What is the best day to worship the 15th day of the 7th lunar month?
(Baonghean.vn) - "The whole year has the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, all have the 15th day of the 1st lunar month" is a familiar proverb of Vietnamese people, according to which, every family cannot ignore the worship ceremony on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month.
On the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, most families do not worship the local god, ancestors, and grandparents on the exact day. On the contrary, families worship about a week or a few days before the 15th day of the 7th lunar month.
 |
| The offering tray for the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is often presented with a vegetarian tray. Illustrative photo |
The reason is because, the 15th day of the 7th lunar month every year is called Vu Lan (filial piety) festival. The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is also the day to worship the wandering souls or also known as the day of pardoning the dead. Therefore, according to the ancient concept of the Vietnamese, if the worship ceremony is performed on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, it will not be good.
The ancients believed that at that time, many souls would be "released" to wander. Ancestors and their relatives in the other world would not receive any offerings from their descendants. Because of this, many Vietnamese families clearly divided the two important ceremonies. Those are Vu Lan ceremony and the ceremony to worship the wandering souls.
Vu Lan festival is to pray for the souls of parents and grandparents of seven generations and to show filial piety. Hungry Ghost Festival is a ceremony to give alms to the souls that no one worships in order to do good deeds. Because of this, every family often prepares a sumptuous offering tray to the local deity, ancestors and grandparents and worships a few days before the 15th day of the 7th lunar month.
Normally, from the 10th to the day before the full moon (15th lunar month), families usually burn votive paper before this day after making offerings. They believe that if they make offerings on the full moon day of the 7th lunar month, because Buddha forgives the deceased for one day, all souls, including sinful and evil spirits, are free. Therefore, if they make offerings to their ancestors on this day, they are afraid of being harmed by these spirits.