What does a complete Vu Lan offering tray include?

Vu Lan Festival is a beautiful feature in the spiritual culture of Vietnamese people, a day for all children to turn to their parents. This day is a reminder for children and grandchildren, those who still have parents, to repay them with filial piety, do not wait until their parents are no longer around to regret and feel remorse. For children who no longer have parents in this world, preparing a thoughtful and sincere Vu Lan offering tray is also a way to express their love and gratitude for their parents' hard work.

The Vu Lan offering tray can be prepared with meat or vegetarian food depending on the family. However, according to Buddhism, it should be vegetarian. There is no need to prepare a grand offering tray, but more importantly, the offerings should be suitable to the family's circumstances, performed solemnly and sincerely.

The salty offering tray usually includes traditional Vietnamese dishes such as sticky rice, banh chung, gio cha, nem ran, stir-fried dishes, and soup. The vegetarian offering tray also includes the same dishes, except that it uses plant ingredients instead, such as beans, mushrooms, and potatoes.

In addition, to show gratitude and repay the deceased, folk beliefs hold that on Vu Lan festival, descendants should do good deeds, give alms to the poor, and help the miserable. To commemorate their deceased grandparents and parents, the next generation should remind their descendants to live according to the filial piety tradition of the Vietnamese people.

That is the greatest remembrance and gratitude for those who have passed away. On Vu Lan day, Buddhists also sincerely make offerings, give alms, and share with those who are suffering or go to the temple to chant sutras and pray for the salvation of their grandparents and ancestors; and pray for their parents to live long and healthy.

On the full moon offering tray of the 7th lunar month, Vu Lan ceremony, you can offer fruits, candy, incense. Usually on this day, families often prepare vegetarian offerings, then burn votive paper and let their children and grandchildren enjoy the blessings.

Buddhist offerings

First, prepare a vegetarian meal or simply a tray of five fruits to worship Buddha and then enjoy the blessings at home.

When making offerings, it is best to read a sutra (Vu Lan Sutra) to understand this day clearly, and dedicate merit to the deceased relatives to be reborn.

Ancestor worship

The offering to the gods usually includes a whole rooster, sticky rice (or banh chung with all the leaves removed but not cut into pieces), a jug of wine, tea, fruit and a vase of fresh flowers.

The ancestral worship ceremony should have a tray of food, which can be salty or vegetarian depending on the circumstances and background of the living person.

In addition, on the ancestral altar there must be gold coins and items for the underworld made of paper symbolizing traditional objects (like real objects) such as: clothes, shoes, robes, palaces, horses, jewelry, etc. so that the underworld can have a comfortable life like people in the living world.

Offering to all living beings

Offerings to sentient beings should be made outdoors, not together with the family altar. When burning votive paper money, stand up and sprinkle rice and salt in all five directions. On the offering tray to sentient beings, there are usually the following offerings:

Salt and rice (1 plate will be sprinkled on the sidewalk or yard in all four directions after the offering is finished). Thin white porridge (12 small bowls). Fruits (5 types, 5 colors). 12 sugar cubes. Sentient beings' clothes in many colors (blue, green, yellow, pink...). Various types of popcorn, cakes, candies. Gold money (real money of all denominations and votive money). Water: 3 cups (or 3 small cups), 3 incense sticks, 2 small candles. Popcorn, boiled sweet potatoes, boiled corn, boiled cassava. Sugarcane (leave the skin on and cut into small pieces about 15 cm).

Note, when offering to living beings, do not offer sticky rice or chicken. When placing gold coins on the tray, place them in 4 directions and in each direction, place incense sticks in odd numbers of 3, 5 or 7.

Basically, in the seventh lunar month, people rarely do important things for fear of encountering bad luck and misfortune. Many people talk about the ghost month, having to be careful and avoid bad luck because of the misfortune that the ghost month brings. This mentality has been deeply ingrained in many people's subconscious.

But in fact, on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, Vietnamese people only have Vu Lan Festival to show filial piety and pardon the dead, not "ghost month".

Our ancestors believed that the souls of the deceased, thanks to the grace of Buddha, in the spirit of filial piety, were liberated and brought to a peaceful realm.

It is also compassion for the homeless dead and also the hope that their souls will be liberated.

Offering food to wandering souls is not only to avoid being disturbed, but also to do good deeds, to help wandering souls at least have one day of fullness, to lessen their miserable fate.

That is a very humane meaning in Vietnamese culture, as well as the concept of the day of forgiveness: no matter what crimes people have committed, in the process of being punished and retribution, they will have a day of forgiveness to reduce suffering and pain.

Vietnamese customs do not have the concept of ghost month or bad luck because of ghost month because they are superstitions that need to be eliminated.

During the 7th month in particular and other months in general, people should strive for good deeds, such as pardoning the dead and showing filial piety to parents and grandparents.

In addition, on the occasion of Vu Lan Festival, the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, each family can release birds, fish, shrimp, crabs... Depending on each family's conditions, releasing animals does not have to be done on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month but can be done all year round, as long as when releasing animals, the thoughts are innocent, pure, and sincere to do good deeds.

PV - Photo: collected