Happy and warm spring in the highlands of Nghe An

On the days before Tet, temporarily putting aside their farming work, the Tho ethnic people in Quy Hop district gather at the market to shop for the Spring. The Spring atmosphere is everywhere, making the year-end markets in the highlands more bustling than ever.

For the Tho people, dishes with traditional Tet flavors are always prepared neatly and fully. First, to worship ancestors, hoping that ancestors will bless their descendants with a new year of warmth, prosperity and happiness, and then for the family to gather and reunite for a reunion meal.

Mrs. Truong Thi Thong, in Coc Mam hamlet, Tho Hop commune (Quy Hop), and her children are busy preparing to cook banh chung to celebrate the traditional Tet holiday after a year of favorable business. Last year, thanks to a bumper crop, her family saved money from growing sugarcane and acacia; her children went to school; the house was renovated and tidy. This is also the reason her family prepared offerings to thank the gods and welcome a peaceful spring.

In addition to banh chung, Mrs. Thong's family also wraps croissant cakes (similar to banh ú), cooks sticky rice, and prepares soup for the whole family to gather and entertain guests during the first days of the new year.

“The croissant is cooked together with the pot of banh chung on Tet holiday. On the afternoon of the 30th of Tet, the cake is placed on the ancestral altar, the most solemn place. The croissant is only taken off the altar on the evening of the first day of summer. This year, I made more traditional dishes to treat relatives who come to visit, so all the ingredients were prepared by the family in advance,” Ms. Thong confided.

Not only the Tho ethnic group in Quy Hop district, the cuisine during Tet of people in the highland districts of Nghe An is also very typical. On Tet, people often prepare delicious sticky rice to steam sticky rice and wrap cakes. Tet worship cannot lack chicken, sticky rice, green square cakes. In addition, they also prepare many delicious dishes from pork, chicken and home-grown vegetables such as: pork hung in the kitchen, sour bamboo soup, steamed pumpkin, pickled cucumbers in bamboo tubes... In the village, every house has its own pot to make wine. Wine made from yeast leaves is made by the people themselves.

Ms. Vi Thi Khuyen, a resident of Hoa Tien village, Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, shared: “The banh chung and xoi offered to our ancestors during Tet are all selected from Cu Phang sticky rice made by our family, because this type of sticky rice is very fragrant and sticky. In addition to using this product during holidays and Tet, we also give it as gifts to distinguished guests.”

In addition to carefully preparing dishes, the people of the highlands also maintain their traditional customs on the Lunar New Year with unique and characteristic features, containing many profound cultural and humanistic values. During the Spring Festival, the Thai, Tho and Mong people wear traditional costumes and participate in folk games such as tug of war, stick pushing, spinning tops, spinning tops, carving beds, throwing con and singing xuoi and singing lam. These folk songs are inspired by the working, production and living life of the people, or tell stories about legendary heroes. This is an indispensable custom during these days.

Tet is an occasion for reunion and gathering. People in the highlands of Nghe An are busy exchanging best wishes. They pray for a new year of peace, prosperity, and sustainable development so that each village and each family can have a warmer Tet./.