Making Chung cake for the Lunar New Year is an aged-old tradition of Vietnamese people. Chung cakes are meaningful gifts and an indispensible offering on the ancestral altars during Vietnam’s biggest festival of the year. Legend tells us that when the 6th Hung King organized an ancestral worship 4,000 years ago, he assigned his princes to prepare offerings. He said he would cede the throne to whoever brought the best offering. The princes travelled through forests and dived in to the ocean to find precious products. Lang Lieu, the 18th prince, was the poorest son. He could not get precious and rare items for the ceremony. Women makes Chung cakes with glutinous rice, green beans, pork, and Dong leaves. (photo: Ngoc Anh) With available agricultural products such as glutinous rice, green beans, and pork, he made a Chung square cake, which symbolizes the earth, and Giay round glutinous rice cake, which symbolizes the sky. Lang Lieu’s offering met Hung King’s desire, so he succeeded to the throne. Chung cake have since become a must-have item in ancestral worship, which illustrates the spirit of “remembering the source of the water we drink.” Chung cake consists of sticky rice, pork and green bean, with all ingredients wrapped inside a leaf called Dong, which is similar to banana leaves. The round shape symbolizes the earth, while the ingredients represent plants, animals, and the wet rice civilization. Dinh Thanh Tu, a Hanoian, said, “When the Lunar New Year comes, children joyfully watch adults making… [Read full story]
Foreign tourists who are staying at The Cliff Resort and Residences in Mui Ne beach, central Binh Thuan province were offered a chance to make Chung cake, a type of traditional rice cake for New Year celebration of Vietnam, by themselves on February 13. The square cake is an integral part of the Vietnamese during the lunar New Year (Tet) festival. It is made from glutinous rice, pork and green bean paste, and then wrapped in "dong" (arrowroot) leaves, which give the rice a green tint after being boiled for ten hours. The activity aims to promote the culture of…... [read more]
Making glutinous rice cakes or Chung cake is a traditionally indispensable in the preparation for Tet in Vietnam. Nowadays, many families opt to buy Chung cake, as they lack of time to make it, while others, even in cities insist on making their own. According to the legend, Chung cake was first made by Prince Lang Lieu, a son of Hung King, who is said to have worn the crown some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. The prince made Chung cakes in square shape and Day cakes in round shape to symbolise the earth and the sky respectively, and offered…... [read more]
Andrew William Burden and Alastair Hill, two foreign teachers living in Vietnam for several years now, are very excited with the traditional Tet festival of Vietnam. They have taught their Vietnamese students how to make a Chung cake (a square cake made of glutinous rice, green bean, pork and wrapped in phrynium leaves). Many pupils at primary schools in Hanoi have taken part in a Chung cake wrapping festival organized by an English language centre. Instructors are chefs and foreign teachers as well To give proper instructions, teacher Alastair Hill and his colleagues had to practice wrapping Chung cakes the…... [read more]
Ms. Le Thi My Hanh, Sale Manager of Phu Hai Resort, said the number of foreign tourists to the resort this year remained stable and those from Russia even increased from the previous years. The resort decorated peach and plum blossoms to help foreign tourists know more about Tet holiday. Phu Hai Resort also hung parallel sentences for Tet to show foreign tourists how parallel sentences are associated with Tet. Specifically, foreign tourists had opportunities to visit Vietnamese families to see how they make "Chung cake" and prepare for Tet. Seahorse Resort organized a competition of making "Chung Cake" for…... [read more]
PANO - Troops of Regiment 8 of Military Zone 3’s Division 395 have ebulliently competed in a Chung cake making competition held ahead the Lunar Near Year (Tet) holiday. They carefully prepared glutinous rice, pork, phrynium leaves and other spices to ensure quality of these traditional cakes. Making Chung cakes is very important to bring a warm Tet for troops who are on duty during the Lunar New Year. PANO would like to introduce some images of this meaningful competition. Officers and troops of Company 5 delightedly participating in the event Encouragement from comrades inspiring competitors Sergeant Pham Minh Nhat…... [read more]
