The full moon day of December (15.12 lunar calendar, year of Giap Thin) this year falls on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Some good time frames on this day include: Dan (3am-5am), Mao (5am-7am), Ty (9am-11am), Than (3pm-5pm), Tuat (7pm-9pm), Hoi (9pm-11pm).
On the Full Moon Day, Vietnamese families often prepare carefully arranged and diverse trays of offerings to offer to their ancestors and relatives.
In the book “Vietnamese Traditional Prayers” published by the Culture and Information Publishing House, the full moon worship ceremony in the evening should be a vegetarian ceremony, with incense, betel and areca nuts, fruits, and votive paper money. In addition to the vegetarian ceremony, the homeowner can also make a non-vegetarian ceremony with dishes such as chicken, sticky rice, soup, wine, etc.
In addition to offerings, families also need to prepare a prayer to pray for health, luck and peace.
According to the book “Vietnamese Traditional Prayers”, the prayer for the Full Moon of December is similar to the prayer for other Full Moon days of the year. Specifically as follows:
“Namo Amitabha Buddha! Namo Amitabha Buddha! Namo Amitabha Buddha! I bow to the nine directions of Heaven, the ten directions of Buddhas, the Buddhas of the ten directions.
I respectfully bow to the Emperor of Heaven, the Mother of Earth and all the deities.
I bow to you, Dong Than Quan.
I respectfully bow to you, the local god of the Dragon Veins.
I respectfully bow to you, the Five Directions, Five Earths, and the Gods of Fortune and Virtue.
I respectfully bow to you, the landlord and god of wealth.
I bow to the deities who govern this area.
We are the believers:.. Residing at:..
Today is the...... day of the...... month of the... year (the full moon of the twelfth lunar month of the year of the Wood Dragon), I, the believer, sincerely prepare offerings of incense, flowers, gold, silver, tea, fruit, and burn incense sticks to present before the altar.
We respectfully invite: Your Majesty, the current ruler of the year, the Supreme God of the year, the Local God of the City, the Great Kings of the area, the Eastern Kitchen God of the Kitchen, the Local God of the Earth, the God of the Dragon Veins, the Five Directions, Five Lands, the God of Fortune, and the deities who govern this area.
We humbly ask you to hear our invitation, have mercy on the believers, come before the altar, witness our sincerity, accept the offerings, and bless us, the believers, with peace and prosperity in our work. Everyone is safe, their fortune and wealth increase, their faith and spirituality expand, all requests are answered, all wishes are fulfilled. We respectfully pay our humble offerings before the altar, and humbly ask for your protection and support.
Namo Amitabha Buddha! Namo Amitabha Buddha! Namo Amitabha Buddha!”.
