(VOVworld)- When spring comes, people in Chinh Kinh and Cu Loc villages in Nhan Chinh ward, in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi follow a tradition of making square sticky rice cakes called Chung cakes to worship the village genie. The two villages worship the same village genie, therefore the communal house is named Cu Chinh. Over the years, this tradition has been preserved by local people.

During the days before Tet, the Cu Chinh communal house is packed with people busily preparing square sticky rice cakes. 73-year-old Nguyen Van Thin, the janitor of Cu Chinh communal house says the village genie is La Dai Lieu, a famous general of Ngo Quyen. The village genie is the most sacred commander of the village, who cares for, protects, helps and supports local people. On the 25^th and 26^th day of the last lunar month, people in Cu Chinh village make square sticky rice cakes to show their gratitude to him. "We are the descendants and we cannot remember how long this tradition is, but it must be more than 100 years old. My father took care of this communal house and if he was still alive, he would be 100 years old", said Mr. Thin

There are no records about the tradition of making square sticky rice cakes to worship the Cu Chinh village genie, but according to Mr. Thin, this tradition has been handed down through generations. Nguyen Dinh Thanh, Deputy Head of Cu Chinh communal house relic management board says despite poverty, local people still prepare square sticky rice cakes to worship the village genie. "This is our traditional custom so we try to preserve it. We take turn according to our residential area to make Chung cakes. The atmosphere of that day is very exciting", said Mr Thanh.

Chung cakes to worship the village genie are the one made with brown sugar but not green bean. They are 30 cm wide and long and 10cm high, so, it’s a hard job to prepare materials to make the cake. Mr. Thin says: "One cake is 4 kilos and after it’s boiled, its weight increases to 14 kilos. It’s a hard job to prepare materials to make Chung cakes. The wrapping leaves must be large so that they can wrap all the materials inside. There are 11 ingredients in the cake, sticky rice, green bean, brown sugar, pork, sugar coated green pumpkin, coconut and lotus seeds, cardamom and other seasonings like salt, pepper and sweet seasoning".

This year, it’s To residential area’s turn to make Chung cakes. One month ago, Nguyen Huu Giang, who represented the area, made plan for this and assigned jobs to local people. Giang says: "In addition to worshiping the genie, making Chung cakes together represents people’s solidarity and responsibility for the community. Everybody is excited with this work and ready to do it. We assign different groups to prepare rice, green bean, and leaves, clean leaves and prepare bamboo strings".

This year, To residential area is in charge of preparing ingredients and Cu Chinh communal house has a group of 6 people specializing in wrapping them. Mr. Huy Tuan who has participated in making Chung cakes for 11 years says that it’s not easy to wrap big Chung cakes. Tuan says: "It’s very difficult to make the cake square. We have to wrap them firmly with several leaves, otherwise everything will get out. It’s also important to know how to arrange leaves into layers to wrap the cake. We tighten the cake after wrapping the 2^nd and the 3^rd layers".

It takes about 17 hours to boil the cakes, which are then cleaned and pressed and have another wrap with leaves. The cakes are also used as offerings at the village’s temple, pagoda and the Martyr’s monument. The remaining cakes will be shared on the last day of the lunar year. Each cake will be cut into 22 pieces and shared to local people. Mr. Giang says: "After burning incense to worship the genie, we are very happy to receive gifts from the genie. We bring them home, place on them on the altar and then share them with our guests. The Chung cake is very delicious, sweet and salty. Receiving gifts from the genie, we hope that our family will be healthy and lucky".

In the fragrant incense smoke in the Cu Chinh communal house, a pair of the Chung cakes together with a tray of five fruits, a vase of flowers on the altar worshipping the village’s genie recall worshippers the love for the homeland and respect for their predecessors. The tradition of making Chung cakes to worship the village’s genie remind people of their cultural traditions.

Lan Anh