Hello Everyone! Only some days and we will go on the biggest holiday in Asia which is the Lunar New Year. Tet atmosphere seems to have enveloped the streets where I live. The last days of the year are usually very busy with many things to do such as cleaning the house, decorating the garden, repairing and cleaning up old things to welcome the first day of the Lunar New Year. Although there is a lot of work to do, the people in my hometown also don't forget the year-end festival, a custom in the cultural identity of the Vietnamese that has existed for a long time, which is the festival making Chung cake to welcome the Tet holiday.
Every year, people in my village will choose a day to gather in a communal house where worshiping gods as well as those who have contributed to the founding of the village to organize a festival of making Chung cake and incense with fruit offerings to the gods in the communal house. The purpose of this festival is not only to preserve the old culture and traditions but also to pray for a new year with favorable weather, rain, good harvest good health, and prosperity for people in the village.
A little introduce my village communal house. Along with a history of more than 500 years, the village is called Thach Can, this is a small village located on the outskirts of Hue city. This is a place to keep many cultural identities from the feudal period and also a place to organize major sacrifice festivals every year. For many years affected by the war, Thach Can village has now been restored and renewed. Every year on major festivals such as Mid-autumn Festival, Lunar New Year, Village sacrifice ceremony, etc, people often gather in the village to hold big festivals to recreate the old customs dating back hundreds of years. Besides, It's also an opportunity to encourage the tradition of studiousness of the generations in the village.
With the Chung cake-making festival at the end of the year, some of the village's oldest people will be present to offer incense to the gods in the communal house. We started the ceremony at 8 am attended by the oldest men in the village, followed by the middle-aged people who organized and ran the ceremony. Besides, some other people will prepare ingredients to make Chung cake. After reading the speech and the villagers, there will be a part of giving Tet gifts to some people with special circumstances in the village and finally the cake making part.
Due to the impact of the pandemic, fewer people attended this year than usual, which is a bit disappointing for me about this ceremony, but anyway, today has made me remember more clearly about the important ceremonies of the small village I live in and heard many interesting stories from the village elders telling about the old times from the time it was founded to the present time.
Chung cake is an indispensable specialty of Vietnamese families during each Tet holiday. They are made in an almost cube-like shape with a mixture of different ingredients inside. From the outside, we can see that the cake is wrapped with dark green banana leaf tops, the purpose of using banana leaves is to help the cake after cooking will have a natural green color like leaves. Next, glutinous rice is poured inside, this sticky rice will cover a small filling made from green beans and lard. To get the natural green color of banana leaves and keep the skin of the cake from turning yellow, people usually put them in a big pot made of corrugated iron and cook with water for 12 hours.
After the package of Chung cake, these cakes will be brought to the kitchen and cooked for 12 hours, then brought to the village communal house to worship the gods the next day and after will to gifts for the oldest in the village. I feel very fortunate that I am a child in this village and can participate fully in the festival here. Although this is only a small festival, it also contributes to preserving the traditions of this village, the old custom of his father in ancient times. And the above are my experiences and some knowledge about the Chung cake-making festival at the village communal house at the end of the year, hopefully, through this article, it will help you better understand some small customs, how to make and as well as the ingredients of Chung cake in Hue city. At the end of the article, I wish you a happy and happy Lunar New Year with your family and loved ones.