Origin and meaning of Ong Cong Ong Tao Festival

Every year, on the 23rd of December, when the spring atmosphere is bustling across the country, Vietnamese people prepare offerings to send the Kitchen Gods to heaven (Kitchen God Tet, Kitchen God Tet...). This is a unique cultural feature of the Vietnamese people that has been passed down through generations.

The story of Ong Cong Ong Tao Day

The Kitchen God in Vietnamese folk beliefs originated from the three gods Tho Cong, Tho Dia, Tho Ky of Chinese Taoism. But it was Vietnamized into the legend of "2 men and 1 woman" - the Earth God, the House God, the Kitchen God. However, people still commonly call them Tao Quan or Ong Tao.

According to Vietnamese legend, Thi Nhi had a husband named Trong Cao. Although they lived together in love, they had no children. Therefore, Trong Cao gradually started to pick fights and torment his wife.

One day, just because of a small matter, Cao made a big deal out of it, beat Thi Nhi and chased her away. Nhi left home, wandered to another country and then met Pham Lang. Falling in love, the two became husband and wife. As for Trong Cao, after calming down, he was very regretful, but his wife had already left far away. Feeling remorseful and missing her terribly, Cao set out to find his wife.

Day after day, month after month, searching forever, out of rice and money, Cao had to become a beggar along the road. Finally, fortunately for Cao, he happened to beg at Nhi's house, at the time Pham Lang was away. Nhi soon realized that the beggar was her ex-husband. She invited him in, cooked rice and invited Cao. At that moment, Pham Lang returned. Nhi was afraid that her husband would wrongly suspect her, so she hid Cao under a pile of straw in the back garden.

Unfortunately, that night, Pham Lang set fire to the straw pile to get ash to fertilize the field. Seeing the fire, Nhi jumped in to save Cao. Seeing Nhi jump into the fire, Pham Lang, out of pity for his wife, jumped in too. All three died in the fire.

Offerings to the Kitchen Gods.

God took pity on the three people and saw that they lived a life of kindness and love, so he appointed them as Kitchen Gods, also known as Dinh Phuc Tao Quan, and assigned the new husband, Tho Cong, to look after the kitchen, the old husband, Tho Dia, to look after the house, and the wife, Tho Ky, to look after the market. Not only determining the luck and misfortune of the homeowner, the Tao gods also prevent the invasion of evil spirits into the land, keeping peace for everyone in the house.

Every year, on the 23rd of December, the Kitchen Gods go to heaven to report all the good and bad deeds of people during the year so that Heaven can decide on merits and sins, and reward and punish all humans fairly.

Vietnamese people believe that the three Kitchen Gods (or Kitchen Kings) determine the good and bad fortunes and blessings of a family, and these blessings are determined by the moral actions of the homeowner and his family members. With the hope that the Kitchen Gods will "bless" their families with good luck, every year on Tet, on the 23rd of December, people often solemnly hold a ceremony to send the Kitchen Gods off to heaven.

The offering tray for the Kitchen Gods will include three sets of votive offerings, two sets of men representing the two male Kitchen Gods and one set of women representing the female Kitchen Gods. The Kitchen Gods' altar is placed in the most solemn place, on which is a memorial tablet written in Chinese characters. In addition, there are other votive offerings, incense, flowers, cakes, fruits, areca nuts, and betel. A tray of offerings is carefully and fully prepared. The "votive offerings" will be burned after the Kitchen Gods' worship ceremony on the 23rd of December along with the old memorial tablet. Then people will set up a new memorial tablet for the Kitchen Gods. After worshiping the Kitchen Gods, people will burn the votive offerings.

According to legend, "Every year, the Kitchen God is sent down to earth by God to monitor and record the good and evil deeds of mankind. Then, on the 23rd day of every year, the Kitchen God rides a carp and transforms into a dragon to Heaven to report all the good and bad deeds of mankind in a year so that Heaven can decide on merits and sins, and reward and punish all mankind fairly."

Therefore, every Tet holiday of Ong Cong Ong Tao, Vietnamese people hold a ceremony to worship carp. People often prepare a pair or three live carp, put them in a basin of water, and offer them with other offerings. After the ceremony, they will release them into rivers, ponds, or lakes, meaning "releasing life" to send Ong Tao to heaven.

The meaning of the custom of releasing carp

According to legend, carp is the only vehicle that can take the Kitchen Gods to heaven. Therefore, on this day, after the ceremony, families offer carp and then release it into the river or pond, implying "the fish will turn into a dragon", meaning the fish will turn into a dragon, pass the Dragon Gate, and become a vehicle for the Kitchen Gods to ride to heaven.

In addition, in the Vietnamese mind, "fish jumping over the Dragon Gate" or "carp transforming into a dragon" also carries the meaning of sublimation, symbolizing the spirit of overcoming difficulties, perseverance, and determination to conquer knowledge to achieve success, symbolizing a hidden noble personality or aiming for a good result.

Releasing carp on the occasion of the Kitchen Gods' Festival is not only a beautiful cultural feature, but also demonstrates the precious compassion of the Vietnamese people.

According to Chinhphu.vn

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