Worshipping Land Genie and Kitchen Gods is a long-standing custom of great significance as it symbolises the farewell to all bad things of the old year to help people relaxedly enter a new year of peace and happiness.

Offerings on the Kitchen Gods’ worshipping day.

As the legend goes, “Ong Cong” (Land Genie) is the one in charge of land while “Ong Tao” (Kitchen Gods), consisting of two males and one female, are those who keep a watch over kitchen affairs of a family. They take note of a family’s issues in a year and will ride carps back to the Heaven on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to report all the good and bad things of that family to the God of Heaven.

Given this, Vietnamese people believe that the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods are decisive to the good or bad luck and blessing for their families.

Besides, people also view the image of a carp swimming upstream and then leaping over the falls to turn into a dragon as a symbol of steadfastness in surmounting challenges to secure success.

Wishing for good luck in the new year, people hold a ceremony on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to send off the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods to the Heaven. Rituals are not necessarily complicated but need to be solemn and show the family’s sincerity.

Rituals and offerings vary according to regions. Typically, apart from lamps, incense, votive papers, fresh flowers, and a five-fruit tray, there is also a tray of traditional dishes such as steamed sticky rice, chicken, pork pie, fried spring rolls, and bamboo shoot soup. However, depending on each family’s conditions, people can also prepare vegetarian dishes as offerings.

The offerings also include a set of votive paper clothes and, especially, golden carps - the “vehicle” for the gods to return to the Heaven. People often prepare two or three live carps and then release them into a river or lake after the worshipping ritual with the belief that the fish will carry the Gods to the Heaven. Nowadays, live carps can also be replaced with paper ones, which will be burned together with other paper offerings after the ritual.

The worshipping ceremony is conventionally held at any times from the noon of the 22nd day of the 12th lunar month to the noon of the next day because people believe the Gods will leave for the Heaven after midday and thus, if the ritual is conducted after that, they would be unable to receive offerings.

With the appropriate practice of the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods worship, people can help uphold and pass down traditional cultural values in the modern life.

Workers receive free motorbike repairs for safe Tet trips home

Several businesses and factories in Ho Chi Minh City are offering their workers free motorbike repair services so they can safely return to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Dragons, dragons everywhere as Tet approaches

Mascots of dragon, the zodiac animal of the lunar year starting Feb. 10, are sprouting up in different localities as decoration for Tet.

PM urges drastic actions to ensure traffic safety during Tet

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for drastic actions to ensure traffic order and safety during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday and spring festivals, as heavy traffic is forecast.

OVs, friends in Belgium delighted with Vietnamese Tet experiences

Joining their peers across the world in welcoming the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year of the Dragon, Vietnamese expats in Belgium have joyfully prepared for event - the biggest and most important traditional festival of Vietnamese people in a year.

Warm "Tet reunion" for workers in Bac Giang

BAC GIANG - On the occasion of 2024 Lunar New Year, the Labor Confederation of Bac Giang province on January 27 coordinated with the Department of Industry and Trade and some organizations to launch the program "Tet reunion - Spring sharing" associated with the Trade Union Tet Market and Zero VND booth for workers at Quang Chau industrial park in Viet Yen township.

Source: VNA