Offering tray for the full moon of the seventh lunar month.

Offering tray for the "atonement for the deceased" ceremony. Photo: Illustration.

1. As the Vu Lan season passes, the air is filled with the fragrant scent of ripe persimmons hanging on the trees. People in Quang Nam province are busy cleaning their altars and preparing offerings for the full moon festival. Perhaps due to the influence of Buddhism, people in Quang Nam often consider the full moon of the seventh lunar month as the Vu Lan festival, a time to show filial piety to their ancestors, and therefore usually hold ceremonies at temples.

Each family prepares a vegetarian meal and displays a plate of five kinds of fruit to offer to Buddha and their ancestors, instead of offering meat dishes like in some areas of Northern Vietnam.

In the past, the offering meal for the 15th day of the seventh lunar month was imbued with the rustic charm of the countryside. Rural mothers always followed the recipe: besides white rice, the offering meal had to include a soup, a stew, a stir-fry, and a boiled dish… Of course, the familiar sticky rice and sweet soup were indispensable on the offering tray for the 1st and 15th of each lunar month.

In July, autumn often brings afternoon rains that water the vegetable beds and gourd vines in the home gardens. Country mothers then harvest these vegetables and cook them into pure vegetarian dishes to offer to their ancestors.

A bowl of fragrant gourd soup with sweet straw mushrooms. Stir-fried long beans, green beans, or morning glory flowers with golden-fried tofu. A pot of young jackfruit stewed in soy sauce, imbued with a meditative aroma; a plate of boiled sweet potato leaves, a vibrant green... Just these few items, yet the vegetarian offerings to ancestors during the Vu Lan festival in the old days created a culinary tradition steeped in rustic charm.

Nowadays, life is very different from the past, so the offerings for the Mid-Autumn Festival are no longer as simple as before. Vegetarian dishes, cooked with imported ingredients or processed industrially, have become much more diverse, attractive, and luxurious.

Even if the homeowner is too busy to cook, they can simply make a phone call and a restaurant will deliver the food right to their door, along with instructions for the offerings.

I know it's convenient, saving time in the kitchen… but I still miss the days when I gathered with my grandmother and mother in the small kitchen, cooking and arranging a pure vegetarian meal to offer them!

2. Many people mistakenly believe that the Vu Lan festival is also the day of atonement for the deceased. Although both have their main festival on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, their meanings are completely different.

While many regions in the North focus on the ritual of offering sacrifices to the deceased on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, in the South, this is considered the Vu Lan festival, a day to show filial piety.

Perhaps because they are located at opposite ends of the country, in Quang Nam , on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, in addition to the vegetarian offerings on the altar for Buddha and ancestors, a separate offering is set aside in the yard to worship the deceased.

There are many legends surrounding the "Day of Atonement for Deceased Souls" or "Month of Hungry Ghosts," so the offerings are also very special. People usually cook very thin white rice porridge (rice porridge with flowers) and put it in a large bowl, sticking several spoons into it and placing it in the middle of the offering tray. Meanwhile, in some northern regions, they often scoop the porridge and spread it on banyan leaves so that the spirits can easily partake of the offerings.

In addition, the offering tray cannot be without sweet potatoes, cassava, candies, popcorn, rice, salt, and votive paper money. These are practical items, in large quantities, to easily provide for many needy and destitute souls.

After the offering ceremony, all the items are scattered at a crossroads. According to the naive beliefs of the ancients, crossroads are places where many people pass by, and therefore many wandering spirits are likely to be present…

Sometimes, sweets and offerings for hungry ghosts become the meals of the poor and homeless. Many who later became successful recounted their impoverished childhoods, when they used offerings for hungry ghosts to survive...

The custom of offering sacrifices to wandering souls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month has always been highly regarded by the people of Quang Nam province as an integral part of their spiritual life. It can be seen as a tradition imbued with humanity, brotherhood, and the full meaning of a folk festival with a national character.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/mam-cung-ram-thang-bay-3139705.html