Tết Trung Nguyên

Burn hell money for ancestors on Tết Trung Nguyên in Hanoi

Trung Nguyên is a Taoist holiday on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month.[2]

Vu Lan (or Vu Lan Bồn 盂蘭盆) in Sanskrit is Ullambana meaning "đảo huyền" (meaning saving people hanging upside down), this is a Buddhist holiday. According to the custom of the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, the monks and nuns gather for the Vu Lan Bồn, chanting sutras and giving food, this holiday comes from the legend of Mulian Rescues His Mother.[3]

This holiday is also known as Xá tội vong nhân because the Vietnamese believe that all souls in hell will be released to earth. Souls with children and grandchildren will be welcomed by their families to make offerings, and wandering souls without family will be worshiped by đình and temples.[4]

A tray of offerings to the ghosts wandering in the open air

Buddhists prepare to water lanterns on the occasion of Vu Lan

In Vietnam, worshiping on Rằm tháng Bảy is always done at the temple first, and then at home.[5] Worshiping on this occasion is usually done during the day, avoid doing it at night, when the sun has set.[5]

On this occasion, every family has two offerings of offerings: ancestor worship at the ancestral altar and offerings to wandering ghosts in the front yard or on the sidewalk, in the afternoon.[5]

High-rise building joss paper

Horse joss paper

On the ancestral altar, the family puts a non-vegetarian offering tray, hell money, and even items for the dead, i.e., joss papers like clothes,[6][7] shoes, horses, jewelry,[7] maids,...[8] to modern things: tall housesfloors, cars, motorbikes, telephones, refrigerators, televisions,...[6][7][9] so that the people of hell can have a comfortable life just like the living. Those offerings are usually made at the production facilities and transported to all provinces.[7][9]

On the tray of offerings to the souls, the offerings include: paper clothes with many colors (blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green), confectionery, chè lam, kẹo vừng, kẹo dồi, and waffles, 12 bowls of porridge (cháo hoa), hell money, mineral water or rượu nếp, beer, a bowl of salt, a bowl of rice, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tuberscassava, fruit...

A white and a red rose issued to guests at a Lễ Vu Lan service

At Vietnamese Buddhist temples and organizations, on Vu Lan, there is often a ritual Bông hồng cài áo, which is to wear a red rose for those whose parents are still alive and a white rose for those whose parents have died, this ritual helps to remind people of filial piety and kindness. This ritual was initiated by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh in a book written in 1962.[10] Some localities have their own custom such as in Quy Nhơn, people fold paper boats and release them into the sea to remember those who went to sea and then disappeared, for example in the 1980s-90s with boat people crossing the border.[11]

• Ghost Festival (in China)
• Obon (in Japan)
• Baekjung (in Korea)
• Pchum Ben (in Cambodia)
• Boun Khao Padap Din (in Laos)
• Mataka dānēs (in Sri Lanka)
• Sat Thai (in Thailand)