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To commemorate the ancestors who came from the Central region to the South to reclaim land and establish hamlets, the families in Long An have the custom of providing offerings on their death anniversary - a party to worship Việc lề. They worship ancestors, grandparents, landowners (Ngung Man Nương), and gods related to land and spirits.
The ceremony is presided over by the head of the family or the head of the branch of the family. The worship day is not fixed, usually during leisure time. Most of them arrange offerings on an almond cushion or a sedge mat spread out on the ground in front of the house. Offerings include Ám Porridge (porridge cooked with snakehead fish scaled with a bamboo knife, without cutting off the fins or tail), grilled snakehead fish, tam sên (duck eggs, boiled pork belly, shrimp; or snails, crab, shrimp). In addition to the above dishes, each family and locality has other dishes according to schedule. Offerings are placed on tree leaves, chopsticks are small tree branches, sedge stems or reed stems, and spoons are replaced with banana stems or pieces of pandan leaves. All to commemorate the first days of land clearing and hardship of our ancestors.
The celebrant prays to the ancestors, then according to family hierarchy, each person comes to bow. Burning incense, the celebrant turns it into gold, spreads rice and salt, and floats a banana raft (a model of a small boat with rice, salt, votive paper, and jars of fresh water on the boat) with offerings, symbolizing food to send off. bring ancestors. Finally, there is a communal meal for family members.
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