The whole commune competed to wrap 2,000 banh chung to offer to King Mai Hac De.

TPO - Thousands of people together wrapped and cooked 2,000 banh chung to serve as offerings to King Mai Hac De on the occasion of the 1,301st anniversary of his death.

Over the past two days, people from seven villages in Mai Phu Commune, Loc Ha District (Ha Tinh) have gathered at village cultural houses to prepare ingredients and wrap more than 2,000 banh chung. These cakes will be used as offerings at the temple of King Mai Hac De, on the occasion of his death anniversary.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Bac - Chairman of Mai Phu Commune People's Committee said: "For nearly 10 years, the locality has organized the wrapping of Chung cakes and offerings to the king on the anniversary of the death of the villagers. In addition to the delicious and beautiful cakes, the offering tray also includes boiled chicken, pork and rice. The offering tray is both a heartfelt offering to the king and a contest for the most beautiful Chung cakes."

In Son Phu village, from early morning, hundreds of people were present at the cultural house to prepare materials for wrapping cakes and offering trays for the holiday.

Banh chung is wrapped in green dong leaves, sticky rice, green beans, pork...

Mr. Nguyen Duc He (born in 1958, Head of Son Phu village) said: “This year the village will wrap 310 banh chung to serve the festival. The ingredients for wrapping the cakes must be complete and clean. A convention is that the person wrapping, cooking banh chung, and preparing the offering tray to the king must have a happy family that year, with no mourning.”

People happily do their own thing to prepare all the ingredients and make beautiful, delicious cakes.

“Wrapping the offering cakes is not difficult, but you have to be careful to ensure the cakes are beautiful, square, and not too tight so that they cook well,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Chau (50 years old).

After wrapping, the cakes will be carefully arranged in large pots to cook for 6 hours.

Mr. Le Hong Bang (60 years old) was assigned to cook the cakes. He wrote down the number of cakes in each pot in a notebook to keep track.

The pots of cakes are clearly marked with the number of pieces and boiling time to ensure they are cooked on time.

In addition to timing, Mr. Bang always has to make sure the fire is even so that the cake is cooked to the right level of softness and deliciousness.

In addition to cakes, women in the village also make ram and other dishes to prepare for the offering tray.

The death anniversary of King Mai Hac De will begin from the 12th to the 14th of the first lunar month every year at the temple of about 7,000 square meters in Mai Lam village, Mai Phu commune.

King Mai Hac De, real name Mai Thuc Loan (670-723), was originally from Mai Phu commune, Loc Ha district (Ha Tinh). Orphaned at a young age, Mai Thuc Loan grew up to be more intelligent and strong, a famous wrestler in Sa Nam region (Nam Dan district, Nghe An) today.

Witnessing the suffering of the people under the rule of the Tang Dynasty (China), in 713 he stood up to lead the organization to raise the flag of the Hoan Chau uprising, liberating a large area of ​​land in Nghe An. After this event, he was crowned emperor. In 722, the Tang army returned to suppress the uprising, was besieged, Mai Hac De retreated into the forest and died there.

To commemorate his contributions and those of his generals, people in many places in the country built temples to worship him, such as in Nam Dan district (Nghe An) and the temple to worship King Mai Hac De in his mother's hometown in Mai Lam village, Mai Phu commune, Loc Ha district (Ha Tinh) today.

Pham Truong

Source: https://tienphong.vn/ca-xa-thi-nhau-goi-2000-banh-chung-dang-le-vua-mai-hac-de-post1613503.tpo