Thousands of people surrounded the courtyard of Thi Cam village communal house to watch the fire-blowing and rice-cooking competition.

On the morning of February 5 (January 8), people of Thi Cam village (Xuan Phuong, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi ) crowded together to fill the communal house yard to watch the Thi Cam village rice cooking contest. Thi Cam village (now in Xuan Phuong ward, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi) held a rice cooking contest to pay tribute to General Phan Tay Nhac, a general from the Hung King era who contributed to the country.

According to legend, during the reign of the 18th Hung King, when the country was in danger of foreign invasion, General Phan Tay Nhac was assigned by the Hung King to lead the army to fight the enemy. General Phan Tay Nhac received the king's order, received the full number of troops and urgently trained the soldiers day and night. The march was urgent, if the soldiers did not eat on time, it would be difficult to have the strength to chase the enemy. He thought of a way to organize a cooking competition with prizes right in the army to quickly stabilize the logistics army that was good at cooking.

After defeating the enemy, General Phan Tay Nhac and his wife Hoa Dung returned to live in Thi Cam, teaching the villagers how to grow mulberry, raise silkworms, and weave cloth. After his death, he was worshiped by the people as the village's tutelary god. To commemorate his merits, the people of Thi Cam village hold a festival on the 8th day of the first lunar month every year. The most unique of these is the rice-cooking competition, reenacting the scene of the talented general's competition in the past.

At exactly 11am, the competition was held with the fire pulling ritual taking place with prepared tinder and straw, old male bamboo with small slits drilled and a bamboo stick with handles on both ends. 4 people in the team will divide up to hold and pull, creating friction between the bamboo stick and the bamboo body. The friction point will be hot enough to create red hot coals and ignite the tinder, burning the dry straw.

According to the rules of the competition, the team that makes smoke and creates fire first will win this competition. In addition, the teams sent a person holding a bronze pot to compete in running to the Nhue River to get water to cook rice at the same time as the fire was being lit.

The other members boiled the pot of water before adding the rice. The competition was very urgent because the teams only had about 30 minutes from starting the fire until the rice was cooked.

The competition attracted a lot of people to watch and cheer on the four competing teams.

After finding 4 pots of rice, the judges will scoop them into bowls to offer to the village guardian spirit. After the first prize pot of rice of team 4 is announced, people rush to grab a handful of rice to eat for good luck in the new year.

Referee - Tienphong.vn

Source: https://tienphong.vn/hang-nghin-nguoi-vay-kin-san-dinh-lang-thi-cam-xem-thi-thoi-lua-nau-com-post1714513.tpo