Comments on: Tết Đoan Ngọ

By: Nguyễn Quang Sáng

Nguyễn Quang Sáng — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:24:12 +0000

Some where Tết đoan ngọ means Tết trừ sầu bọ such as following:
What does these names mean? Literally, Tet refers to festival, Doan means the start, Ngo is the seventh animal of the Chinese zodiac- the horse. Doan Ngo festival is also known as Tết sâu bọ (sâu bọ = worms, pests) or Tết tháng 5, to be celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.

The name “Tet sau bo” derives from the fact that farmers, on this day, get rid of all pests to start growing their crops for the new season. Therefore, creatures and people must become stronger in both their health and their souls to overcome this. On this occasion, the whole family have to get up early and eat fermented sticky and fruits. The worshipping is held at noon, hour of Ngo. The tradition of eating dumplings, especially lye water dumplings, extends from the belief that the dumplings will cleanse one’s body of any unwanted “parasites”.

By: Kera

Kera — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:43:35 +0000

I’m just curious as to how you guys are able to travel so much. I love your blog but what I would love more is to be able to do what your doing. I love to travel and I love to document it but I just haven’t been able to lately or much at all. School loans and the employed life is taking its toll on me. You guys make me hungry for Asian food and for life.

By: Viet Walin

Viet Walin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:45:36 +0000

I think ‘banh u’ is wrapped by bamboo leaf, not banana leaf. The bamboo leaf makes ‘banh u’ have a very distinctive smell. The ones you find in market will surely be wrapped by bamboo leaf, but they may also have it home-made with different wrapping leaf. some people from the central also use a kinda leaf called ‘ke`’ leaf and the ‘banh u’ is called ‘banh u tro’ there.

By: Gastronomer

Gastronomer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:27:52 +0000

Dave – I’m not much of a drinker but I did manage to down three whole balls. I think you need to be tough and extinguish the “worms” from your belly

By: dave

dave — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:18:27 +0000

hello my names dave and i live here in ho chi minh city. my girlfriends grandma just made Com ruou for the holiday and holy mother it was so strong i could only force down one!

By: N.

N. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:05:06 +0000

I believe we called it bánh tro. I didn’t know that it was Tet Doan ngo. That’s what you get when you don’t live in a Vietnamese community and you don’t have some cool relatives like your Ba Sau. My family never celebrated this event though.

Oh and I’ve been meaning to say that I’m really impressed that you write Vietnamese words in their proper forms. Make me ashamed of my laziness sometimes (case in point: my “Tet Doan ngo” and your “Tết Đoan Ngọ”)

By: Gastronomer

Gastronomer — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:55:46 +0000

SnakeMonkey – Happy Tết Nửa Năm to you too!

WC – banh ba trang sounds damn good. We’ll have to include it on “THE LIST.” And thanks for the heads up, my friend Matt in the states might be messing with the site while I’m asleep.

N – If it wasn’t for Ba Sau, Sunday would’ve been another ho hum day My family in America doesn’t celebrate it either. And about the “proper” forms, Google deserves all the credit!

By: SnakeMonkey

SnakeMonkey — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:06:22 +0000

“…traditional foods of the holiday are banh u…”
I recall this is called “banh u tro”, because tro (ash) is used in the water to make it. Banh u tro also comes with sweet black bean inside. Happy belated “Mung 5 Thang 5″