hương đài
Definition
- Noun:
- An altar for incense offerings: A structure, typically made of stone or wood, used for placing and burning incense sticks during worship rituals, especially in traditional Vietnamese spiritual practices.
- An incense burner stand: A raised platform or table specifically designed to hold incense burners and related ceremonial items.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Trên hương đài, khói trầm tỏa ra thơm ngát. (On the incense altar, the agarwood smoke wafted out, fragrant and pure.)
- Người ta đặt lễ vật lên hương đài trước khi cúng bái. (People place offerings on the incense altar before performing the worship ceremony.)
- Hương đài trong ngôi đình làng đã có từ hàng trăm năm. (The incense altar in the village communal house has existed for hundreds of years.)
Advanced Usage
- This term is considered archaic or literary in modern Vietnamese. In everyday conversation, more common terms like bàn thờ (worship table/altar) or lư hương (incense burner) are often used. Hương đài specifically emphasizes the platform or structure the incense.
- It is primarily found in historical texts, poetry, or descriptions of ancient architecture and religious sites.
Variants and Related Words
- Bàn thờ (n): Altar, worship table. A more general and common term for any structure used for placing offerings and worshipping.
- Lư hương (n): Incense burner. The vessel that holds the burning incense sticks, often placed the hương đài.
- Án thư (n): A classical term for a desk or table; sometimes used poetically in similar contexts but not for worship.
Synonyms
- Bệ thờ (n): Worship pedestal/altar base.
- Án hương (n): (Archaic/Literary) Incense table/altar. A very close synonym with similar archaic usage.
Related Phrases/Idioms
- Hương khói (n): Incense and smoke; a term referring to ancestral worship and rituals.
- Phụng dưỡng hương khói (To maintain the incense and smoke; meaning to uphold the family's worship traditions.)
- While hương đài itself is not commonly used in idioms, it is associated with the context of:
- Thắp hương trên đài (To light incense on the altar) – a descriptive phrase.