Cult ò Kitchen God - holylandvietnamstudies.com

The Cult of The Deities of the Kitchen – Section 2

4186 Views Prof. Assoc. HUNG NGUYEN MANH

HUNG NGUYEN MANH ¹

… be continued for section 1:

Besides, when considering the image aspect, we can mention here a story from the Southern part of India which has an end resembling very much to the one of the vietnamese stories – because it also has 3 main characters : 2 men and 1 woman.

Somaraia and Bimarayia are a pair of good friends. As they have never met each other in their respective houses, Bimarayia, when meeting Somarayia’s wife, did not know that she is his friend’s wife and asked him to help him to spend one night with that lady.

The Hindu customs have solved in a favourable manner the said proposition and Somarayia had grievously sacrificed his conjugal love to his friendship.

Finally, to bring the story back to human morality, the storyteller has let Bimarayia discover the truth and, being too repented, he took his own life by means of a sword blow. His suicide leads to the death of Somarayia’s wife and that of Somarayia himself, as both of them also committed suicide with sword blows. All three of them were taken to Heaven by Siva.

– However, according to a noteworthy vietnamese variant, all 3 main characters have specific names and given functions; we ought to note these elements to have ground to appreciate and observe through the two Henri Oger’s sketches.

Trọng Cao and Thi Nhi are a childless couple, and they often bicker with each other. One day, being beaten by Trọng Cao, Thi Nhi ran away from her home and married Phạm Lang. A repented Trọng Cao went out looking for his wife until he had no more money to buy his food and had to go around begging for a meal when he met Thi Nhi who stayed home alone and welcomed her former husband. To conceal her former husband from Phạm Lang, Thi Nhi hid him inside a stack of straw. Pham Lang unintentionally burned the stack of straw to get some ashes for his ricefields. Trọng Cao was burnt to death. Having her heart rent, Thi Nhi also jumped into the fire and died. Finally, Phạm Lang and his servant rushed to the fire to save wife and master but both of them were also burned down and died. To this point, the story is concretely solved when the Emperor of Jade makes all 3 of them Kitchen Gods and Goddess and gives to each one of them a specific function. Phạm Lang becomes Thổ Công (Kitchen God) in charge of the Kitchen and matters related to it. Trọng Cao becomes the Thổ Địa (Kitchen God) in charge of the house and matters related to it. As for Thi Nhi, she becomes the Thổ Kỳ (Kitchen Goddess) in charge of the market and vegetables in the house’s garden. Sketch no.102 has shown these 3 characters. Among the various aforesand types of Kitchen God, Thổ Công holds the most important function and is called “Đệ nhất gia chi chủ” (the first person in charge of the house and the household). With this function he can determine the fate of the householder: mischance, chance, weal and woe, and can also exercise the ghosts and keep the householder in peace and happiness. The Thổ Công (Kitchen God also called Lar) is present wherever man is living – he is considered as a kind of mother of the earth: “Đất có Thổ Công, sông có Hà Bá” (The earth has the Lar, the river has the Genius of waters) (Fig.3)

Earth Genius - holylandvietnamstudies.com — Fig.3: Earth Genius

Reproaching upon the cultural and mental life of the Vietnamese, Thổ Công – the imaginary character, worshipped as a kind of genius of the hearth – has screated an additional interesting life beside that of our ancestors – the genuine characters who, after their death, are worshipped as “Nhân thần” (human spirit or patron genius). To arrange and plan for each one of these two types of genii a solemn worshipping place – though Thổ Công is a rather lesser genius the Vietnamese people place the Thổ Công’s altar, which is smaller, in the left partition, as for the ancestors’ altar, it must occupy the one in the middle – the central partition (according to the female and male principles and the five elements, the left side has the second most important position after the central). But, there are also places where people set the Thổ Công’s altar next to their ancestors’ altar. Thus, the two genii are closer to each other and, whenever people went to celebrate death anniversaries of their ancestors, they must pray to the Thổ Thần first – an intentional measure aimed at pleasing the Thổ Thần so that he would happily allow people’s ancestors to come back to them.

According to an article, by an author who just signed with the three initials H.V.V., and entitled: “La fête du Dieu du Foyer”⁵ (Festival of the Kitchen God), translated by Võ Tiến Sáu – we have an additional source of information necessary to complete the reserve of information relating to Vietnamese culture. That article is as follows :

According to the lunar calendar (chinese calendar), the 23rd of the last lunar month i.e. the 12th lunar month is the holiday in which the Kitchen God flies to Heaven to attend the Emperor of Jade’s audience. This custom, as well as many other customs originate from China ever since the chinese domination up to now; therefore, everywhere in Vietnam, from North to South, all the families, rich as well as poor, prepare offerings to worship the Kitchen God on the 23rd of the 12^th lunar month, except families that are Roman Catholics, or families that are too poor, with no food and no houses, so they have no means to worship the Kitchen God.

Then, who is the Kitchen God? The God in charge of the Kitchen. The word Kitchen, in a broad sense, is the family. This God watches over, safeguards and examines all the happenings in the family: all the actions and activities of a family, the righteousness or the badness of each family member, are constantly observed by the Kitchen God who, besides the name ông Táo, is also called ông Công. At times, some people confound the ông Táo with the ông Công and think they are two different persons; this is because, many traders’ families wish to conduct peaceful and prosperous businesses, so, every month, on the first and the fifteenth days, they used to prepare votive paper and fruits and flowers to serve as offerings to worship the ông Công who is the God who watches over and safeguards everything in each family.

Once a year, toward the year end, on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, the Kitchen Gods have to fly to Heaven to report to the Emperor of Jade about the works and activities of all families on the earth. All gestures, honest or deceitful, all good or bad actions, all faulty or righteous men, all things true or not true must be fully reported to the Emperor of Jade judgment. For that reason, in the morning of the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, before the Kitchen God’s departure for Heaven, all the families offer offerings to worship him and ask him to report to the Emperor of Jade only their good actions and behaviour, and to forget about their faults.

The offerings to worship the Kitchen God vary, depending on the poor or wealthy family. A poor family would offer three bundles of joss sticks and a bowl of fresh water. A wealthier family would offer a dish of sticky rice, a chicken, a live fish and paper tunic and hat. A legend has it that to worship the Kitchen God, one usually offers a live fish and three paper hats, two for men and one for a woman; all such things would provide the Kitchen God with beautiful clothes to fly on the fish to Heaven to attend the Emperor of Jade’s audience.

… continue in section 3…

NOTE:
¹Associate Professor HUNG NGUYEN MANH, Doctor of Phylosophy in History.
⁴ According to the Chinese folk-culture magazine December 1957.
⁵ H.V.V. The Festival of the Kitchen God – The Vietnamese People – (published by the Far-Eastern French School), Hanoi, No. 1 May 1948 – pp.37 – 39.

BAN TU THU
01 /2020

NOTE:
◊ Source: Vietnamese Lunar New Year – Major Festival – Asso. Prof. HUNG NGUYEN MANH, Doctor of Phylosophy in History.
◊ Bold text and sepia images has been set by Ban Tu Thu – thanhdiavietnamhoc.com