(QNO) - The Duanwu Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month) has existed for a long time in Eastern folk culture and has influenced the cultural and religious life of Vietnamese people. Depending on customs and practices, the Duanwu Festival has become a very unique regional cultural feature.
At Trung Phuoc market (Trung Phuoc town, Nong Son), from the morning of the 4th day of the 5th lunar month, the streets were crowded with people. Women, buyers and sellers with many quality, eye-catching homemade products, added to the beauty of the Doan Ngo Tet market.
There are many necessities for the Duanwu Festival, in addition to the traditional Vietnamese cakes such as banh in, banh thuan, banh to, banh chung, etc., the traditional banh ú tro has become a specialty, popular and attracts the most buyers at the market on the 5th.
To prepare for selling banh ú tro, more than a week before, households went up the mountain to pick leaves. The leaves used to wrap banh ú tro are dot leaves - a type of leaf found in the forest, when wrapping the cake, it has a characteristic aroma. Depending on each person's preference, the wrapper will produce green or yellow cakes. Yellow cakes are usually picked earlier and stored longer. The leaves are cut into small pieces, washed, blanched and drained.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc (Trung Phuoc town) is over 70 years old this year and has been making banh u tro for over 40 years. Every year from the 1st of the 5th lunar month onwards, her family makes cakes to sell.
According to Ms. Ngoc, every step of making banh u tro is important, from the stage of splitting the bamboo strips thinly and evenly, choosing beautiful leaves, free of pests and washed clean, to choosing the new sticky and fragrant sticky rice. However, the stage of collecting the ash water and fermenting the sticky rice is still the most important and determines the quality of the cake.
Ms. Ngo Thi Lien (local) said that her family wrapped and sold more than 15 thousand cakes of all kinds on this occasion, including nearly 12 thousand ash cakes. In addition to the traditional ash cakes, she has innovated to make ash cakes with fillings, which are favored by consumers because they can discover new flavors. Ash cakes are very popular during the Duanwu Festival, so no matter how much is made, it will sell out.
Trader Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy (Phuoc Ninh commune, Nong Son) said that from the 1st to the 5th, she ships cakes to places like Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City or localities in the province like Que Son, Tam Ky, Dai Loc, Duy Xuyen, more than 10 thousand cakes per day.
According to Ms. Thuy, it seems to have become a habit that on these days, customers from everywhere place orders, usually regular customers, because the cakes are delicious and of guaranteed quality, so they are trusted. As for buyers, everyone tries to go to the market early to choose the most satisfactory and neat items to display on the ancestral altar.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Vinh (local) said: “Usually, every year on the 5th of May, I arrange to go to the market very early. In addition to preparing the ancestral altar to burn incense for my ancestors, I also buy a few savory dishes to prepare a traditional tray to welcome guests who are brothers, sisters, and relatives who come to visit like on Tet holiday”.
The Doan Ngo Tet market in Nong Son is always bustling with buyers and sellers, creating a bustling atmosphere and becoming a beautiful cultural and traditional feature of this midland region.
[VIDEO] - Steps to make ash cake:
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