hồn bạch

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A white silk effigy: A piece of white silk placed on the chest of a deceased person, later tied into a human shape to be worshipped during the three-year mourning period (ancient custom).

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The hồn bạch was carefully prepared according to traditional rites. (Hồn bạch được chuẩn bị cẩn thận theo nghi lễ truyền thống.)
  • After the funeral, the hồn bạch was placed on the ancestral altar. (Sau đám tang, hồn bạch được đặt lên bàn thờ gia tiên.)

Advanced Usage

• This term is specific to historical Vietnamese Confucian funeral and ancestor worship rituals. It represents the soul or spirit of the deceased during the formal mourning period.

Variants and Related Words

• Bài vị / Linh vị (n): Spirit tablet. A wooden tablet inscribed with the deceased's name, which eventually replaces the on the altar after the mourning period.
• Tang lễ (n): Funeral rites.

Synonyms

• Hình nhân thay mệnh (n): Substitute effigy (a broader term for a human-shaped effigy used in ritual).

Notes on Meaning

• The term hồn bạch is archaic () and pertains to an old custom (). It is rarely used in modern daily language but appears in historical texts, literature, or discussions of traditional rituals.
• It is a compound noun formed from hồn (soul, spirit) and bạch (white, specifically white silk).