What offerings should be prepared for Qingming Festival?

What does the Thanh Minh festival offering tray include?

In 2025, Qingming Festival begins on April 4 and ends on April 19 of the Gregorian calendar. Qingming Festival (April 4) falls on Friday, March 7 of the lunar calendar. Traditionally, Qingming Festival ceremonies are held at two locations: ancestral graves and at home. Each location has its own requirements for offerings and rituals.

What to prepare for Thanh Minh festival? Picture 1

People organizing Thanh Minh worship at the cemetery. Photo: suckhoevadoisong

Qingming Festival at the grave

Visiting graves on this occasion is very important for descendants to take care of and clean their ancestors' graves to make them cleaner and more spacious.

The Thanh Minh Festival ceremony at the ancestors' graves can be performed as a vegetarian or non-vegetarian ceremony, depending on the conditions and traditions of each family. Regardless of the form, the basic offerings that cannot be missing include incense, lamps, tea, wine, water, betel and areca nuts, votive paper money and fruit.

For vegetarian dishes, you can prepare sticky rice, sweet soup, banana cakes, cakes, water, rice, salt, popcorn, and a bowl of honey. For meat dishes, in addition to the above offerings, there is also wine, meat, sticky rice, boiled chicken or ham.

When burning incense at a grave, if there are many incense bowls, incense should be burned in all bowls, and the offerings can be shared. The offerings should be neatly arranged on plates, mats or towels when placed on the ground and must be placed on a flat surface before performing the worship ritual.

After completing the worship ritual, wait until the incense has burned about 2/3, then perform the thanksgiving ceremony, burn the votive paper and ask for luck to bring home to perform the ceremony for the family gods and ancestors. If you have written the prayer on paper, burn it after reading it.

According to Vietnamese custom, during Thanh Minh festival, people often bring shovels and hoes to the cemetery to fill the graves, remove weeds and bushes growing on the graves, to avoid snakes and rats digging holes or attracting buffaloes and cows to destroy them.

For built graves, thorough cleaning is done, then the grave sweeper lights incense and places offerings to worship.

Offering Thanh Minh Festival at home

Although it is a big holiday, the Thanh Minh festival offerings do not have to be elaborate but are prepared in accordance with each family's conditions or according to each region's customs. The important thing is that the children's sincerity is conveyed through each dish and each offering.

The Thanh Minh Festival offering tray usually includes traditional dishes such as sticky rice, boiled chicken, bamboo shoot soup, vermicelli, and a stir-fried dish. In addition, there are also traditional offerings such as fruits, fresh flowers, betel and areca nuts, and votive paper. In particular, for Buddhist families, a vegetarian offering tray will be prepared instead of a meat offering tray.

What to prepare for Thanh Minh festival picture 2

Offering tray for Thanh Minh Festival. Photo: baogiaoducthoidai

In case conditions do not allow, the offering can be simplified, only needing fresh flowers, fruits, and candies.

Before performing the Thanh Minh Festival worship at home, it is necessary to clean the house and wipe the family altar. The person who burns incense must wear neat and clean clothes, showing respect to the ancestors. When burning incense, the worshiper will bow and recite prayers, expressing sincerity and respect. After the incense has burned out, the family can burn votive papers and ask for blessings.

Qingming Festival is an important occasion for descendants to show filial piety and strengthen family traditions. Preparing the offerings properly not only helps honor the deceased but also brings deep meaning to the living.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cung-tet-thanh-minh-can-chuan-bi-le-vat-gi-post340272.html