The unique rice-cooking competition in Thi Cam village.

Legend has it that during the reign of the 18th Hung King, when the country was invaded by foreign enemies, General Phan Tay Nhac was entrusted by the King to lead the army to fight the invaders. General Phan Tay Nhac obeyed the King's orders, received his full complement of troops, and diligently trained his soldiers day and night. The march was urgent, and if the soldiers didn't eat properly, they would lack the strength to pursue the enemy. He devised a plan to organize cooking competitions with prizes within the army to quickly establish a skilled culinary support force.

After defeating the enemy, General Phan Tay Nhac and his wife, Hoa Dung, returned to live in Thi Cam, teaching the villagers how to cultivate mulberry trees, raise silkworms, and weave cloth.

After his death, he was revered by the people as the village's tutelary deity. To commemorate his contributions, the people of Thi Cam village hold a festival on the 8th day of the first lunar month every year. The most unique feature is the rice-cooking competition, recreating the scene of the competition held by the talented general in the past.

The ancient village of Thi Cam had four hamlets, each sending a team to compete in a rice-cooking contest. Before the competition, the teams prepared the necessary items such as pestles, mortars, straw, pots, etc. Each team was given 1kg of rice by the organizing committee to cook. On March 9, 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 827/QD-BVHTTDL announcing the traditional festival - Thi Cam Rice Cooking Contest - as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Images from the rice cooking competition in Thi Cam village on the morning of February 17th.

The competition still retains the old method of making fire by "pulling the fire." People take two bamboo sticks, clamp them between tinder, and use two bamboo sticks to hold one piece on top and one piece underneath, securing both ends. Then, two people pull the sticks repeatedly, causing the bamboo strips to rub against the bamboo strips, creating friction. When smoke rises, they stop and blow on the fire to make it flare up, then use this fire to cook rice.

At exactly 11:00 AM, the competition began with a fire-making ritual involving pre-prepared tinder, straw, sections of old male bamboo with small grooves drilled into them, and a double-ended bamboo stick. Four team members would take turns holding and pulling the sticks, creating friction between the bamboo and the bamboo sections. When the friction reached a sufficient point of heat, it would create glowing embers that ignited the tinder, burning the dry straw.

According to the rules, the team that produces smoke and creates a fire first wins this part of the competition. Additionally, each team nominated a person carrying a copper pot to run to the Nhuệ River to fetch water for cooking rice at the same time as lighting the fire. However, for many years, to ensure safety, the water had to be taken from the river and boiled beforehand.

Meanwhile, the teams competed to pound the rice grains using wooden pestles and stone mortars. From the start to the end of the pounding process, only an hour passed, so all the competition parts were completed very quickly. The 10 participants in each team had to coordinate very smoothly and skillfully.

The fire was lit and water was boiled in advance, waiting for the rice to be cleaned.

Meanwhile, the rice grains were pounded by the competing teams using wooden pestles and stone mortars...

... will be handed over to the women who will sift, pick out stones, and wash the rice to remove the husks before cooking it over a fire freshly created by their comrades.

The perfectly round grains of rice were carefully picked by members of the participating teams.

The rice is washed thoroughly and cooked immediately afterward.

After the rice boils, the teams usually cover it with rice straw ash for about 20 minutes to ensure it cooks evenly.

Besides the piles of ashes used to bury rice pots, the teams also burned many fake piles of ashes that contained no rice pots.

This is intended to buy time for the judges so that their team's rice pot has more time to simmer.

After about half an hour, the judges walked around the yard, using bamboo sticks to poke at each pile of straw in search of the four rice pots.

The first rice pots were found in the piles of ashes burned in the courtyard of Thi Cam communal house.

The rice was then brought into the village communal house for public judging in front of the villagers and members of the participating teams.

The four teams cooked evenly-grained, fragrant white rice at the Thi Cam Village Rice Cooking Competition.

'The King Plows the Fields' in the Tich Dien Festival at the beginning of the year . The Tich Dien Festival in Ha Nam, held annually, has become a beautiful aspect of community cultural life because it is a festival rich in humanistic values ​​and deeply promotes agriculture.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/doc-dao-hoi-thoi-com-thi-lang-thi-cam-2249950.html