On the full moon day of the 7th month, Vu Lan's filial piety day and the day of forgiveness for the dead, is one of the important holidays in Vietnamese culture. For business units, it is extremely important to display full and dignified offerings on the full moon day of July . Because offering glasses on this occasion not only means to pray for good fortune but also to ward off bad luck. If you want to know how to properly and adequately display the offering tray, please refer to the following article.
Some information about the full moon offering tray in July
Before going into details on how to display the full moon offering tray, you need to review some notes below.
The meaning of the full moon offering tray in July
On the full moon day of the 7th month, Vu Lan's filial piety day and the day of forgiveness for the dead, is one of the important holidays in Vietnamese culture. This is an opportunity for children and grandchildren to express gratitude to their ancestors and pray for the lost souls. In addition, full-moon offerings are also called food offerings, meaning alms to the wandering souls. The display of offerings on the full moon day of the 7th month often focuses on the second meaning.
When should you set out the full moon offering tray in July?
The full moon day of July this year falls on Sunday, August 18, 2024. According to folk beliefs, we should perform worship on the previous days, that is, from the 2nd to the 14th day of the 7th lunar month. According to our ancestors, the King of Hell will open the Devil's Gate to let souls return to the earth during this time. The 15th day of the lunar calendar is the closing time, the souls must return and can no longer receive offerings. So worshiping after this point will no longer be effective.
While the Vu Lan filial piety ceremony is usually performed during the day, the soul worshiping ceremony takes place in the evening. There is no need to choose a good day to worship, as long as the time is right and the celebrant is sincere, it will be recognized.
Instructions for preparing a full moon offering tray in July
Normally, the full moon offering tray in July at a company or business will be divided into 2 trays: indoor and outdoor. The trays in the house are offerings to the Buddhas and Gods. Outdoor tray to worship sentient beings - lonely souls. How to prepare offerings as follows:
- Do not make offerings with paper money or joss paper.
- Do not kill living beings to make offerings.
- Flowers and fruits do not limit type and quantity.
Indoor tray
You can display the ceremony on the altar (if there is one), or place it on a table and put incense in a cup of rice or with a flower vase.
- Worship Buddha
If a company or business worships Buddha at the workplace, it is necessary to prepare a separate offering tray for the Buddha table. According to Buddhist philosophy, the offering tray does not need to be full, but mainly requires sincerity. The ceremony owner only needs to arrange a frugal vegetarian meal according to the suggestions below:
- All kinds of sticky rice and sweet soup
- Vegetable soup
- Vegetarian spring rolls
- Tofu in tomato sauce
- Stir-fried vegetables
- fresh fruit
- Worship the Gods
The offering tray for the Full Moon of the 7th month directed to the Gods should be a savory feast. On the offering tray, symbolic objects such as gold items should be displayed to express respect and gather good fortune. You can prepare traditional offering trays such as sticky rice with beans and boiled chicken; Vegetable salad... or replace it with braised dishes or soups depending on conditions. Finally, there needs to be incense, flowers, fruits and tea or wine.
Outdoor offering tray
According to custom, the offering tray for souls, also known as offerings to sentient beings, should not be made with salty food such as meat, fish, etc. because salty food will arouse greed, anger, and ignorance, making it difficult for the souls to escape and refuse to return. hell that will disturb the earthly world. The July full moon offering tray at the company should include:
- Thin white porridge. This is also an indispensable dish in the outdoor offering tray for the full moon day of July because there has long been a belief that exiled souls have an extremely narrow esophagus and cannot swallow normal food.
- A plate of rice salt
- 3 glasses of water
- Five fruits
- All kinds of popcorn, candy, snacks
- Potatoes, corn, boiled peanuts... in arbitrary quantities
- Votive paper.
- Clothes of sentient beings
- 2 small candles
First, you place the ceremony tray in front of the company's main door. After that, the ceremony leader reads the worship texts or can pray according to his wishes. At the end of the ceremony, perform the farewell ritual by throwing rice and salt into the yard and sidewalk. Finally, burn the votive paper.
Note when making offerings on the full moon day of July at the company
In addition to preparing the offering tray carefully according to the instructions above, to achieve the purpose of the offering tray and show your sincerity, the ceremony owner needs to pay attention to a few additional issues below:
- Presenting the offering tray: The offering tray does not necessarily have to be beautiful, but it needs to be clean and neat.
- Enough food, enough dishes: There is no need to stick to the traditional offering tray, but you should prepare all necessary dishes. Depending on conditions and costs, prepare offerings appropriately to avoid waste.
- Outdoor offering tray: In addition to the offerings displayed on the table, you can prepare a small tray with snacks, sweets, etc. to place low. This is a section specifically for children (babies).
- Fresh fruits, incense, candles and tea: Each offering tray needs to have all of these items.
- The custom of stealing souls (in the South): After finishing the offering, the ceremony leader can carry the offering tray out onto the street for children to compete for or distribute money to the living. The concept is that the more people there are, the luckier the business will be, and the more bad luck it will ward off.
Above are specific instructions for readers to prepare their own full moon offering tray for the company in the most decent and dignified manner. However, the most important thing is still sincerity. Offering trays, whether simple or methodical, all aim at the good purpose of remembering, praying for salvation, and accumulating virtue.
