Hanoi (VNA) – The “Ong Cong, Ong Tao” (Land Genie andKitchen Gods) worshipping ritual, held on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month,which falls on February 2 this year, is also considered the start of the LunarNew Year (Tet) festival - the biggest and most important traditional holidays of Vietnamese people.

Worshipping Land Genie and Kitchen Gods is a long-standingcustom of great significance as it symbolises the farewell to all bad things ofthe old year to help people relaxedly enter a new year of peace and happiness.

As the legend goes, “Ong Cong” (Land Genie) is the one incharge of land while “Ong Tao” (Kitchen Gods), consisting of two males and onefemale, are those who keep a watch over kitchen affairs of a family. They takenote of a family’s issues in a year and will ride carps back to the Heaven onthe 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to report all the good and bad things ofthat family to the God of Heaven.

Given this, Vietnamese people believe that the Land Genieand Kitchen Gods are decisive to the good or bad luck and blessing for theirfamilies.

Besides, people also view the image of a carp swimming upstream and thenleaping over the falls to turn into a dragon as a symbol of steadfastness insurmounting challenges to secure success.

Wishing for good luck in the new year, people hold a ceremony on the 23rd dayof the 12th lunar month to send off the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods to theHeaven. Rituals are not necessarily complicated but need to be solemn and showthe family’s sincerity.

Rituals and offerings vary according to regions. Typically,apart from lamps, incense, votive papers, fresh flowers, and a five-fruit tray,there is also a tray of traditional dishes such as steamed sticky rice,chicken, pork pie, fried spring rolls, and bamboo shoot soup. However,depending on each family’s conditions, people can also prepare vegetariandishes as offerings.

The offerings also include a set of votive paper clothes and, especially,golden carps - the “vehicle” for the gods to return to the Heaven. People oftenprepare two or three live carps and then release them into a river or lakeafter the worshipping ritual with the belief that the fish will carry the Godsto the Heaven. Nowadays, live carps can also be replaced with paper ones, whichwill be burned together with other paper offerings after the ritual.

The worshipping ceremony is conventionally held at any timesfrom the noon of the 22nd day of the 12th lunar month to the noon of the nextday because people believe the Gods will leave for the Heaven after midday andthus, if the ritual is conducted after that, they would be unable to receiveofferings.

With the appropriate practice of the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods worship,people can help uphold and pass down traditional cultural values in the modernlife./.