The 2023 Duanwu Festival is held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, which is Thursday, June 22, 2023.
The Duanwu Festival is a common festival in some countries influenced by Chinese culture. However, in Vietnam, the Duanwu Festival has different meanings.
Every year on the 5th of the 5th lunar month, our people celebrate the Duanwu Festival . Duanwu Festival is also called Duanyang Festival .
Doan Ngo means the beginning of noon (Doan: beginning, Ngo: noon) and Duong is the sun, is the yang energy, Doan Duong means starting when the yang energy is flourishing .
This is a traditional Tet holiday based on Eastern folk culture and beliefs to mark a new period of good things, praying for a bountiful harvest and a favorable livelihood. On the occasion of the Duanwu Festival, people often have different customs such as: the custom of picking insects, the custom of dyeing fingernails and toenails, the custom of bathing in coriander leaves, the custom of examining trees to pick fruit, the custom of picking medicinal herbs at noon, etc.
In each country, the customs and rituals for the Duanwu Festival are different. In East Asia, Vietnam, Korea and China, this festival is preserved and respected.
Origin of the Duanwu Festival: It is impossible to believe that the Vietnamese New Year originated from China.
In Vietnam, the Duanwu Festival is also known by the more popular name of the Insect Killing Festival . This is one of the traditional holidays with rich cultural connotations. Not only in Vietnam or China, but also in North Korea and South Korea, there is the Duanwu Festival. Therefore, the Duanwu Festival is essentially an East Asian holiday custom associated with the concept of the cycle of weather throughout the year.
China with the legend of Qu Yuan
At the end of the Warring States period, there was a great minister of the Chu state named Qu Yuan. He was a loyal minister of the Chu state and also a famous cultural figure. It is said that he was the author of the famous poem Ly Tao (belonging to the Chu Ci genre) in ancient Chinese culture, expressing sadness over the decline of the country and the disaster of losing the country.
Because he could not dissuade King Hoai Vuong and was harmed by his treacherous ministers, he was so indignant that he threw himself into the Mi La River and committed suicide on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. To mourn the loyal man, every year on that day, the ancient Chinese people would make cakes, wrap them in five-colored threads (to scare the fish away so they would not eat them), then row their boats to the middle of the river, throw the cakes, put rice in bamboo tubes and release them into the river as offerings to Qu Yuan.
In addition, there is another legend about the origin of the Duanwu festival. Many sources believe that the custom of the Duanwu festival originated from Xia Zhi in ancient times. Some people believe that this is the totem worship of the people of the Yangtze River region.
Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival in Vietnam
One day after the harvest, the farmers were celebrating a good harvest, but that year, insects came thickly and ate away the fruit and food they had harvested. The people were having a headache not knowing how to get rid of this pest problem, when suddenly an old man from afar came and introduced himself as Doi Truan.
The Vietnamese Duanwu Festival offering tray usually includes fruits, ash cakes, and sticky rice wine to kill insects.
He instructed the people in each house to make a simple offering consisting of ash cakes and fruits, then go out in front of their house to exercise. The people followed suit and after a while, the insects fell down in droves. The old man also added: Every year on this day, the insects are very aggressive. Every year on this day, if you do as I have told you, you will be able to control them.
The grateful people were about to thank him, but the old man had already disappeared. To commemorate this event, the people named this day "Insect Extermination Festival" , some people called it "Doan Ngo Festival" because the offering was usually made at noon.
Therefore, it is impossible to believe that the Vietnamese Duanwu Festival originated from China as some people still mistakenly believe today.
Meaning of Dragon Boat Festival
In Vietnam, the Doan Ngo Festival has been "Vietnamized" into a festival to kill insects and worship ancestors. Vietnamese people also call the Doan Ngo Festival "Insect Killing Festival" because during the transition of seasons, diseases are likely to arise. On this day, people have many customs to kill insects and prevent diseases.
Currently, in some Vietnamese villages, people still maintain the old customs and attach great importance to this Tet holiday. After Tet Nguyen Dan, perhaps "Tet to kill insects" is the warmest Tet with many customs associated with people's lives... so children and grandchildren, no matter how far away they work, try to arrange to return.
