Unique Lung Cung Tet

We went to Lien Minh commune, Vu Ban district (Nam Dinh province) to join in the festival atmosphere and celebrate Lung Cung Tet - a very unique Tet with a cake whose main ingredient is only available in the spring...

People of Lien Minh commune (Vu Ban, Nam Dinh) make banh khuc during Lung Cung Tet. Photo: Pham Thao.

Lung Cung Festival is also known as Banh Khuc Festival or Vo Bo Festival. This is a traditional festival of the people of the three villages of Thuong, Tam, and Tien, held on the first day of the second lunar month every year. The unique feature of this festival is the indispensable Banh Khuc dish.

In the past, this land belonged to Son Nam Ha town, where a famous and talented general was born, who sacrificed his whole life for the cause of protecting the country's borders. One year, he and his soldiers could not return home to celebrate Tet with their families because they had to fight against the enemy. In early February of the lunar calendar that year, the army he commanded won, he decided to organize a celebration to reward his soldiers. However, because the war was long, the food reserves were exhausted, he thought of a way to pound rau khuc, a type of vegetable that only grows in the spring, to mix with sticky rice to make khuc cake to worship heaven and earth, then distribute it to the soldiers and people here.

To commemorate this event and show gratitude for the merits of the talented general, through the changes of time, the people in the commune still maintain the tradition of making banh khuc during Tet Lung Cung (exactly 1 month after Tet Nguyen Dan). Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Bich, a resident of Thuong village, shared: I have been a daughter-in-law for more than 30 years now, every year I join my family in making banh khuc. Each person has a job, some prepare the vegetables, some soak rice, beans, marinate meat... then prepare banana leaves, wood stove.

From only being organized by the three villages of Thuong, Tam, and Tien in Luong Kiet village, up to now, Tet Lung Cung has spread to many villages and hamlets in the commune, receiving the response of the people, contributing to strengthening family affection and village affection. On Tet, family members gather together, making cakes with special flavors to offer to their ancestors, reminding their descendants to always remember their homeland and roots.

The ingredients for making banh khuc include sticky rice flour mixed with regular rice flour in a certain ratio, green beans, pork, spices and especially indispensable khuc nep leaves. This is a wild vegetable that grows wild in the fields, rice fields, lush in spring with the drizzling rain.

The young shoots of the water spinach are carefully selected, washed, pounded and mixed with rice flour, then shaped into cakes. The mung beans are steamed and pounded. The pork is cut into small pieces, marinated with fish sauce and pepper, then stir-fried with onions.

Every year, on the morning of the first day of the second lunar month, the people of the three villages of Thuong, Tam, and Tien in Lien Minh commune are bustling. In the cold car of the Spring season, the aroma of banh khuc emanates from each kitchen, extremely attractive. The women choose the most beautiful cakes, the sticky rice grains are shiny, the fragrant smell of banh khuc leaves mixed with sticky rice and beans like the kind hearts of their children and grandchildren, offering them to the family altar.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/doc-dao-tet-lung-cung-10300827.html