What does a complete offering tray for the Vu Lan festival include?
The Vu Lan Festival is a beautiful aspect of Vietnamese spiritual culture, a day for children to remember their parents. This day serves as a reminder to children and grandchildren, especially those still with parents, to repay their kindness with filial piety, and not to wait until their parents are gone to feel regret and remorse. For those who no longer have parents, preparing a thoughtful and sincere offering for the Vu Lan Festival is also a way to express their love, remembrance, and gratitude for their parents' sacrifices.
The offering tray for the Vu Lan festival can be prepared with savory or vegetarian dishes, depending on the family's preference. However, according to Buddhist beliefs, a vegetarian offering is recommended. It doesn't need to be extravagant; what's more important is that the offerings are appropriate to the family's circumstances, and that the ceremony is performed with solemnity and sincerity.
The Mid-Autumn Festival (Rằm tháng 7) is one of the most important days of the year, carrying profound spiritual significance for the Vietnamese people.
A savory offering tray typically includes traditional Vietnamese dishes such as sticky rice, banh chung (rice cake), gio cha (pork sausage), nem ran (fried spring rolls), stir-fried dishes, and soup. A vegetarian offering tray includes similar dishes, the only difference being the use of plant-based ingredients such as beans, mushrooms, and potatoes.
Furthermore, to express gratitude and repay the deceased, folk belief holds that during the Vu Lan festival, descendants should perform good deeds, give alms to the poor, and help those in need. To commemorate their deceased grandparents and parents, later generations should remind their children to live up to the filial piety tradition of the Vietnamese people.
This is the greatest way to remember and repay those who have passed away. On the Vu Lan festival, Buddhists also sincerely offer alms, give charity, and share with those who are suffering, or go to temples to chant scriptures and pray for the liberation of their ancestors; and to pray for their parents to live long and healthy lives.
In the offerings for the 7th lunar month's full moon ceremony, the Vu Lan festival, one can offer fruits, sweets, incense, and flowers. Typically, on this day, families prepare a vegetarian feast, then burn the offerings and let their descendants partake in the blessings.
Offering tray for Buddha
First, prepare a vegetarian meal or, more simply, a plate of five kinds of fruit to offer to Buddha, then partake of the blessings at home.
When making offerings, it is best to recite a sutra (the Ullambana Sutra) to understand the significance of this day and dedicate the merits to deceased relatives so they may be reborn in a higher realm.
The offering tray for the 7th lunar month's full moon ceremony, used to worship Buddha, is usually a vegetarian meal or, more simply, a tray of five kinds of fruit.
Ancestor worship
The offerings to the deities usually include a whole rooster, sticky rice (or banh chung with the leaves removed but not cut into pieces), a gourd of wine, tea, fruit, and a vase of fresh flowers.
The ancestral worship ceremony should include a meal, which can be savory or vegetarian, depending on the circumstances and financial means of the living.
In addition, the ancestral altar must include gold coins and symbolic paper offerings representing traditional items (resembling real objects) such as clothing, shoes, robes, palaces, horses, and jewelry, so that the deceased can have a comfortable life similar to that of people in the mortal world.
Offering to all beings
Offerings to wandering souls should be made outdoors, not together with the ancestral altar. When burning paper money and clothing, scatter rice and salt in five directions and four corners. The offering tray for wandering souls usually includes the following items:
Salt and rice (one plate will be scattered on the sidewalk or yard in all four directions after the offering). Thinly cooked white rice porridge (12 small bowls). Fruits (5 types, 5 colors). 12 pieces of brown sugar. Clothing for the spirits in various colors (blue, light green, yellow, pink...). Popcorn, cakes, and candies. Gold coins (real money of various denominations and paper money). Water: 3 small cups (or 3 small glasses), 3 incense sticks, 2 small candles. Popcorn, boiled sweet potatoes, boiled corn, boiled cassava. Sugarcane (left with the peel on and cut into small pieces about 15 cm long).
Note that sticky rice and chicken should not be offered as offerings to wandering spirits. When placing gold coins on the tray, they should be arranged in four directions, and in each direction, an odd number of incense sticks should be placed: 3, 5, or 7.
The ancestral offering on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month usually consists of a savory feast, along with gold coins and paper items intended for the afterlife.
Essentially, during the seventh lunar month, people rarely undertake important tasks for fear of encountering bad luck or misfortune. Many people spread rumors about the "Ghost Month," emphasizing the need for caution and avoiding certain things due to the bad luck it brings. This mentality is deeply ingrained in the subconscious of many.
But actually, the Vietnamese only celebrate the Vu Lan Festival (a festival to show filial piety and atone for the sins of the deceased) on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month; there is no such thing as the "month of wandering souls."
Our ancestors believed that the souls of the deceased, through the grace of Buddha and the spirit of filial piety, are reborn and guided to a peaceful realm.
It also reflects compassion for those who died without a place to rest and a wish for their souls to find peace.
The practice of offering food to wandering spirits is not only to avoid being disturbed, but also to do good deeds, helping these spirits at least have one day of satiety and alleviate their suffering.
This holds a profound humanistic meaning in Vietnamese culture, as well as the concept of the Day of Atonement: no matter what crimes a person has committed, during the process of punishment and retribution, they are granted a Day of Atonement to alleviate their suffering and pain.
Vietnamese customs do not include the concept of the "Ghost Month" or the belief that it brings bad luck, as these are superstitions that need to be eradicated.
During the month of July in particular, and other months in general, people should focus on doing good deeds, such as forgiving the deceased and showing filial piety to their parents and grandparents.
Furthermore, during the Vu Lan Festival (the 15th day of the 7th lunar month), each family can release birds, fish, shrimp, crabs, etc. Depending on the circumstances of each family, releasing animals is not mandatory on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month but can be done throughout the year, as long as the act is done with a pure, selfless, and sincere intention to do good.
PV - Photo: collected
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/mam-cung-rang-thang-7-gom-nhung-gi-post307110.html
