How to choose five fruits to bring fortune all year round

Whether rich or poor, every family buys fruit to display on the altar to worship their ancestors and grandparents on Tet holiday. However, not everyone knows how to choose a tray of five fruits to bring fortune to the homeowner all year round and the meaning of each type.

The five-fruit tray placed on the ancestral altar during Tet has a profound general meaning, according to the five colors symbolizing the wish for five blessings: wealth, luxury, longevity, health, peace. According to the theory of the five elements: Metal is white, Wood is green, Water is black, Fire is red, Earth is yellow. The five-fruit tray is often arranged according to those five colors.

In fact, depending on the natural characteristics, customs and beliefs of each region, people have their own way of choosing typical fruits with their own meanings.

In the North, on the five-fruit tray there are usually 5 types of fruit with 5 different colors, specifically: green banana/apple; yellow grapefruit (or Buddha's hand), orange, tangerine; red persimmon or apple, chili; white rose apple, plum, peach or pear; sapodilla (sapôchê) or black grape, mangosteen, black plum.

The traditional way of presentation is to place the banana bunch at the bottom, in the middle to support all the other fruits. A beautiful fruit tray is a fruit tray with a variety of bright colors. In the middle of the dark green banana bunch is a plump grapefruit or a ripe golden Buddha's hand fruit.

Ripe red fruits are placed around. The gaps are interspersed with yellow tangerines, green apples or plump red peppers, completing the final decorative touches.

Traditional fruit tray with 5 types of fruit, odd number of fruits represents fertility, growth, and development. Illustration photo.

Unlike the Northerners, in the South, the five-fruit tray usually consists of: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango, fig, which are mispronounced as "cầu giá rẻ giá" or "cầu giá rẻ sung". Because the pronunciation is similar to the word "chúi" (expressing danger), bananas are a fruit that never appear on the ancestral offering tray of the Southerners. Also because of the saying: "Cam làm quýt bịu" (the orange makes the fruit), the Southerners do not display oranges on the five-fruit tray on Tet holiday.

In the Central region, people are not too concerned with the form or meaning of the fruit tray, but mainly offer whatever they have, sincerely paying respect to their ancestors.

On the other hand, the Central people, due to the cultural exchange between the North and the South, still display a full tray of five fruits: bananas, custard apples, figs, coconuts, papayas, mangoes...

The meaning of some fruits in the Tet fruit tray

Pear (or honey): sweet taste implies everything goes smoothly.

Pomegranate: many seeds symbolize many children and grandchildren.

Peach: represents advancement.

Mai: happy, not lonely.

Buddha's hand fruit: like Buddha's hand, always protecting human fate.

Apple: means wealth.

Pink, tangerine: symbolize success.

Azure dragon (dragon and cloud converging) represents prosperity and wealth.

Grapefruit, watermelon: plump, cool, promises sweetness and luck.

A bunch of green bananas like an open hand: receiving luck, protection and shelter.

Chicken egg (or Le-ki-ma) like peach: gift from heaven.

Fig: associated with the symbol of abundance in health and money.

Papaya: brings prosperity and abundance.

Mango sounds similar to "spend": to pray for no shortage of spending.

Nowadays, fruits are more and more abundant. Therefore, the tray of five fruits can become ten fruits, however, the name: "five fruits" has penetrated deeply into the subconscious and spirituality of Vietnamese people for generations.

Why five fruits?

Five, the number 5, is the central number. It is found in the middle section of the Luo Shu. The original form of the character “five” is a cross of the four elements, plus a central point. Later, two parallel lines were inserted there, representing heaven and earth, between which yin and yang create the five elements that interact and produce and destroy all things, called the five elements.

According to the ancient concept popular in the area influenced by Chinese culture, it is often assumed that the common rules are all included in the number 5. In the Great Dictionary, “five” has up to twelve meanings and one thousand one hundred and forty-eight compound words combined with it. Commonly, we have five directions (East, West, South, North and Central), five colors, five flavors, five sounds, five organs, five metals, five senses, five relationships, five grains, etc. Thus, the number 5 is a general expression of life and here “five fruits” itself symbolizes a set considered to be complete of the type of offering that is fruit.

For agricultural residents, cereals (sticky rice, rice, beans, barley, millet) are the main food and five fruits (fruits in general) are secondary. Therefore, according to Chiem Thu, people often observe the good or bad of the following "five fruits" to predict the good harvest of cereals: 1) Plum is the main source of beans; 2) Hanh is the main source of wheat; 3) Peach is the main source of wheat; 4) Lat (chestnut) is the main source of sticky rice; 5) Tao (apple) is the main source of rice. According to the belief that has become a popular custom among the people, the above "five fruits" may be the "standard" of the five fruits used as offerings because any offering can be a way to express the wishes of the offerer. Here, for ancient farmers, the greatest wish was a good harvest of cereals.

According to giadinh.net