The Kitchen God Day in Vietnam

We, the Vietnamese, always value the true essence of cultural traditions passed on from our ancestors. Before the Lunar New Year, people across the country celebrated the Kitchen Gods’ Day (Tet Tao Quan) on the 23rd day of the last month according to Lunar Calendar. This day came from an interesting story that you might not know. It is about the Kitchen Gods (Ong Cong, Ong Tao) and how their carps can mysteriously and magically turn into the dragons.
In my long and scattered pieces of memories, though not shown in a detailed way, it is still clear enough for me to have a retrospect of an old story about the Kitchen Gods (Ong Cong, Ong Tao) told by my grandmother under the light of a stunning fire in our very own small kitchen.

As our culture and perspective are partly but greatly affected by Chinese cultural beliefs, the story, for that reason, owns its origin to that of China about the Kitchen God, God of the Soil and Household God or also known as the legend of “two men and a woman” in Vietnamese understanding. The story begins with a woman named Thị Nhi and her husband Trọng Cao. Not long after their happy marriage, they found out that they could not have a child. This made Trọng Cao so angry that he hit Nhi badly and then cast her out of the house. Sadly leaving in pain, Nhi wandered day by day until she arrived at another land where she met her second destined lover, Phạm Lang. Meanwhile, Trọng Cao, for being too ashamed and regretful of his precarious action, decided to pack his back and got on the way to find his dear wife without knowing that Nhi was someone else’s bride. Until a day when the searching seemed to end hopelessly for the exhaustion of both money and groceries, Trọng Cao finally found Nhi’s house. For the appreciation of one-time sentiment and respect for her ex-husband, Nhi invited Trọng Cao in, greeted him warmly and gave him food. Unluckily, Phạm Lang just returned home. Afraid of being exposed, Nhi quickly hid Trọng Cao in a pile of straw in the garden at the back of the house. Unfortunately, Phạm Lang suddenly fired the straw to make fertilizer for his land. Nhi was frightened and jumped into the fire to save Trọng Cao. Seeing his wife in the fire, Phạm Lang, without thinking, also jumped into the fire to save her.

The story ended in the everlasting burning fire where the three people would be forever together without worrying about this mundane life. However, in the heaven, for wanting their death and sacrifice to be worthwhile and memorable, the Heaven’s King decided to promote them from human to Gods: Whereas Phạm Lang is the Kitchen God in charge of the cooking, Thị Nhi is the Household God taking care of shopping for groceries in the house and Trọng Cao is the God of the Soil responsible for land and farming. These Gods will later be the supervisors over every household, bringing happiness, luck, prosperity and they even protect every family from evil spirits. Traditionally, near the end of the year on 23^rd of January to the Moon Calendar, the three Gods will make a trip which usually lasts for 7 days to Heaven to report the King about the good and bad things that occur around the life of the family. The occasion is also a significant draw in Vietnamese people’s mindset of cultural tradition. Usually, most of the Vietnamese will celebrate the day formally with good food prepared for the Gods to pray for happiness and prosperity and hope that these wishes will soon come true in the new year.

While according to Chinese legend, the Gods’ “vehicles” are horses, their main transports, according to Vietnamese regard, are carps. This explains why the Kitchen God day, which to celebrate and say farewell to the Gods, varies quite greatly from China to Vietnam. Whereas back in the day in China, they would feed the horses and carefully took care of them in the hope that their Gods would have a safe trip to Heaven; in Vietnam, we usually have a sub-day called fish-setting-free day to see out the creature that will take the Gods to Heaven. In the thought that has been formed and carved from the pre-existing generations, the legend of carp turning into a dragon has a certain importance of meaning. Partly because Vietnamese culture is severely affected by Chinese perception, abstract ideas or so-called imaginary legends. The transformation of a carp into a dragon refers to the Vietnamese’ sublimation, constancy, and willingness to overcome the hardships and obstacles to achieve a better life. That is why this tradition has soon become a cultural beauty of our country.

Tết is indeed the time for family and the moment when true core value of cultural tradition is highly rated and appreciated. That is why Vietnamese people will treasure each of these moments when we are still living and breathing in the Spring of another Lunar New Year that is about to come.