Going up from the south side of the Huế citadel to a stretch of high ground, you pass a brick gate and enter a forest of pines. The path runs straight, pines planted on both sides, and at its end there is no temple roof and no statue but three platforms stacked on one another, open, without roof or walls, with nothing to look at except their own form. The top tier is round, the two lower tiers are square.
People used to visiting temples and pagodas often feel let down the first time they come here, because there is nothing to bow to. That is exactly the point to grasp first: an altar (đàn) is different from a temple (đền), from a shrine (miếu) and from a pagoda (chùa). An altar is an open-air place of sacrifice, built to offer sacrifice to Heaven and Earth, and by the old rites Heaven must be honored under the sky, not indoors. Today this is the only place in the whole country that keeps the full form of a Giao altar.
ISacrifice to Heaven and Earth, not to ancestors
Those honored by sacrifice here are August Heaven and Sovereign Earth (Hoàng Thiên, Hậu Thổ), Heaven and Earth, the two highest powers in the Confucian system of state sacrifice. The former emperors of the dynasty were given associated worship (phối thờ), honored alongside, but they were not the main recipients. This must be said clearly from the start, because it is the point most often misunderstood about the Nam Giao Esplanade.
For that reason the library places this site in the Confucianism group and not in the ancestor veneration group. The Nam Giao Esplanade is a work of the Confucian ritual code, under the same label as the Temple of Literature in Hanoi and the Mao Điền Temple of Literature in the former Hải Dương. The three places do different work but share one root: the temples of literature take care of honoring learning, the Giao altar takes care of honoring Heaven and Earth, and both belong to the state rites of sacrifice according to Confucianism.
In Confucian teaching, Heaven is the source that gives birth to all things, and a dynasty's right to rule is understood as the Mandate of Heaven (mệnh Trời). The ruler of the country therefore bears the title Son of Heaven (thiên tử). The Giao sacrifice is the rite in which the Son of Heaven stands on behalf of the whole country to report to Heaven and Earth, to give thanks and to pray for peaceful harvests.
There is a very strict principle in this: only one person may offer sacrifice to Heaven. Ordinary people honor their ancestors at home, villages honor their tutelary god in the communal house, officials honor the deities according to their rank, but Heaven may be honored by one person alone in the whole country. That is why a Giao altar is always built in the capital, and why there is only ever one.
The form of the altar restates that meaning. The people of old held that Heaven is round and Earth is square (Thiên Viên Địa Phương), so the top tier was made round to correspond to Heaven, the middle tier square to correspond to Earth, and the lower tier also square to correspond to Humankind. Stacked together, the three tiers form the figure of the three powers (tam tài), Heaven, Earth and Humankind standing complete in one body.
As far as can be verified, the Giao altar was not an invention of the Nguyễn dynasty. Before it, the country had a Nam Giao altar in Thăng Long, a Nam Giao altar of the Hồ dynasty at Tây Đô, and an altar of sacrifice on Bân mountain in the Huế area, set up by the Tây Sơn dynasty. What makes the Nam Giao Esplanade in Huế a special case is that it still keeps its three-tiered form, its enclosing wall, its Fasting Palace and its pine forest, while the other altars survive only as foundations or only in books.
The first common misunderstanding is to take Nam Giao for a proper name or the name of a deity. In fact giao in the old rites means the suburbs around the capital, and the Giao sacrifice is the sacrifice in the suburbs. The altar for Heaven stood south of the citadel, so it was called the Nam Giao (southern suburb) altar, just as an altar for Earth to the north would be called the Bắc Giao (northern suburb) altar. The name refers to a place and an act, not to the title of any figure.
The second common misunderstanding is to take this for a place honoring the Nguyễn emperors. The former emperors were only given associated worship on the Round Altar, seated on either side of the main altar table. The place honoring the emperors of the dynasty is the Thế Miếu temple inside the Imperial City, a quite different place in both its recipients and its rites.
