Lễ cúng tổ nghề (offering to the craft patron)

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

When

On the death anniversary of the craft patron (each craft has its own day); besides, offerings are made together with the ancestors on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, festivals, Tết, and when encountering difficulties in the craft

Where the offerings are set

Miếu, đền, đình of the craft guild or craft village; altar of the Thánh sư at home or at the workshop

Who makes the offering

The whole craft guild makes offerings together at the miếu; workshop owners and household heads make private offerings

Offerings

Steps

1. Clean the patron altar, arrange the offerings
2. Light incense, read the prayer text, state the name of one's craft
3. When the incense has burned about two thirds, burn votive paper
4. The whole workshop, the whole guild share the offerings

Huế, Artisans and craft villages, Huế, Village communal-house rites

When

The 7th day of the second lunar month (death anniversary of the first patron Cao Đình Độ); the goldsmith lineage hall also holds offerings on the 27th day of the second month (death anniversary of the second patron Cao Đình Hương) and the 6th day of the first lunar month (Minh niên ceremony, the first opening of the year for those in the craft)

Where the offerings are set

Goldsmith lineage hall in Huế

Who makes the offering

The chánh tế (chief officiant) together with senior goldsmiths in ceremonial robes

Offerings

Steps

1. Three rounds of drum and gong
2. Ritual music plays, the chánh tế inspects the offerings, washes his hands, and goes before the incense table
3. Light lamps and incense, pour tea and wine
4. The chánh tế offers incense, announces the ceremony, and kneels in worship

South Central Coast, Artisans and craft villages, Kim Bồng, Cẩm Kim, Hội An, Village communal-house rites

When

The 6th day of the first lunar month

Who makes the offering

Villagers of the Kim Bồng carpentry village

Steps

1. Ceremony part: offering to the carpentry patron, which is also the common patron death anniversary of the crafts in the village
2. Festival part of the craft village
3. In the past, after the craft ancestor offering was finished, the workers would scatter to make a living far away for the whole year.

South Central Coast, Swiftlet-nest harvesters, làng Thanh Châu (Cẩm Thanh), Cù Lao Chàm (Tân Hiệp), Hội An, Village communal-house rites

When

The 9th and 10th days of the third lunar month; the custom of offering on the 10th day of the third lunar month dates from the building of the two shrines in the first year of the Tự Đức era (1848). At Bãi Hương shrine, the offering day formerly followed the time when the first swiftlet harvest season began.

Where the offerings are set

Two places: Ông Tiến shrine in Thanh Đông village, Cẩm Thanh commune, and the swiftlet craft ancestor shrine in Bãi Hương village, Tân Hiệp commune (Cù Lao Chàm).

Who makes the offering

The elders of the village, representatives of the clans working in the swiftlet trade; there are a chánh tế (chief officiant), tả hữu phân hiến (left and right assistant offerants), xướng tế (chanting officiant), and cổ nhạc (traditional music); today it is organized by the city's Swiftlet Harvesting Team.

Steps

1. The 9th day: cleaning, decorating, arranging offerings on the altars and in the shrine cabinets.
2. Evening of the 9th: the lễ túc cáo (preliminary report rite) before the ancestors and deities; only incense is offered, gongs and drums are struck, there is no xướng tế chanting and no reading of the văn tế (sacrificial oration).
3. Morning of the 10th: nghinh thần (welcoming the deities), a vọng procession through the village's shrines and temples, bowing in the direction of the east where the islands with nesting swiftlets lie.
4. Lễ tế âm linh ở sân miếu, đủ xướng tế, chánh tế, phân hiến, cổ nhạc, đọc văn tế
5. Lễ tế tổ: tế lịch đại tổ nghề cùng các thần sông nước bảo trợ nghề (Đại Càn, Ngũ Hành tiên nương, Thành Hoàng bổn xứ, Phục Ba tướng quân, Nam Hải Ngọc Lân, Hà Bá, Thủy Long), có đọc văn tế
6. The hội (festival) part: tug of war, football, tuồng singing, lắc thúng chai, boat racing.