What are the components of Lunar New Year offerings gold horses?

According to longstanding Vietnamese traditions, on the Lantern Festival, families prepare offerings to worship their ancestors and deities as a gesture of gratitude. Among the offerings, preparing gold horses for Lunar New Year offerings holds significant importance and attention.

What are the necessities for the Lunar New Year offerings?

1. Understanding the Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year originates from China, where the night is called 'tiêu' in Chinese. The moon on the evening of the Lunar New Year is very full, marking the first day of the new year, hence it's also known as the Lantern Festival or Spring Lantern Festival.

According to beliefs, honoring the Lunar New Year is a highly important ritual, so on this day, every Vietnamese family prepares offerings, ceremonial scripts, and meticulously arranged gold horses for Lunar New Year offerings.

Depending on financial conditions and regional customs, the way offerings are prepared for the Lunar New Year may vary. However, certain essential items are required in the offerings presented on the day of the Lunar New Year.

2. Preparing Lunar New Year offerings

Lunar New Year offerings typically include Buddhist offerings as the vegetarian feast and ancestral offerings as the salty feast.

* Buddhist vegetarian feast

The Buddhist offerings are usually placed in a medium or small bowl and include:
- Floating cakes
- Fruits
- Green rice flakes
- Stir-fried dishes

* Ancestral offerings feast

As for the ancestral offerings feast, it involves a more elaborate presentation and includes dishes such as:
- 4 bowls consisting of vermicelli soup, meatball soup, mushroom soup, or bamboo shoot soup.

* Gold horses for Lunar New Year offerings

For the offerings, gold horses are indispensable, symbolic money, special for Lunar New Year offerings, along with paper items and clothing for deceased relatives... The quantity of gold horses and symbolic money varies depending on each family.

Note: After completing Lunar New Year offerings, should gold horses be burned or not? The answer is Yes. However, you need to pay attention to the following before and after burning gold horses:
- Only after the incense week ends should you lower the gold incense and take it to burn.
- To avoid violating taboos and ensure the safe burning of gold horses, you should burn them in a gold melting furnace, a dry and clean place.
- If your family has recently experienced a loss, you can burn gold horses together, without needing to burn separately.

When offering on the Lunar New Year day, you need to perform the ritual exactly at 12 noon (local time) after lighting incense. Then, you recite the Lunar New Year offerings script to pray for your ancestors and guardian spirits.

More information: Lunar New Year offerings article in 2022