Suggestions for vegetarian offerings on the Duan Ngo Festival
Every Duanwu Festival, Vietnamese people are busy preparing a suitable offering tray for their ancestors to kill insects. The following suggestions will help you have more options for a vegetarian offering tray in your family.
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| Rice wine:Every Duanwu Festival, stalls selling sticky rice wine are bustling with people buying to worship their ancestors. For a long time, Vietnamese people believed that eating sticky rice wine on an empty stomach would make the "bugs" in their bodies drunk and disappear. The unique customs of Vietnamese people make each region have different versions of sticky rice wine. |
Northerners often make rice wine from black sticky rice, fermenting it with a special recipe to create its own flavor. In the South, people roll the rice wine into balls and enjoy it. The general meaning of eating rice wine and black sticky rice is to kill insects and prevent epidemics. They will prepare clean bowls of rice wine to worship their ancestors with fruits. |
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| Molasses cake:The hot weather of the 5th lunar month has long made people choose cool dishes for the Duanwu Festival. Banh gio (or banh tro) made from sticky rice, sugar and molasses has always been present on the Vietnamese people's offerings since then. People often eat the cake when it is cold to feel the cool, sweet taste with the effect of easy digestion, cooling and detoxification. |
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| Sweet rice dumplings:Desserts and snacks are indispensable for Southern people every time of the Dragon Boat Festival. Traditional or colorful green bean dumplings are served with warm ginger syrup. The dish has a strong ginger flavor and the richness of the coconut milk served with it, similar to the Northerners' dumplings. |
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| Early season fruits:Depending on their preferences, housewives in different regions will choose fruits that are in season during the fifth lunar month. For people in the North, fruits that are often present on the ancestral altar are plums, guavas, peaches, apples or lychees... The diversity of imported fruits today also helps families have more beautiful arrangements to welcome the Doan Ngo Festival. |
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| For business people or busy working people, they often prepare fruit offerings for the Duanwu Festival quite simply with plums, guavas and a cup of pre-bought sticky rice wine. Depending on personal preferences and time, you can celebrate the traditional insect extermination day with different types of food while still keeping the full meaning. |
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| Ash cake:If Northerners have banh gio, Southerners often offer banh ú tro every Doan Ngo festival. The cake is made from sticky rice cooked with ash water, filled with mung beans and has a pyramid shape. Wrapped in bamboo leaves, the cake has a rich taste and a light aroma. Every Doan Ngo festival, Southerners are busy making or buying banh ú packages to burn incense and give as gifts to relatives. |
