Ca Dong people in Cao Son gather to wrap snail cakes
Late in the afternoon, after a day of working in the fields, people in Cao Son cultural village (Tra Son commune, Bac Tra My district) gathered at Mr. Ho Thanh Hung's house to wrap snail cakes to prepare to treat the group of guests visiting the village.
At Mr. Hung’s house, his wife, children, grandchildren gathered in the space to prepare ingredients such as upland rice, dong leaves, string, etc. They took the opportunity to give more instructions to the children while waiting for the villagers to come wrap the cakes. Each person had a job, everyone wanted to wrap the most delicious and beautiful snail cakes to bring to the village cultural house to entertain guests at dinner and enjoy gong dances.
New upland rice, dong leaves, and bamboo strings are indispensable ingredients for wrapping snail cakes.
Mr. Hung said that the custom of wrapping snail cakes usually takes place during the harvest festival, buffalo stabbing and thunder worship. The Ca Dong people in Cao Son believe that when the harvest ends and they celebrate the new rice, if a house has a lot of snail cakes, it proves that the harvest has been bountiful.
To celebrate Tet, each Ca Dong family prepares an offering tray to inform and ask the rice god (Mo pe). After the ceremony is performed, women in the families will put sticky rice in bamboo tubes to grill, wrap and cook various types of dong leaf cakes such as snail cakes, long cakes, and flat cakes.
Snail cake is wrapped entirely from new upland rice.
The ingredients for making the cake are completely from new upland rice. When wrapping the cake, skillfully roll the leaves tightly, hold the edges of the leaves tightly and roll them into a pyramid shape. Pour in the rice until it is full, then tie it tightly with string into jars or individually.
It usually takes about 10-12 hours to cook the cake. Every time there is a snail cake wrapping event, villagers gather at each house to wrap, cook and chat all night long, keeping watch over the fire to keep the cake warm, waiting for it to be cooked. Once one family finishes wrapping, they go to help wrap the cake for another family.
To make delicious cakes, the ingredients are carefully selected, made entirely from newly harvested upland rice, pounded, cleaned and soaked for several hours. The leaves used to wrap the cake must be of the right size, not too young or too old, so that when boiled, the cake will have a yellow color, the leaves used to wrap the cake on the outside will still have a beautiful yellowish green color, with the fragrant blend of new upland rice and dong leaves.
When eating, skillfully peel off each layer of leaves, the cake is eaten with sesame salt to create the characteristic flavor of the traditional cake, rustic and simple like the way of life of the people, creating a unique feature in the culinary culture of the Ca Dong people here.
Skillfully shape the leaves and then fill the leaf package with rice.
Mr. Hung excitedly showed guests how to wrap snail cakes and told them about the customs, lifestyle, and typical cuisine of the Ca Dong people.
One of the traditional festivals of the Ca Dong people in Bac Tra My district that many tourists love to experience and explore is Tet mua. Tet mua, in Ca Dong language is "pai - ố" (Pai means to make wine; ố means to drink) is the biggest traditional Tet for the Ca Dong people to express their respect to heaven, earth, gods, and ancestors, and is an occasion for families and neighbors to gather and share the joys and sorrows of the year. Depending on whether the rice crop is good or bad, the Ca Dong people celebrate Tet mua big or small. As seen from the snail cake dish, whichever family has a good harvest, the snail cake tray will be full and complete.
Snail cake is an indispensable dish during Tet and festivals of the Ca Dong people.
"It has become a custom that every time the harvest is finished, during the Tet holiday, buffalo stabbing and thunder worshiping ceremonies, harvest festivals, or when a family in the village has an event or has distinguished guests, the whole village gathers to wrap cakes, chat, eat, and dance traditional dances to interact with each other," Mr. Hung shared.
Khanh Chi
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