January 15th or the full moon day in January is one of the very important days for Vietnamese customs and there are also many legends about this Tet.
The January full moon, also known as “Tet Nguyen Tieu”, is a big holiday in Vietnamese and Chinese customs. But few people know that the origin of this Tet festival stems from the filial piety of a Western Han dynasty in China.
The elders have a saying: “Giving all year round is not equal to the full moon in January”. The January full moon is also called “Tet Nguyen Tieu”, which means the first full moon night of the new year. “Raw” is the first, “pass” is the night. The name Nguyen Tieu is also associated with the legend of the daughter daughter Nguyen Tieu and the Grand Minister Dong Phuong Soc of the Western Han Dynasty.
Legend has it that Emperor Han Wu has a charisma named Dong Phuong Soc, along with an honest personality and a sense of humor. In the winter of that year, the snow fell for a few days, Dong Phuong Soc came to the flower park, suddenly found that a woman with tears was about to jump into the well and commit suicide . Dong Phuong Soc rushed to stop and made it clear. As it turned out, the midwife’s name was Nguyen Tieu.Since entering the palace until now, she has not met her relatives. Dong Phuong Soc was touched and immediately vowed that she would definitely find a way for her to reunite with her family.
One day, Dong Phuong Soc exported to the palace and displayed a fortune teller booth in Truong An City. Many people rushed to see hexagrams. Everyone’s hexagram is “on the full moon day of January, fire will return to the body”. In an instant, the whole town of Truong An panicked, everyone rushed to beg, trying to heal the disaster. Dong Phuong Soc said:
“On the evening of the full moon in January, the God of Fire will send a goddess in red to investigate. The goddess is the messenger who wants to burn down the city of Chang’an. I copy the verse and give it to everyone. , maybe that day will be able to think of a solution ”.
After saying that, he threw a red card on the ground and walked away. Everyone picked it up in a hurry and brought it to the palace to deliver the Hoang Thuong newspaper. Wuhan Emperor watch, see above, write that:
“Chang’an was in distress, the fire burned the Emperor, the 15th day of the sky was fire, the night was red.”
Vu De was horrified and immediately invited Dong Phuong Soc to come see him. Dong Phuong pretended to think and said:
“I have heard that the God of Fire likes to eat floating cakes. Isn’t Nguyen Tieu in the palace someone who often cooks for Your Majesty?
“On the full moon night of January, Your Majesty asked Mrs. Nguyen Tieu to make floating cakes, and Your Majesty lit some incense to offer, and ordered the family in the capital to make floating cakes. and to offer the God of Fire at the same time. lights, all over the city, burning firecrackers, burning fire, like the whole city on fire, so that it is possible to bypass God by doing it. Skip the accident “.
Emperor Han Wu heard over and over again, immediately followed the words of the East. On the full moon day of January, in Truong An City, flower lanterns hanging, people were very busy playing. Ms. Nguyen Tieu’s parents also drove her sister into town. When they saw the words “Nguyen Tieu” written on the palace lantern, they shouted, “Nguyen Tieu! Nguyen Tieu! Mrs. Nguyen Tieu surprises and finally reunites with her family.
Just like this bustling all night long, Truong An Town is very natural. Emperor Han Wu was very happy and now ordered, every year until the full moon in January, to bake cakes to offer to the god of fire, the whole city hang a fire. Because the floating cake made by Ms. Nguyen Tieu was so delicious on that day, it was also called Tet Nguyen Tieu. Banh Nguyen Tieu is also called thang vien – a round in the water, derived from the meaning of reunion and lucrative kindness.
In addition, people also transmitted another story of Tet Nguyen Tieu as follows. In the old days, there was a swan flying from heaven to earth that was shot by a hunter. To avenge the swan, Ngoc Hoang sent an army from heaven on January 15 to cremate all humans and animals on earth.
Fortunately for mankind, there are gods in heaven who disagree with this decision of Ngoc Hoang, so they risked their lives on earth to provide their livelihood. So that day, the family hung lanterns and shot fireworks to make heaven believe their house had been set on fire. Thanks to this, the human race can escape destruction.
Nguyen Tieu cake is very similar to Vietnamese floating cakes, but the way to make it is different: the cake is rolled thinly and cut into pieces, then placed in a vibrating sieve containing glutinous rice flour. Go ahead until you turn it into a round ping pong cake. Nguyen Tieu cake has become a beautiful cultural feature of Chinese tradition, like the green banh chung of the Vietnamese.