At this time, fruits and flowers begin to bloom, hoping for a bountiful harvest, so fruits are indispensable offerings. There are also other dishes depending on local customs.
Ash cake is often offered during the Duanwu festival.
On this day, the whole village is bustling, every family wakes up early to prepare offerings to their ancestors, and fruit is an indispensable offering. People believe that this is the time when the fruits on the trees and the leaves on the branches begin to bloom and bear fruit, and they offer offerings to their ancestors to hope for a bountiful harvest.
After the ceremony, there are rituals to kill insects. The whole family gathers to eat sour fruits, sticky rice wine, ash cakes... to kill "insects" and drive away all diseases...
Some customs on the Dragon Boat Festival
According to custom, at noon (12 noon), people in the countryside gather to pick leaves. This is the time with the best yang energy, the time when the sun shines the best in the year. Leaves picked at this time have very good medicinal effects such as itchy skin diseases, especially intestinal diseases or when catching a cold, these medicinal leaves are boiled in water to steam to relieve the cold very well.
In the past, on this day, people also had the custom of dyeing their fingernails and toenails, of picking fruits from trees, of hanging mugwort to ward off evil spirits... Babies who could not walk yet were given a little lime to rub on their fontanelles, chests and navels to prevent stomachaches and headaches. However, most of these customs have now been abolished, only the custom of bathing in herbal water and the custom of picking medicinal leaves remain.
Sticky rice wine is also a popular dish to kill insects.
In the streets and cities, there are not many gardens and trees, so people have the custom of buying medicinal leaves on the 5th. On this occasion, traders from the countryside bring all kinds of leaves to sell. The leaves are chopped into small pieces, classified into separate types, and people who go to the market choose the leaves with their favorite flavors to buy. At noon on the 5th, they are dried and wrapped in a box to put in the family medicine cabinet, to use when someone in the family is sick.
Food on the Dragon Boat Festival
According to the tradition of each region, on this day, in addition to fruits, the dishes are also different. In Hanoi and some regions of the North, on this day, sticky rice wine, especially purple sticky rice wine , is an indispensable dish. It is believed that the human digestive system often has harmful parasites and they are deep in the stomach so they cannot always be eliminated. Only on the 5th of May (lunar calendar), these parasites often surface, people can eat sour, astringent foods, fruits and especially sticky rice wine, which can eliminate them.
According to folklore, sticky rice wine is very effective when consumed right after waking up . This wine is mainly fermented whole grain sticky rice, also known as "cai ". People often use white and black sticky rice to make sticky rice, let it cool, sprinkle yeast, and ferment for three days. The basket of fermented sticky rice is placed on a basin to collect the wine water so that when eaten, it is mixed with "cai", creating a very pleasant sweet and spicy taste. Both the elderly and children can drink this wine.
Most women in the Northern countryside know how to "brew sticky rice wine" and often take advantage of this opportunity to brew the wine and bring it to Hanoi to sell. Some people can sell up to 10 pots of purple sticky rice in just one morning.
Central region rice wine: Rice wine is made using traditional fermentation methods. This is a dessert and is easy to digest, so many Central region families prepare it for their meals. Central region sticky rice wine is usually square in shape.
Millet sweet soup: This is a typical dish of Hue people every Doan Ngo festival. After grinding millet and removing the shell, people soak and boil it until it is soft and thick, then add sugar water and a little ginger to have a pot of fragrant and extremely attractive millet sweet soup.
Southern sticky rice wine: In the southern provinces, sticky rice wine is called rice wine. The rice wine is not left loose but is made into round balls before being fermented. Southern rice wine often has water and is also mixed with sugar water. It is very delicious when eaten with sticky rice like the sticky rice sweet soup in the north.
In Da Nang, the indispensable dish on the offering tray is banh u tro . Every family buys from three to four dozen cakes or more.
In addition, according to the tradition of the people in the South, duck meat is also an indispensable dish for this holiday. In Ho Chi Minh City, the price of roast duck and roast pork on this day is often higher than usual.
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