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Why do we have to offer full months for children?
Steps to prepare a full month ceremony for your baby
Why do we have to offer full months for children?
According to folk beliefs, the child is born by the great elves or 12 Ba Mu. Each woman is responsible for creating a part of the baby's body. The full month ceremony is the thanksgiving ceremony for 12 Ba Mu and Duc Ong for bringing the baby home and giving the mother a full square child and after 30 days the baby is born healthy. Therefore, this is the time parents should celebrate and report to everyone about the new family member, family line, as well as to express the wish that everyone will protect and support raising the child. With such a meaning, the full-month ceremony for children has been maintained over many generations and is still a beautiful culture in Vietnamese life.
Offering the full month is not only a ritual but also a warm family party
Steps to prepare a full month ceremony for your baby
How to calculate a full month's worship date for your baby
According to folklore, the method of calculating the day of full month worship for a baby must be based on the lunar calendar and the gender of the child "back two back, one boy backwards". Therefore, if the child is a girl, the full month will delay two days from the child's birth date. For example, if a girl is born on the 15th of the eighth lunar month, the baby's full month is September 13th. As for boys, the worship will go back 1 day, ie the 14th day of the 9th lunar month. The full month ritual for babies usually worship in the early morning or evening.
Ceremony offering full month offerings
Offering the midwife:
-12 small cups of tea
-3 large bowls of tea
-3 plates of sticky rice
- Gold code (money papers).
In many places, there are also crabs and boiled eggs.
Offering the Venerable and the Three Teachers
-1 large plate of sticky rice
-12 small plates of sticky rice
-3 cups small porridge
-1 large bowl of porridge
-13 baked rice paper
-1 boiled chicken or duck
-1 tray of fruit
-1 tray of rice (rice, fish, soup, boiled meat and stir-fried food)
Nowadays, many families only perform the midwife worshiping ceremony during the full month ceremony. In addition, the offering tray also has wine, tea, incense, lamp, water, rice salt, flower vase and flower chopsticks (chopsticks are held upside down and have flowers on the chopsticks), because according to folk belief, the queen just love to use this type of chopsticks.
A full month offering tray usually includes sticky rice, tea and other dishes
How to arrange worship table
Usually, full-month offerings for babies are arranged on two small tables, a high and a low one, a large tray for 12 Ba Mu offerings, a small tray to honor Duc Ong. The way to arrange the offerings according to the principle "East of the East is the fruit of the fruit", which means that the East is the position of the vase, and the West is the position of the fruit and gift plate.
Full month rituals
Rite of worship
After the offerings were placed somewhere, an elderly member of the family or clan stood up to burn incense and pray. The vows usually have the following content:
"Today, day (day) ... month ... (lunar calendar), date of grandchild (paternal or maternal grandchild ...) surname, first name ... full one month old, our family presents this tray of offering, to invite the midwife and the first three virtues to prove the ceremony, then continue to support the grandchild (name ...) strong-handed, strong-footed, quick to grow, gentle, obedient, supporting the family happily and happily ”.
Flowering ceremony
With the child lying in the middle of the table, the adult represents the host of the incense burning ceremony and begins to beg permission to flower. After that, the host will hold the baby in his hand, and at the same time, hold a flower and wove it over the baby's mouth and say good wishes.
“Open your mouth for flowers, flowers,
Open your mouth to those who love you, those who remember,
Open your mouth to have silver, to have money,
Open your mouth for my beloved neighbors ...
Naming ritual for children
Nowadays, this ritual is not very popular because parents often name their children as soon as they are born. However, some families still keep this custom as a family tradition.
After the opening ceremony, wish good things to the baby, the head of the ceremony will conduct the naming ceremony by asking for glue. The host will take two old silver coins and sow them in a deep dish. If a coin is face-up and a coin is face-up, the name is approved, and if both are face-up or face-up, they must be re-seeded, 3 times if not, then another name must be given to the child.
In addition, after the custom of asking for glue, the mother is usually allowed to be disinfected after a month's stay. The mother will carry her baby and step through the pot of boiling water with red nails (7 times for boys, 9 times for girls) and then walk around the house. While going, the mother deliberately dropped money to wish her child's life would be abundant and prosperous in the future.