A family representing Hai Duong four times made cakes to offer to King Hung.

Mr. Duong Van Dam is 100 years old this year but is still healthy and clear-minded. Every Tet holiday, he still regularly goes to help his neighbors wrap banh chung.

Family tradition from the story of wrapping cakes

Mrs. Duong Thi Hoa recalls the first days of being a daughter-in-law of Mr. Dam's family in Bo Da residential area, An Lac ward (Chi Linh) in 1997. In a warm atmosphere, her husband and father-in-law guided her through each step of wrapping banh chung and pounding banh giay.

Under the meticulous and dedicated hands of Mr. Dam, Mrs. Hoa was carefully instructed from choosing rice, choosing leaves, to making cakes and tying them with string. Mr. Dam, although a hundred years old this year, is still lucid, remembering every secret to making perfect cakes.

"To make delicious banh chung and banh giay, rice is the most important factor. My family only uses An Lac yellow sticky rice. This is an ancient rice variety that has been passed down through many generations by An Lac people. This type of rice is both fragrant and sticky," Mr. Dam revealed.

To ensure a clean source of raw materials, Mr. Dam's family also grows 2 sao of dong leaves. Mr. Dam's son, Mr. Duong Van Bang, also has his own milling machine to serve the people in the area.

Mrs. Hoa's family buys yellow sticky rice from local people to mill to have the best batches of rice as raw materials.

Not only keeping the family business, Mrs. Hoa and her husband also accumulated experience and learned from many places to improve the quality of the cakes. Over time, they went to many places such as Hung Yen, Can Tho, Bac Giang ... to exchange secrets, combining the family's traditional recipes, helping to improve the quality of Chung cake and Day cake.

Glory from skillful hands

With passion and talent, Ms. Hoa's family has won many awards. Since 2013, her family has represented Chi Linh City in the Banh Banh Wrapping Competition at the Con Son - Kiep Bac Festival and has consistently won first prize each year. In 2019, Ms. Hoa was recognized by Hai Duong province as the best Banh Wrapper.

Ms. Duong Thi Hoa at the Chung cake wrapping contest at the Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2025

More specifically, her family represented Hai Duong 4 times to participate and won first prize in pounding rice cakes at the Hung Temple Festival (in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018), which means they were able to make cakes to offer to King Hung 4 times.

There were five families who were honored to be presented with 18 cakes, affirming their solid position in the traditional profession. The family's cakes are not only served at festivals but have also been ordered by many people as gifts and sold in many provinces and cities across the country.

For Mr. Dam’s family, making banh chung is not only a job but also a responsibility to preserve a beautiful cultural feature. Every Tet holiday, the children and grandchildren in the family gather together to make banh chung. Under the guidance of Mr. Dam and Mrs. Hoa, the younger generation in the family soon became familiar with the job.

Granddaughter Duong Ha Linh, although only 5 years old, skillfully wrapped the square cakes. Mr. Duong Van Bang shared: "Each cake is not only a dish but also a source of family pride and national tradition. Seeing the children wrapping the cakes, I know we will definitely keep the passion for the profession."

The image of a small girl carefully placing each dong leaf, stacking each handful of rice, and tying each string is the clearest proof that the traditional craft continues to be passed down and maintained.

Ms. Duong Thi Hoa and her husband are on the team representing Hai Duong province to participate in the Banh Chung and Banh Giay cooking contest at Hung Temple in 2019 (photo provided by the character)

Not only producing for sale, every festival or important event, the family voluntarily contributes the best batches of cakes to offer to their ancestors, expressing their respect for their original values. Thanks to that, despite many changes in society, the family's cake making profession has not been lost but has grown more and more.

With a long tradition and a deep love for the profession, Mr. Duong Van Dam’s family is a shining example of preserving and promoting national cultural values. Banh chung and banh giay are not only familiar dishes but also symbols of filial piety, of the connection between generations, and of preserving Vietnamese identity.

VAN TUAN

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/mot-gia-dinh-4-lan-dai-dien-cho-hai-duong-lam-banh-dang-vua-hung-408368.html