Worshipping Land Genie and Kitchen Gods “Ong Cong, Ong Tao” - it is a long-standing worshiping custom of the Vietnamese people. Those are the gods of the earth, the god of the house, the god of the kitchen in a family ( consisting of two males and one female). They record the good and bad deeds of each family, then at the end of the year they return to heaven to report and let Jade Emperor judge reward or punishment. So these are the gods who decide the happiness or unhappiness of each family. Therefore, all Vietnamese families on the 23rd (lunar calendar) of January have a ceremony to send those gods back to heaven. Rituals are not necessarily complicated but there must be sincerity in it. Typically, apart from, incense, lamps, votive papers, fresh flowers, and a five-fruit tray, there is also a tray of traditional dishes such as steamed sticky rice, boiled chicken, lean pork paste pie, pork bone soup, .. Offerings include gold foil paper, votive paper clothes, robes, mandarin bonnets, votive paper hats and golden carps - they turn into dragons the take the gods to back the Heaven.
The Vietnamese believe that when burning paper clothes, paper gold coins, paper horses, paper cars, etc., ancestors and gods will receive it.
The worshipping ceremony is usually held before noon because the Vietnamese believe that at 12 noon the gods will have to be in heaven. In this year, the 23rd day of the lunar calendar is today, January 25, 2022 (solar calendar). It is also considered the start of the Tet festival ( Lunar New Year) - It is the most important traditional holiday of the Vietnamese people. Those are the days when students and children are off school, state-owned companies rest, everyone takes this time to be with family and loved ones. Therefore, even if someone works far away, they always return to their families on these holidays. Although the main holiday lasts 3 days, but in some places they can organize this holiday for 1 month.
I went to the river to release 3 golden carp into the river and pray for them to successfully bring the gods to heaven. On the side of the road, people sell kumquat and peach trees, which are used to decorate during Tet, they symbolize luck, wealth, and the beginning of a good new year.
In the family, one person will stay at home to burn votive paper and one person will go to the lake or river to release fish at the same time.
Here is the tray of rice that I made today including: bone broth with potatoes, boiled chicken, sticky rice with beans, veal stir-fry with vegetables, lean pork paste pice, and have worshiped some other things like fruit, Tet jam, and alcohol,..
How to boil chicken:
Clean the chicken, then put the chicken in a large saucepan, add water to cover the chicken. Boil the chicken on high heat until the water boils, then reduce the heat, add chicken blood, boil for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat, don't take the chicken out, keep the chicken in boiling water for about 20-30 minutes and then take it out to dry. Eat chicken with chili salt and lemon leaves, chopped blood.
How to make stir-fried veal with celery
You should choose pieces of veal that are pink and fresh, if the veal is old it will be pale white. Slice the veal into 2mm thick pieces, then marinate the veal with salt and fish sauce, ginger, dry onion, pepper, cooking oil to make the veal softer. Cut the celery into pieces about 4-5 cm long, peel and cut the carrots into 5-petaled flowers. Quickly sauté the veal with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil for about 1 minute, then turn off the heat, set aside, in the same pan saute the celery and carrots, add a teaspoon of seasoning and sauté until wilted for 1 minute, then mix the veal with vegetable mix.
How to make sticky rice
Sticky rice is soaked in water for about 8 hours or more. Green beans are also soaked in water for at least 3 hours, then drained.
Put glutinous rice mixed with a little salt and green bean in a steamer for about 20 - 30 minutes, stir occasionally, add a little coconut cream to make the dish more attractive. Transfer sticky rice to a plate.
How to make pork bone with potato soup
Bring a pot with plenty of water to a boil. Add pork bone in pot then boil. Remove the bone and rinse under water to remove any scum. Discard the liquid and clean the pot or in a clean pot. Add the bones back to the pot, add enough water to cover the bones,add 1 teaspoon of salt. When the liquid is boiling once more, turn down the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer the pork bone for 20mins. Peel the carrot and potatoes then cut them into bite-sized pieces. Marinate pumpkin with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon broth mix about 30 mins. Add pumpkin then continue to simmer for 15 more mins. Season with msg turn off heat then serve. After 45 minutes, the meal is ready! Garnish the dish with green onions and coriander.
Tower of Cakes and Towers of Beer - Handmade by me ^^
I spent the whole evening yesterday making the beer tower and cake tower - They are offerings commonly seen at weddings or festivals. If I buy them at the store they are quite expensive so I have since made it at home, I just bought the ingredients like flowers, leaves, glue, cake, beer and glued them together.. We can make it in our own style, it has no standards, and this is my creation hahaa, let me know how you feel about it. Another special thing is that all objects of worship in northern Vietnam must be worshiped in odd numbers (numbers 1,3,5,7,9) for example: I made a tower of 9 cake boxes and a tower of 9 beer cans. Even the bunch of bananas to worship us also need to choose the bunch of bananas with odd numbers like 15, 17 or 19.
