Unique rice cooking competition in Thi Cam Xuan village

In the warm spring atmosphere, on the 8th day of the first lunar month, people of Thi Cam village (Xuan Phuong commune, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi) held a fire-making and rice-cooking competition, preserving a traditional cultural feature that has existed for thousands of years.

Let's learn about this unique festival through the photo series "Unique rice-cooking competition in Thi Cam village, Spring Quy Mao 2023" by author Bui Cuong Quyet, with rice pounding, fire-making, water-getting, rice-cooking, rice-brewing competitions... The photo series of Thi Cam rice-cooking competition is a typical symbol of the residents who grow rice, wishing for a year of abundance. This is also an occasion for villagers to commemorate the merits of the village's tutelary god Phan Tay Nhac and recall the glorious feats of fighting the enemy and defending the country of our ancestors. The photo series was submitted by the author to the Photo and Video Contest of Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam, organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications. On January 29, 2023 (January 8), many people from Thi Cam village (Xuan Phuong ward, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi) gathered at the communal house to participate in the traditional fire-making and rice-cooking competition. Thi Cam village used to have 4 hamlets, each hamlet sent out a rice-cooking team. Before the competition, the teams prepared tools such as pestles, mortars, straw, pots, etc. Each team was given 1kg of rice by the Organizing Committee to cook rice. The ancient way of making fire by using 2 bamboo sticks clamped to the steel wool, using 2 bamboo sticks, one piece above and one piece below to make fire was demonstrated by the villagers of Thi Cam at the Village Festival. The main parts of the competition include: pounding rice, making fire, fetching water and cooking rice. Upon receiving the ingredients, the young and strong people must quickly finish pounding the rice first, while another group must fetch water about 800m away from the competition venue. From pounding rice to the end of the competition, it only took one hour, so all the competitions were completed very quickly. At the end of the contest, the rice portions are offered to the Saint and scored. The organizing committee will award first prize to the team with the best pot of rice. The Thi Cam Rice Cooking Competition aims to pay tribute to General Phan Tay Nhac, a general from the Hung King era who contributed to the country. With the unique and special values ​​of the festival, on March 9, 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 827/QD-BVHTTDL announcing the Traditional Festival - Thi Cam Rice Cooking Competition on the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

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