IIFrom 1806 to the last sacrifice
The altar was built early, only four years after the Nguyễn dynasty made Huế its capital. Building the altar before many other works were finished shows the order of priorities of the ritual code: with a Giao altar there was a place to offer sacrifice to Heaven, and with the sacrifice to Heaven the standing of the dynasty was complete according to Confucian rules.
- 1806Work on the altar beginsUnder Gia Long, work began in the 3rd month on high ground south of the citadel, with a senior official appointed to oversee it.
- 1807The first Giao sacrificeThe first great rite was held in the 3rd month of this year, opening a series of sacrifices that would last almost one hundred and forty years.
- 1807 to 1885One sacrifice every yearIn this period the Giao sacrifice was held every year in spring, with the emperor himself as chief officiant.
- 1885 to 1891Seven years of interruptionAccording to archival documents, the sacrifice was interrupted for seven years before it resumed.
- 1891Changed to once every three yearsFrom this year the Giao sacrifice was set at once every three years, held in the years of the Rat, the Cat, the Horse and the Rooster (Tý, Mão, Ngọ, Dậu).
- 1945The last sacrificeThe very last great rite was held on 23 March 1945. Counting from the first in 1807, there were ninety-eight great rites in all.
- 1993World heritageThe Nam Giao Esplanade, as part of the Complex of Huế Monuments, was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
IIIThree tiers, the Fasting Palace and the pine forest
The grounds form a rectangle enclosed by a low wall. The records give the long side as 390 meters and the short side as 265 meters, the wall about 1.6 meters high, with a gate opening on each side. The whole area is about ten hectares. Within it, the altar itself takes up only a stretch in the middle, and the rest is pine forest and outbuildings.
The top tier, round, corresponding to Heaven. The records give a diameter of 40.5 meters and a height of 2.8 meters, with a balustrade painted blue. This is where the main altar table for August Heaven and Sovereign Earth stands, together with the tables of associated worship.
The middle tier, square, corresponding to Earth. The records give each side as 83 meters and the height as 1.1 meters, with a balustrade painted yellow. This is where the altar tables stand for the sun, the moon, the stars, clouds, rain, wind, thunder and the deities of mountains and rivers.
Square, corresponding to Humankind. The records give each side as 165 meters and the height as 0.84 meters, with a balustrade painted red. This is where the officials stood during the sacrifice.
A separate compound in the southwest corner of the grounds, where the emperor purified himself before the hour of the rite. Archival documents say that from three days before the rite, the bronze figure of the Đồng nhân, holding a plaque inscribed with the three characters for quiet purification (tĩnh trai giới), was carried into the Cần Chánh palace to keep the emperor mindful. Some articles instead describe this bronze figure as placed in the Fasting Palace, facing where the emperor sat.
The kitchen and storehouse used only for the sacrifice, in the northeast corner of the grounds. The offerings and the three sacrificial animals were prepared here before being taken up to the altar.
Pines cover the grounds, by custom planted by the emperor, the royal family and the court officials with their own hands. Each tree carried a tag with the name of the planter and the reign year.
On the dimensions of the three tiers the sources disagree, and the library says so plainly. The first group of sources, also the most widely cited, gives the Round Altar a diameter of 40.5 meters and a height of 2.8 meters, the Square Altar sides of 83 meters and a height of 1.1 meters, and the lowest tier sides of 165 meters and a height of 0.84 meters. A local research source gives quite different figures, among them a Round Altar 6.8 meters high, a middle tier with sides of 72 meters and a height of 2.5 meters, and a lowest tier with sides of 130.7 meters and a height of 1.9 meters. The difference may come from converting old units of length into meters, or from measuring from different reference points. The library uses the first group in its description and records the second group here, without choosing a figure at random.
About the pine forest there is something few people know. The pines here were not planted for shade. According to the records, before the sacrifice of 1834 Emperor Minh Mạng planted ten pines with his own hands on either side of the Fasting Palace and hung on them bronze plaques carved with an inscription he had composed. Members of the royal family and court officials also planted trees, each tree hung with a tag of ivory, bronze or stone giving the planter's name, rank and the date of planting. One surviving tag records that its tree was planted by the twelfth prince in the fifteenth year of Minh Mệnh, that is 1834.
