How to remove incense sticks and clean the altar to welcome Tet

(Baonghean.vn) - According to tradition, removing incense sticks and cleaning the family altar to welcome the new year is something every family must do before the Lunar New Year. However, not everyone knows how to remove incense sticks properly to welcome the new year with peace of mind.

Below are some tips to keep in mind when removing incense sticks:

The person chosen to draw the incense stick

Cleaning the altar, wiping the incense bowl and removing the incense sticks should be done after the ceremony to see off the Kitchen Gods (23rd day of the lunar calendar). The person who does this work must be careful, meticulous and sincere in worship. Before doing this, taking a bath is also very necessary.

The person who does this job must be careful, meticulous and sincere in worship. (Illustration photo).

Wipe the incense bowl and tablet before removing the incense sticks.

The incense bowl should always be placed in a clean place, not in a dusty place or mixed with other objects. The incense bowl should be placed in a fixed position, limited to moving, but only lamps, copper incense burners, water cups, and flower vases can be moved. Whenever you move these objects, you should also pray and ask your ancestors for permission first.

While cleaning the incense bowl, memorial tablet, and altar, you must use one hand to hold these objects firmly so that they do not rotate or move, and the other hand to hold a damp cloth to wipe clean. In addition, you can also pound a piece of ginger and drop it into a bowl of wine to spray on the incense bowl and memorial tablet to make it fragrant, then use a cloth to wipe clean.

In many places, people still take the incense bowl down to clean it normally. You should ask the elders in the house about this custom.

Cleaning the altar and removing the incense sticks is usually done after the Kitchen Gods ceremony (illustrative photo)

How to remove incense sticks

After lighting an incense stick to ask for permission, you should remove the incense sticks one by one until only a few of the most beautiful incense sticks remain (usually odd numbers such as 3, 5, 7, 9). The number of incense sticks that have been removed will then be burned into ashes and poured into the river, buried at the base of a tree or mixed with water to water the tree. Absolutely do not throw incense sticks and other worship objects in dirty places with a lot of garbage.

After cleaning the altar and removing the incense sticks, you also need to light an incense stick to inform your ancestors. (illustrative photo)

According to Vietnamese beliefs, cleaning the altar and trimming the incense sticks should be done quietly and carefully. Trimming the incense sticks before Tet is not associated with any legend, but is just a normal cleaning job, removing unnecessary things to welcome a new year with many new things. Moreover, cleaning the incense sticks also helps the altar to be neater and cleaner.

Besides, there is also a notion that the fuller the incense bowl, the more incense sticks and ash, the more fortune the homeowner will have. There is also an opinion that if the incense bowl has too many sticks, when the next incense sticks are placed, they will not be able to touch the bowl, thus not showing the sincerity of the descendants. Moreover, too full incense sticks will blind the gods and ancestors.

Removing the incense sticks also helps keep the altar neat and clean. (illustrative photo)

Regardless of the concept, most people believe that cleaning the altar and removing incense sticks is necessary and should be done at the end of the year or before the family's major death anniversary (ancestor's death anniversary, great-grandparent's death anniversary, grandparents' death anniversary...).

Note:

On the morning of December 23, you need to perform the Tao Quan farewell ceremony first, then clean the altar and remove the incense sticks. Many people who do not know may misunderstand that you have to clean the altar first before performing the Tao Quan ceremony.

An Nhien

(Synthetic)