The Kitchen God rides a carp to fly to heaven to report everything that happened in the family during that year to the King of Heaven. Until noon or the moment of New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God comes back to every house to continue the work of taking care of the stove in the kitchen.
The Kitchen God is said to live only in the kitchen all year round and know everything in the house clearly. Moreover, the Kitchen God is also believed to bring the luck and good fortune to the family in the New Year. Therefore, to make the Kitchen God support and assist the family a lot of luck and good fortune in the New Year, people often celebrate the farewell ceremony for the Kitchen God before coming back to the heaven solemnly.
To prepare for this farewell ceremony, people often buy two hats named “Kitchen God’ hats”. The hats for the two male Kitchen Gods have two wings that look like the wings of the dragon fly, but the hat for the female Kitchen God has no wings. Besides, the other offerings are three shirts made by paper, a carp (alive or made by paper, or made by a kind of votive paper called "storks fly and horses run").
Offerings for a complete “The Kitchen God” festival:
Trays with salt foods, sweets, betel and areca, wine, incense, candles, vases of fresh flowers, a plate of 5 fresh fruits (bananas, oranges, kumquat, grapefruit, finger citron), three sets of shirts, hats and shoes made by paper, votive money burnt for the dead and three live carps.
All those offerings are considered as the means to take the Kitchen Gods to the heaven to report to the King of Heaven.
The Kitchen God will report to the King of Heaven about the business and the behavior of each family. The ritual part including presenting the offerings, burning incense and praying usually takes place before 12pm. After that, people burn the hats and other offerings made by paper. Some people also release live fish into rivers, lakes, sea or wells, depending on the area they live in.
Vietnamese people attach much importance to this farewell ceremony for the Kitchen God because they consider this custom as a good occasion for them to express their sincere thanks to the Kitchen God for his taking care of everything in their family. It is believed that thanks to the Kitchen God, every member in a family has a good health and the family has a warm and full year with a good fortune. Hence, Vietnamese people always maintain this traditional custom from generation to generation.
To know more about the legends and meaning of the “God of Kitchen” Festival in Vietnam on December 23rd (Lunar), please read at:
https://elticenter.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/the-legends-and-meaning-of-the-god-of-kitchen-festival-in-vietnam-on-the-23rd-of-december-lunar-calendar/
By ELTiCenter
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