The taboo dishes on Tet holiday do not know when, but still occupy an important position in the culture and beliefs of the people. People follow the custom from a very simple reason: ” There is worship, there is abstinence, there is abstinence, there is good”.
Poet, folklore researcher Duong Thuan with a rich life, looks at taboo issues from a rather sharp point of view: Taboo comes from many factors, possibly due to eating something. unhappy many times, the ancients learned to abstain from experience.
It may be at first just the taboo of one person, a group of people, but then it becomes the memory of an entire community, a nation. Even most do not understand the origin, but then they just abstain.
All three North – Central – South regions abstain from dog meat on the first days of the year.
All three regions of the North – Central – South abstain from eating dog meat, eating squid on the first days of the year for fear of being “black” all year round, abstaining from eating duck meat for fear of cackling all year round… Central people abstain from eating. duck eggs, sesame fish , … for fear of bad luck, poor talent. Southerners abstain from eating shrimp because they are afraid of going… going backwards like shrimp, next year’s work will be backward, not forward, not eating crabs because they are afraid of being like crabs, children are difficult to teach, work can’t progress either. ..
Taboo dishes sometimes simply come from the misreading of each region, like the Southerners abstaining from bananas because they have the wrong pronunciation of bowing (downward, not forward). Therefore, on the New Year’s altar, Southerners do not display bananas on the five-fruit tray. Central people do not choose papaya because the pronunciation of this region sounds like “enemy enough” . Southerners avoid oranges because they believe that “mandarin is doomed” – wrongful wrong all year; abstain from pears for fear of pears…
According to poet Duong Thuan – a person born and raised in the Northwest mountains, the taboo about food with the highlanders is also rich and diverse, and behind each diet there are ancient stories and secrets. own clan.
For humans, dogs are pets that are not only loyal but also very intelligent. Therefore, many highland ethnic groups do not eat dog meat.
When he was alive, Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu opened up about this concept that Buddhism does not kill and always cultivates compassion. Maybe the dog meat sellers commit murder, so at the beginning of the month they go to the temple to ask God for forgiveness.
Going to the temple, they had to stop selling, so they thought of abstaining from eating dog meat at the beginning of the year and at the beginning of the month. But the first few days off of the year, the beginning of the month lost money. To compensate, they spread the news that eating dog meat at the end of the month will solve black.
Vietnamese people easily believe, one person transmits to the other and eventually becomes a permanent concept. This is also an explanation, while there is no more convincing explanation , this reason makes many people believe, follow and make dog meat a taboo dish in the first days of the year and the beginning of the month.
The Tay and Nung people believe that if they eat banh gio (ash), they don’t know how to love the deceased.
People of Tay and Nung ethnic groups in the family have died less than 120 days, then Tet as well as normal days abstain from eating banh gio . Because when putting the dead in the coffin, they always burn the rice, burn the corn, put it in the coffin about 20cm thick, then put the body on top, cover the coffin. The Tay and Nung people think that if they eat banh gio (ash), they don’t know how to love the dead and those who eat it are also judged as uneducated.
For the Tay and Nung people, from the 28th of the New Year to the end of the three days of the New Year, they never raised their voices to each other. Bad children are not scolded, only gently reminded. Even if a buffalo breaks the land, it is not allowed to be beaten, but only chased away because of the concept that if you hit people or wrestle, you will give all your vitality to that person or animal. Eating anything is not allowed to eat vulgarity (eat in moderation – small amount).
The Tay and Nung also abstain from the fact that guests who come to the house do not eat , even if they are full, they cannot refuse, if they don’t eat a lot, they eat less. If the guests do not eat, the host will think that the guests do not respect their hearts.
The Mong people in Moc Chau, Son La – the vegetable land in the Northwest – have a custom of abstaining from eating vegetables.
During the 3 days of Tet of the Mong people, especially the Mong people in Moc Chau, Son La – the vegetable country in the Northwest – there is a custom of abstaining from eating vegetables. According to the explanation, for the whole year, the Mong people work very hard, so during Tet, no one has to do anything, just play and enjoy the fruits of the whole year. In their tray, the Mong only display dishes made from pork, absolutely no green vegetables. During these 3 days, the Mong people do not buy or sell, do not spend money, with the belief of keeping wealth and money in the family, women are not allowed to hold needles and needles for sewing to have good clothes and beautiful dresses to wear all year.
In Dai Tu, Thai Nguyen has a custom of abstaining from eating chicken heads, especially during Tet . Accordingly, whoever has the most important position, the most important guest will be given the chicken’s head by the owner to show love and respect. Many people do not know the rules, receive this “favorite” and panic, but if they do not eat, they must be kept in the bowl, not discarded.
Poet Duong Thuan analyzed: “Vietnamese people have the sentence “There is a holy place to worship, there is a healthy diet” but there is no specific case that proves the right and wrong of the foods that need to be abstained. However, it is necessary to admit that because taboo soon has eaten into the subconscious of every Vietnamese, abstinence is very good for the psyche .
“New Year is the most important time of the year and often makes a big mark for the whole year, so many people think that if the elderly have abstained, they should not do it. If you don’t eat this, there will be another one to replace it. In the new year, if you eat all the good things, your spirit will be elated, your health will be better, your business will be favorable accordingly, your family will also be in harmony and happiness”, said poet Duong Thuan.