Ms. Vuong Ngoc Thu was born and raised in Muong Khuong, then settled down and lived in Bac Cuong ward (Lao Cai city). Born in a poor rural area, since she was a child, Ms. Thu has helped her parents with daily activities or familiar farming work. Therefore, since she was young, she learned how to wrap many types of cakes as well as prepare traditional dishes. In Ms. Thu's memory, in addition to the secondary ceremonies (which may or may not be celebrated), the villagers have 3 major holidays each year: Lunar New Year, Full Moon Festival in July and Doan Ngo Festival - pest extermination.
Having left her village for more than 10 years, but still following the old habit, every Tet holiday, Ms. Thu personally wraps traditional cakes to offer to her ancestors. As a Nung ethnic, at the beginning of the year, Ms. Thu wraps "gù" (black "chưng" cake), on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, she makes "gù" and "rỏm" cakes, and on the occasion of the "Đaân Ngọ" festival, she makes "gio" cakes. In the scorching hot sun of May, when people are harvesting rice, the paddy is dried in the yard, the straw is dried in the fields and on the lawns, Ms. Thu drives from Lao Cai city to Bat Xat to ask for... 2 bags of straw. She brings the straw back, takes it to the 3rd floor, dries it until it is golden brown, then burns it to get the ashes. Ms. Thu confided: "I have to go to Bat Xat to ask for straw because there, people grow "Séng Cư" rice, the dried straw is very fragrant when burned. The ash after burning will be soaked, separated to get the water to soak the rice to make "gio" cakes. This is also one of the secrets to having delicious, yellow, clear and sticky cakes on the day of the "Tet to kill insects".
To prepare for this important Tet holiday, Ms. Thu also took the opportunity to drive to the outskirts of the city to pick chit leaves to wrap the cakes. According to Ms. Thu, chit leaves used to wrap the cakes must be young leaves. Boiling them before using them to wrap the cakes will give them a distinctive aroma. In addition to making cakes with sticky rice soaked in ash water, many families also make cakes with sticky rice mixed with crushed charcoal from the núc nác tree, roasted cardamom and salt... No matter how the cakes are made, they must use ash (or charcoal) because according to the concept, they can ward off bad things and bad luck...
Banh gio is a popular cake of many ethnic groups, some places call it banh chit, banh 3 khot or banh croissant. The concept of the dish, the way of wrapping and processing may be different but banh gio is a traditional dish on the day of killing insects.
In addition to banh gio, depending on the customs of each place, the ancestor worshiping tray will also have chicken, duck, pig's feet, rice wine and fruits (usually sour). Many people believe that on this day, they can kill parasitic insects in the body with some dishes, especially rice wine and sour fruits. May is also the time when Lao Cai enters the plum season, so plums are also the most common fruit on this occasion.
Every year, in addition to preparing a tray of food to burn incense and offer to her ancestors, Ms. Tung Thi Hoa, Na Ha village, Lung Vai commune (Muong Khuong) goes to the market early in the morning, buys 1-2 kg of plums or a bunch of lychees for her grandchildren to kill insects. To increase the "effectiveness" of the extermination, Ms. Hoa instructs her grandchildren to eat a few sour plums right after waking up. She has always held this belief because since she was little, she has heard adults tell each other that early in the morning on the Doan Ngo festival, when the body has not eaten, eating sour fruit, eating sticky rice wine, and purple sticky rice will help eliminate all kinds of insects and parasitic insects that can be harmful to humans. Offering incense to ancestors and eating sour fruit to kill insects on the body is to hope for a healthy year, a good harvest, and flourishing plants.
“As the children and grandchildren grow up, every May, we hear someone complaining that eating sour food in the morning is not good for us and can cause stomachaches, but everyone smiles and grimaces while enjoying this most special breakfast of the year. Maybe the children are right, but it’s tradition, and everyone tries to preserve it because it’s become a habit. We only kill insects once a year,” Mrs. Hoa explained with a smile.
For farmers like Ms. Hoa, the insect extermination festival is a special festival associated with the crops and the weather. The May sun urges the fields to ripen, farmers enter the harvest season. However, May begins to be hot, with heavy rains, and is also the period when diseases are likely to arise for both crops and people. The Doan Ngo festival is an occasion for people to express their wishes for a successful year of production, bountiful crops, and good health and peace. Later, although many families have "left their hometowns and farms", this custom is still preserved, becoming a traditional holiday of many ethnic groups. In Lao Cai, Doan Ngo festival is one of the main holidays of ethnic groups such as Kinh, Tay, Nung, Giay, Phu La, Muong, Thai, Pa Di, Bo Y... Each ethnic group has a different definition, concept or legend about this holiday, but most of them are related to agricultural production practices and consider this day as a day to kill insects, hoping for a bountiful harvest and good luck and good health for the family.
Presented by: Le Nam
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