Tet holiday, talking about banh chung and banh tet

(Baonghean) -Banh chung and banh tet are traditional dishes of the nation. There are many folk legends, many scholars, cultural researchers explain differently about the meaning. Personally, I am very interested in the legend from the time of the 6th Hung King, about the food making competition to choose the person to become king.

Legend has it that: Right after defeating the An invaders, King Hung wanted to pass the throne to his son. At the beginning of spring, the king held a festival for his sons and said: "Whoever can find delicious food to serve and has good meaning, I will pass the throne to him". The Langs (King Hung's sons) competed to make strange dishes from rare and precious ingredients from all over the world. King Hung's 18th son, Lang Lieu, was kind and filial, and made banh chung and banh day. As a result, his father chose him to give up the throne. Lang Lieu's talent and heart was to know how to use commonly available ingredients such as leaves, sticky rice, green beans, pork... to make dishes, which contained a whole agricultural civilization of wet rice, with profound meaning as offerings to ancestors and heaven and earth.

During the holidays in the North, the most popular are banh chung and banh day. Some people believe that banh chung is square to symbolize the earth, the yin, for the mother. Banh day is round to symbolize the sky, the yang, for the father. In the South, banh tet is chosen to replace banh chung. Some people explain that this is due to the integration of many different cultures, especially Cham culture with the "Fertility" belief, so banh tet has the image of a Linga, a symbol of vitality, longevity, strength... But there is another concept that banh tet is actually the original banh chung of the ancient Vietnamese, preserved in the South. In the Central region, there are both banh chung and banh tet. Since 1802, after the country was unified under King Gia Long, there began to be a combination of the traditional culture of the North and the rich new culture of the new land of the South. Especially in Thua Thien Hue, in the pot of banh tet there are always 2 types, both banh chung and banh tet.

To make banh chung, whether in the North or the Central region, the ingredients are still the same, such as dong leaves or banana leaves, sticky rice, green beans, pork... Banh chung in the North has many fillings and is large. Banh chung in the Central region has less fillings, is smaller and is usually tied one up and one face up together in pairs. The ingredients of traditional banh tet are basically the same as banh chung. But later on, there were many changes, such as adding five-color banh tet, banh tet with banana filling, banh tet with coconut filling, banh tet with dried shrimp and Chinese sausage filling... or sometimes banh tet without filling. In the North, banh chung is now a daily gift item, however banh chung is still a specialty in festival meals, death anniversaries, and Tet. In the South, banh tet, in addition to being used to worship ancestors during Tet, is also used as a gift for relatives, usually two are tied together with a handle. In the Central region, people use both banh chung and banh tet to worship their ancestors, but do not use banh tet as a gift during the first days of the year, because the name "don banh tet" sounds like a whip.

In the royal court, only banh chung was allowed to be offered, not banh tet. Because the shape and name of banh tet were considered inelegant.

Peace