Things to do in the Tao Quan ceremony

(Baonghean.vn) - Ong Cong Ong Tao is a leading god who decides the fortunes and misfortunes of each family, so worship and sacrifices were highly valued by the ancients.

1. Clean the altar to prepare for the Kitchen God worship

Clean the offerings to prepare to send the Kitchen Gods to heaven.

Before cleaning the altar, prepare a plate of fruit and place it on it, then light an incense stick to inform the ancestors and gods that today the altar will be cleaned, and invite the ancestors and gods to temporarily step aside so that the descendants can do the work.

Then prepare a table with red cloth or paper on top to place the ancestral tablet. If the altar has ancestral tablets and other tablets for gods, they must be placed in two different places, not mixed together. Wait until the incense has burned out before starting the work.

When cleaning the ancestral tablets, you must use warm water, not cold water. When cleaning, if there are tablets of gods or Buddhas, clean them first, then pour new water to clean the ancestral tablets. Absolutely do not clean the ancestral tablets first.

Next, clean the incense bowl. Nowadays, most people pull out the incense sticks and then hold the incense bowl and pour out all the ashes. According to the ancients, this can easily cause "dispersion of wealth". Therefore, people use a small spoon to scoop out each spoonful and then clean the incense bowl and set it aside.

When the incense bowl is dry, if it is an incense bowl to worship gods and Buddhas, use seven pieces of gold money. If it is an incense bowl for ancestors, use three pieces of gold money and burn around it. When it is half burnt, put it inside. Wait for the gold money to burn completely, then pour the ashes in at once. This is called "small out, big in", meaning "money goes out drop by drop, money comes in like a waterfall". If you pour it all out at first and then scoop it in a little at a time, it is called "small in, big out", meaning "a lot of money goes out but little money comes in".

Burn seven more gold coins to clean the place where you want to place the Buddha statue/tablet and the incense bowl, then place the objects in their fixed positions. After placing them, burn 12 incense sticks in chronological order:

- The first stick is placed at the 1 o'clock position. When inserted, say "nien nien thi hao nien", meaning every year is a good year.

- The second stick is inserted at the 2 o'clock position. When inserted, read "nguyet nguyet thi hao nguyet", meaning every month is a good month.

- The third stick is placed at the 3 o'clock position. When placed, read "nhat nhat thi hao nhat", meaning every day is a good day.

- The fourth stick is placed at the 4 o'clock position. When placed, read "every hour is a good hour", meaning every hour is a good hour.

Do the same in order until the 12 o'clock position. Do the same for the ancestral tablets and incense bowls.

2. Arrange the altar to worship Ong Tao

In feng shui, placing an altar for Ong Cong Ong Tao is not something that can be done haphazardly. If you want your family to have good luck in the new year, you should know how to place an altar for Ong Tao in the right place to avoid bad luck.

The altar of Tho Cong is usually placed in the side rooms compared to the ancestral altar. If a house does not have an ancestral altar, it can be placed in the main room of the house.

The altar for Tho Cong is very simple, with only one incense table (i.e. the altar) placed against the back wall. On the incense table is a small table or shelf to place 3 wine glasses. Behind this small altar is a high-placed tablet for Tho Cong. Sometimes the homeowner does not place a tablet, but uses 3 sets of hats. These hats include a woman's hat in the middle and two men's hats on either side. The men's hat has dragonfly wings, while the women's hat does not. Sometimes, because the altar is narrow, the homeowner only places one hat.

In front of the small shelf is an incense bowl or incense burner. On either side of the incense bowl are a pair of candles or an oil lamp. A pair of incense sticks can also be placed.

The altar of Ong Cong Ong Tao does not worship only one god but three gods with three different titles. On the altar, people put the titles of these three gods. Each god looks after a separate job. Tho Cong looks after the kitchen, Tho Dia looks after the house, Tho Ky looks after the market for women or the reproduction of things in the garden.

According to ancient beliefs, each family has its own Tho Cong (Land God). This Tho Cong is replaced every year on the 23rd of December. This day in Vietnam is called Ong Tao Chau Troi (The Kitchen God's Day) or Ong Cong Ong Tao (The Kitchen God's Tet). On this day, families prepare offerings and burn the old tablet to replace it with a new one.

3. Prepare offerings to worship the Kitchen Gods

Full offering tray for Tao Quan.

The most important ceremony to worship the Kitchen Gods is the Kitchen God Festival on the 23rd of December. During this ceremony, after the worship, the Kitchen Gods go to Heaven to report what they have seen and heard in the mortal world that they have recorded.

To prepare for the Kitchen God to ascend to heaven, in the past, families would burn votive papers, hats, and shoes from the previous year and release a carp to serve as a “horse” for the Kitchen God to ride. People believed that after the offering, the live fish and the ashes of the votive papers, hats, and shoes would be poured into a river or pond, and the Kitchen God would receive them. The released fish would turn into a dragon to take the Kitchen God to heaven. Nowadays, many families do not worship hats and shoes all year round, but only buy them on the occasion of the Kitchen God’s New Year and burn them immediately after the offering.

Because of the significance of the ceremony, to prepare offerings for the Kitchen God, one must first buy a hat, shirt, and shoes. There must be 3 Tho Cong hats, including 1 for women and 2 for men. The men's hat has dragonfly wings, while the women's hat does not. The color of the hat depends on the year's five elements. For example, if the year is of the wood element, choose green, if the metal element is white, if the fire element is red, if the earth element is yellow, and if the water element is black.

In some places, there is also the custom of burning votive horses as offerings to the Kitchen Gods. The horse's color can also be chosen according to the five elements. After the hat and shirt, another common item that must be present is a live carp in a basin of water to be released into a pond after the ceremony.

Regarding the offerings to the Kitchen God, the homeowner can choose either vegetarian or non-vegetarian offerings. Vegetarian offerings include gold and silver paper, banknotes, betel and areca nuts, water and fruit. If the homeowner wants to offer non-vegetarian offerings, they can offer ham, sausage, pork leg, sticky rice and other traditional dishes. However, there are some types of meat that people avoid offering. For example, dishes made from duck, bird, goose, buffalo, cow, goat, dog. Generally, popular offerings are made from pork and chicken.

4. What time do you worship the Kitchen Gods?

What time should we worship Ong Cong Ong Tao on December 23?

The ceremony to worship Ong Cong Ong Tao is usually held on the 23rd of December. So what is the best time to worship Ong Cong Ong Tao?

On the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month every year, families often prepare offerings to send the Kitchen Gods to heaven. According to folk beliefs, the Kitchen Gods are the gods who govern the land, and the Kitchen Gods (including 2 men and 1 woman) govern the kitchen in the family. On the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month every year, these gods will fly to heaven to report everything that happened in the family during the past year to the Jade Emperor.

On December 23, the hour of Ngo (from 11am to 1pm) is a sacred evening hour, suitable for sending Ong Cong and Ong Tao to heaven.

However, in reality, many people are busy with work and cannot make offerings and release fish at this time, so it is not necessary to make offerings to Ong Cong Ong Tao at noon. Some other opinions say that the ceremony to send Ong Tao to Heaven should be held on the evening of the 22nd or early morning of the 23rd of the 12th lunar month.

If the homeowner is busy with important work, no matter how important the homeowner is busy with, he should complete the offering to Ong Cong Ong Tao before 12 noon on December 23, because otherwise, he will not have time for the gods to go to heaven.

Peace

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