So the pine forest around the altar should be read as a kind of register written in trees, each pine a name and a reign year. Anyone who walks through that forest and sees only scenery has seen only half of it.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's own reading through the eyes of traditional feng shui, not something recorded on the steles or in the ritual code of the dynasty. The library marks it clearly so that readers can tell documented fact from interpretation.
First, one thing sets this apart from most of the other readings of the land in the library: the site of the Giao altar was not found by a geomancer seeking the node (huyệt), it was fixed in advance by the ritual code. The books of rites had already laid down that the altar to Heaven stands in the southern suburbs of the capital, so choosing land here meant choosing within an area the rites had marked out, not searching for a node where the qi knots together. Even so, the way the people of old chose exactly which stretch within that area can still be read through traditional eyes.
First is the south. In the old system of directions, the south belongs to the Fire element, governing brightness and yang qi, and it is the direction the one seated in the highest place faces. Placing the altar to Heaven south of the citadel means placing it in the line of sight looking out from the whole capital, where yang qi is received in full. For a rite held before the night is over, the Fire direction carries one more layer of meaning: the place of waiting for the sun.
Second is the high ground. The altar stands on a base higher than the surrounding area, and three tiers are built on top of it. By the old rules, sacrifice to Heaven must take place somewhere high and open, because what is high is near and what is open has nothing to cover it. Here the feng shui of an altar runs exactly counter to the feng shui of a house: a house seeks to gather qi (tụ khí), seeking enclosure and shelter, while an altar seeks to open to Heaven (thông thiên), seeking openness and exposure. Anyone who applies the rules for houses to the Giao altar and faults it as exposed and scattering its qi has read the wrong book.
Third is the round and the square stacked together. Round above and square below is not only the image of Heaven round and Earth square, it is also a very stable structure to an eye that reads landform: a wide square base as the foot, a body narrowing upward, a round top as the point of convergence. Those coming in from the four gates climb the steps, draw inward toward the center, and finally stand on a round surface without corners. That path is the shape of an inverted funnel: the four directions converging on one point.
Fourth is the pine forest as a belt. A bare altar in the middle of open ground would be swept by wind from every side. The ring of pines planted close around the altar plays the part of a sand (sa), the low screen surrounding the node, stopping the wind without blocking the sky. The pine is also a tree that endures poor soil, lives long and keeps its leaves all year, so in the old way of thinking it stands for endurance and purity. Setting a ring of enduring trees around an open altar was how the people of old reconciled two opposed demands: to be open to the sky and sheltered from the wind.
VThe order of the Giao sacrifice
The Giao sacrifice belonged to the great sacrifices (đại tự), the highest of the three ranks of state sacrifice of the dynasty. The date was chosen by the office in charge of astronomy after the Lunar New Year and usually fell in the 2nd or 3rd lunar month. The whole sequence below is the ritual order of the Nguyễn period, recorded from archival documents.
