Suggestions for offerings on Vu Lan Festival

(Baonghean.vn) - According to the beliefs of many Vietnamese families, July is the month of wandering souls, wild ghosts and also the month of Vu Lan to show filial piety. Offering to wandering souls is to do good deeds, to help wandering souls have a day of plenty and less miserable fate.

On the occasion of the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, families often burn incense to remember their loved ones and prepare offerings for the souls that have not yet been liberated. 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...

That is a very humanistic meaning in Vietnamese culture.

Offerings on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month can be made at the temple or at home, including offerings to Buddha, gods, ancestors, food offerings to hungry ghosts, and animal release.

On the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, many people go to the temple to worship Buddha and attend Vu Lan Festival...

Below are suggestions on how to prepare the full moon worship ceremony in July correctly and completely:

worship Buddha

The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is Vu Lan festival, originating from the story of Maudgalyayana sacrificing himself to save his mother. Prepare a vegetarian meal or simply a tray of five fruits to worship Buddha and then enjoy the blessings at home.

The Buddhist offering tray is usually a vegetarian tray or a tray of five fruits.

When making offerings, it is best to read a sutra - the Vu Lan Sutra - to understand this day clearly, and dedicate merits to the deceased relatives to be reborn. The Vu Lan Sutra is quite long, but not too long, and is in the form of song that luc bat poetry, so it is quick to read.

Worshiping gods and ancestors

The ancestral offering tray is usually a savory dish, accompanied by votive paper money and items for the underworld made of symbolic paper, from traditional items (like real things) such as clothes, shoes, to modern items such as vehicles, telephones... so that the underworld can have a comfortable, fulfilling life like the living.

Offerings on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month have many humanistic meanings in Vietnamese culture...(illustrative photo)

Offering to all living beings

Finally, there is the ceremony to worship all living beings, also known as alms-giving for the wandering souls who were unfortunate in life, had no place to rely on, and suffered many injustices in their previous lives... These souls are very pitiful because no one worships them, or they die on the street and wander aimlessly, unable to find their way back to their ancestors.

On the occasion of the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, families often prepare offerings to the souls that have not been released.

On the offering tray to all living beings, the offerings include:

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)

Fruit (5 types 5 colors)

12 sugar cubes

The clothes of the beings come in many colors (blue, green, yellow, pink...)

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.....

An important note of the ghost worshiping ceremony is not to offer sticky rice, chicken, or pork. Only offer vegetarian dishes to the ghosts, not meat dishes because it will arouse greed, anger, and ignorance.

Thin porridge is an indispensable dish in the ghost worship ceremony, because it is believed that this dish is for the tormented souls who have a narrow esophagus and cannot swallow normal food.

When spreading gold money on the offering tray, you must place 3-5-7 incense sticks in each direction: East, West, South, North.

Offerings are set up and made outside or in front of the main door of the house. The homeowner can read the prayers or pray in Vietnamese according to his wishes and spread his compassion to the wandering souls, hoping that their souls will be freed from the suffering of the world. At the end of the wandering souls ceremony, rice and salt are scattered in the yard and on the road, followed by burning votive paper.

Thu Tra

(synthetic)