Traditionally, at the end of each year and the beginning of the New Year, families often clean the altars of the local gods and ancestors to invite them home to celebrate the New Year. This work must be done respectfully and carefully.

The time to clean the altar and trim the incense sticks is usually after the ceremony to worship the Kitchen Gods. The person who does this work must be meticulous and conscientious in worshiping.

Many careful families also prepare offerings to ask for permission, with a notice for the ancestors to “take shelter” while their children and grandchildren clean up. After lighting an incense stick to ask for permission on the altar, the homeowner will remove each incense stick until only a few of the most beautiful incense sticks remain.

Feng shui expert Nguyen Song Ha said that on the altar, the incense bowl is the position that must be fixed and static and must never be moved. If it is moved, the homeowner must perform a ceremony to ask for the move and then ask for it to be fixed.

When removing the incense sticks, the homeowner must hold the incense bowl firmly with one hand and gently remove each incense stick from the incense bowl with the other hand.

At the same time, the homeowner must remember, if the homeowner (the person whose name is entering the house) is a man, leave 7, 17, 27, or 37 incense sticks on the incense bowl. If the homeowner is a woman, when removing the incense sticks, leave 9, 19, 29, or 39 incense sticks.

Then, the homeowner uses a mixture of water with 5 scents (a ready-made solution) or uses natural scents from leaves such as grapefruit leaves, basil leaves, soapberry... to clean the altar.

Feng shui researcher Bui Quang Minh said that the incense sticks were removed and burned to ashes and buried at the base of a tree.

If possible, the homeowner should bury the incense at the base of a banana tree because this is a tree with a very noble meaning of "fallen leaves returning to their roots". In addition, the researcher also noted that incense sticks should never be thrown into trash cans or dirty places. It is also not recommended to throw the ashes into the river because it will pollute the river.

Trimming incense sticks is not associated with any ancient legend, but is just a normal cleaning job, removing excess things. However, this must be done carefully so as not to lose wealth and affect the family.

Vinh Nhi (synthesis)

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