| Stage | Place | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Purification | Cần Chánh palace and the Fasting Palace | The emperor purified himself for three days before the rite, keeping a vegetarian diet, keeping himself pure and abstaining from private matters. Archival documents say that the bronze figure of the Đồng nhân holding the plaque for quiet purification was carried into the Cần Chánh palace three days before the rite. The Fasting Palace within the altar grounds is where the emperor rested and purified himself before the hour of the rite. |
| Planting pines | Altar grounds | The custom of planting pines around the altar dates from the start of the dynasty. Before the sacrifice of 1834, Emperor Minh Mạng planted ten pines with his own hands on either side of the Fasting Palace and hung bronze plaques carved with an inscription he had composed, while the princes planted pines along the emperor's route. |
| Preparing the offerings | Spirit Kitchen and Spirit Storehouse | Fruit, incense and candles, cakes and the three sacrificial animals, an ox, a pig and a goat, were prepared and kept in these two buildings. |
| Welcoming the spirits and offering incense | Round Altar | The rite began in the small hours of the night. Archival documents say from three in the morning, one source says from two. The emperor, as chief officiant, welcomed the spirits and then offered incense before the altar table of August Heaven and Sovereign Earth and the tables of associated worship. |
| Reading the prayer and the three offerings | Round Altar | The prayer text was read, then wine was offered three times in what is called the three offerings (tam hiến). This was the most important part of the whole rite. |
| Sending off the spirits and burning the prayer | Round Altar and Square Altar | The spirits were sent off and the prayer text was burned together with part of the offerings. The whole rite lasted about three hours, with court music (nhã nhạc) in nine pieces and a bayi dance (bát dật) of 128 dancers. |
Two details are worth pausing on. One is the hour of the sacrifice. The rite opened before night had fully given way to day, and by the old reasoning that is the hour when yang qi begins to be born within yin qi, the most fitting hour to report to Heaven. The other is the three days of purification. In the rules of sacrifice, preparing oneself before the rite was valued as highly as the rite itself, because one who offers sacrifice on behalf of the whole country must first of all be pure.
The library repeats once more: every description in this section belongs to the ritual of the Nguyễn dynasty, recorded from documents. The altar today is a preserved heritage site, and whether or not a rite is held there depends on the period. The library does not record it here because it changes over the years.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Phía nam Kinh thành, phường Trường An cũ, nay là phường Thuận Hóa, thành phố Huế
- Getting there
- South of the Huế citadel, on high ground in Thuận Hóa ward, Huế city, a few kilometers south of the Imperial City along Điện Biên Phủ Street.
- Coordinates
- 16.4378, 107.5827
This is an open-air heritage site, and its customs differ from those of temples and pagodas. A few points are commonly mentioned. Visitors are expected not to climb onto the balustrades of the three tiers, to use the steps that are open rather than taking shortcuts across the platforms, and not to set out offerings or burn incense on the altar, because this is not a place of everyday worship. In the pine forest, visitors are asked not to remove or touch the tags on the trees. The Fasting Palace is made of old timber, so visitors are asked not to lean against its columns and walls.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at the Nam Giao Esplanade in Huế
No deity or emperor is worshipped here in the manner of a temple. The altar was built for sacrifice to August Heaven and Sovereign Earth, that is Heaven and Earth, while the former emperors of the dynasty were only given associated worship alongside, on the Round Altar. The place honoring the Nguyễn emperors is the Thế Miếu temple inside the Imperial City, a different place.
Why does the Nam Giao Esplanade have a round tier and square tiers
Because the people of old held that Heaven is round and Earth is square. The top tier is round for Heaven, the middle tier square for Earth, and the lower tier also square for Humankind. Stacked together, the three tiers form the figure of the three powers, Heaven, Earth and Humankind standing complete in one body.
How many times was the Giao sacrifice held
Ninety-eight great rites in all, the first in 1807 and the last on 23 March 1945. From 1807 to 1885 it was held once a year. After seven years of interruption, from 1891 it was set at once every three years, in the years of the Rat, the Cat, the Horse and the Rooster (Tý, Mão, Ngọ, Dậu).
What was the Fasting Palace at the Nam Giao Esplanade used for
It is the compound in the southwest corner of the grounds where the emperor purified himself before the hour of the rite. The purification lasted three days, keeping a vegetarian diet, keeping himself pure and abstaining from private matters, and according to archival documents the bronze figure of the Đồng nhân holding the plaque for quiet purification was carried into the Cần Chánh palace three days before the rite. Before the sacrifice of 1834, Emperor Minh Mạng planted ten pines with his own hands on either side of the Fasting Palace.
Why is the Nam Giao Esplanade placed under Confucianism rather than ancestor veneration
Because those honored by sacrifice here are Heaven and Earth according to the Confucian ritual code, not the ancestors of a lineage. The Giao sacrifice belongs to the state rites of sacrifice according to Confucianism, under the same label as the Temple of Literature in Hanoi and the Mao Điền Temple of Literature, even though the three places do three different kinds of work.