and how the rite is done

Offerings, steps and things to avoid for Cúng thôi nôi, đầy năm (first-birthday ceremony, full-year ceremony)

Other texts for Cúng thôi nôi, đầy năm (first-birthday ceremony, full-year ceremony)

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

Sources

  • Cách cúng thôi nôi miền Nam (docungtamlinh.com.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.