Offerings for Independence Day

(Baonghean)The offering tray is an indispensable part of every family in Muong Choong on the occasion of Independence Day (September 2) every year. On the afternoon of September 1, all families in Muong Choong prepare the offering tray.

Unlike the offerings during Tet in many other places, the offerings on Independence Day of all families in Muong Choong are displayed the same. It has been the same for many years, and it is still the same today, regardless of whether the family is rich or poor, the offerings on the altar only include sticky rice, chicken and Ho Moc.

In the middle of the offering tray, there was a sticky rice press. Only a small sticky rice press was offered, but it contained sincere hearts. Several months before the Independence Day, mothers and sisters had been busy finding plump rice in their fields, then drying it, then pounding it by hand to make the sticky rice whole and round. The sticky rice was steamed with a wooden stick, it had to be a wooden stick made by skillful people in the village from the trunk of the Coi tree that grew abundantly along the Nam Choong River.



Muong Choong's Ho Moc and Com Lam.

Soaked in sweat and filled with sincere hearts, that's why the sticky rice on the offering tray in Muong Choong when cooked is plump and sticky, with the unmistakable flavor of upland sticky rice. Nowadays, people no longer pound rice by hand, many families buy sticky rice to make offerings, but as always, the sticky rice chosen to make offerings is the best sticky rice from the market.

Chickens for offerings are usually selected and "chosen" in advance from young chickens in the family's flock. Being "hill chickens", the meat is delicious and firm. The chicken is prepared very carefully, then boiled and placed whole on the offering tray.

Another indispensable dish on the offering tray is the Ho Moc dish. Ho Moc is made from the main ingredients including rice flour, chicken meat and young banana tree pulp. The rice is soaked, drained and pounded with a hand pestle into flour. The rice must be soaked and pounded by hand to get the essence of Ho Moc, otherwise, if the rice flour is pounded with a machine, it will no longer be Ho Moc. The banana used to make Ho Moc must be young banana trees growing in the forest, the skin removed, only the inner core is taken, chopped, all the fibers removed and squeezed to remove the water. The chicken or duck is butchered and the bones removed, only the meat is taken and chopped. Mix the rice flour, banana pulp, meat and blood (chicken or duck), add Doi seed powder and some other spices. Put everything in banana leaves or dong leaves, wrap it up and put it in a pot until cooked, and then you get Ho Moc. The main ingredients are like that, but depending on the mixing ratio and the spice composition, each family's Ho Moc of Muong Choong has its own unique flavor.

The Independence Day offerings in Muong Choong have remained the same for many years. That much, but it contains a unique cultural feature of people who love their homeland, are completely loyal and very sincere to this place.

Cao Duy Thai