Traditional Vietnamese Funeral Customs and Their Meaning
Explore the main rites of a traditional Vietnamese funeral, from encoffining and mourning attire to burial and the 49-day rites, and their cultural meaning.
Hầu hết công cụ không cần tài khoản. Hồ sơ để lưu và đọc tiếp.
Chọn ngôn ngữ
Trang này chưa có đủ ba bản ngôn ngữ.
The main rites, in the order usually observed: tẩn liệm (washing and dressing the deceased) and nhập quan (placing the body in the coffin), dựng giá (setting up the funeral tent), phát tang (announcing the mourning) and thành phục (assuming mourning garments), cúng vong (offerings to the deceased) on the tuần sơ, tuần trung and tuần cuối (first, middle and final weekly anniversaries), nhạc lễ đưa khách (funeral music to see off guests) when visitors arrive, then động quan (closing and lifting the coffin), di quan (procession to the grave) and hạ huyệt (lowering the coffin into the grave). After the mourning period ends, there is also cải táng (reburial). In old Đồng Nai, the rites largely followed the framework of Hồ Sỹ Tân's Thọ mai gia lễ, but actual practice differed from place to place.
From the article “What rituals make up a Southern Vietnamese funeral, from encoffining to burial?”
Explore the main rites of a traditional Vietnamese funeral, from encoffining and mourning attire to burial and the 49-day rites, and their cultural meaning.
How is a death anniversary kept in Central Vietnam? The tiên thường and chính kỵ rites, the joint 7th-month giỗ in Quảng Nam, and Hue dishes on the tray.
Funeral rites in northern Vietnam, from shrouding and encoffining to thành phục, the burial and the ngu rites that follow, as old ritual books record.
What to do when a family member dies: the order of a traditional Vietnamese funeral, from shrouding and mourning dress to burial and the later rites.
Tet rites in southern Vietnam: welcoming the ancestors on the 30th, giao thừa offerings outdoors and indoors, Tết nhà on the third, farewell on the fourth.
Southern Vietnamese funerals in press accounts: nhập quan, phát tang, cúng vong, ritual music, động quan and hạ huyệt, and where sources cover one locality.
Discover the origins, history, and deep cultural significance of Ao Ba Ba, the traditional garment symbolizing Southern Vietnam.
Northern and Southern Vietnamese family altars differ in structure, arrangement, generations honored and five-fruit tray choices.
The worship of Ong Ta, a land-protecting deity in Southern Vietnam, comes from the Khmer Neak Ta and reflects Viet-Khmer cultural exchange.
The grave-opening ceremony about three days after burial in southern Vietnam: the offerings, the folk meaning of chick, ladder and sugarcane, a Buddhist view.
What goes on a southern Vietnamese giỗ tray and how a Mekong Delta death anniversary is held: the dishes, the two days, and the portions guests take home.
Phong tục in English is custom, tập quán is usage, and truyền thống is tradition. See how the three differ, plus a vocabulary table of Vietnamese customs.
Cham weddings in Southern Vietnam follow Islam through proposal and days of ceremony, with matchmakers, betel offerings, bride price and Quran recitation.
Tet feast trays in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam differ in ingredients and meaning, from banh chung in the North to banh tet in the South.
Mid-Autumn Festival customs differ across Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam, from northern rituals to lively Central festivals and Southern gift-giving.
Tet customs in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam share roots but differ in dishes and rituals, from banh chung to bitter melon soup.
Huyen Tran Princess Temple in Hue honors the Tran dynasty princess who expanded Vietnam's southern frontier. Its festival falls in the first lunar month.
Northern and Central Vietnam stress ancestral offerings and the pest-killing ritual on Doan Ngo, while the South keeps things simpler.
Southern Vietnam worship spans Thành hoàng, Bà Chúa Xứ, Mẫu, whale and ancestor veneration. Its origins, cultural fusion and modern shifts are examined.
Southern bánh tét is a signature Tet offering that symbolizes prosperity and family reunion. See its origins, meaning and traditional wrapping methods.
Southern Khmer weddings feature the betel palm flower cutting ceremony that formalizes the union and the hand-tying ritual, a sacred moment binding two souls.
The Via Ba Chua Xu festival at Sam Mountain joined UNESCO's heritage list in 2024, blending Kinh, Cham, Khmer and Hoa beliefs.
Tuổi mụ is the Vietnamese lunar way of counting age: current year minus birth year, plus one, and folk calculations use this number.
Vietnamese life-cycle rituals mark birth, coming of age, marriage, death and remembrance, with ceremonies shared by many ethnic groups.
Funeral customs across Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam differ in coffin size, burial timing and reburial, with Hue royal culture shaping Central rites.
Ok Om Bok is the Khmer moon worship festival in Southern Vietnam, with home and pagoda rituals and the Ghe Ngo boat race in Tra Vinh.
Fertility worship in Vietnam, or tín ngưỡng phồn thực, hopes for flourishing life and harvests. It appears in Linga–Yoni symbols and the Trò Trám festival.
Vietnamese folk belief includes ancestor worship, deity worship, Mother Goddess religion, agricultural beliefs, and rituals of many ethnic groups.
Village communal houses differ across the Northern Delta, the South, and the Mekong Delta waterways in architecture, deities, and festivals.
Sene Dolta, also called Sen Don Ta or Pchum Ben, is the Southern Khmer ancestor-repaying festival. Learn its timing, temple and home rituals, and meaning.
The Vietnamese ao dai evolved from the 17th century xiem canh sen garment through reforms under Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat and King Minh Mang.
Folk belief holds that a funeral brings cold air affecting the living, so the sick stay away. Eastern medicine links this to yin-yang imbalance.
Trùng tang, the hour of coffining and avoided burial days are folk beliefs from Bắc Kỳ; anthropology reads them as easing unease when someone dies.
Vietnamese Women's Day on October 20 marks the 1930 founding of the Vietnam Anti-Imperialist Women's Union, a date that honors Vietnamese women each year.
Each dish at a Vietnamese wedding feast carries symbolic meaning, from red sticky rice to boiled chicken, pork rolls and braised pork.
An overview of Vietnamese traditional cuisine by region: Tet dishes, ancestral trays, festivals, vegetarian food and local specialties, with cultural context.
Cá Ông worship reveres whales as guardian spirits in Vietnamese fishing communities, with roots in the Cham sea god Po Riyak.
When to burn the mourning scarf in Vietnamese custom: the 49-day, 100-day and death anniversaries, plus the rites of removing mourning.
Heonik Kwon's ethnography shows how offerings to wandering souls in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai help communities live with wartime memory.
The Yen Tu Festival honours Emperor-Buddha Tran Nhan Tong, founder of the Truc Lam Zen sect, with its rituals and spiritual meaning.
The Grand Memorial for Buddha Emperor Tran Nhan Tong's Parinirvana is held at Cung Truc Lam, Yen Tu and Ngoa Van Pagoda each year.
The longevity celebration honours grandparents and parents at ages 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100, showing filial piety and respect for old age in Vietnamese culture.
Ancestor worship is a long-standing Vietnamese custom, a moral standard, and a key part of spiritual life, with altars, death anniversaries, and Tet rituals.
Most tools need no account. A profile lets you save and pick up later.
Choose language
This page is not yet available in all three languages.