Hàng năm cứ đến ngày 23 tháng Chạp, khi không khí mùa xuân đang náo nức đổ về trên mọi miền Tổ quốc, người dân Việt Nam lại chuẩn bị mâm cơm cúng tiễn ông Táo về trời (Tết Táo Quân, Tết ông Công...). Đây là một nét văn hóa đặc sắc của dân tộc Việt Nam được lưu truyền trong dân gian từ nhiều đời nay. Chắc hẳn ai trong chúng ta cũng đều biết về nguồn gốc, ý nghĩa của Tết ông Công, ông Táo nhưng hôm nay các bạn hãy cùng IOE tìm hiểu về sự tích này thông qua một ngôn ngữ khác nhé, đó chính là Tiếng Anh. Biết đâu bạn sẽ có cơ hội kể cho bạn bè nước ngoài về câu chuyện thú vị này!

Legend of the God of Kitchen

According to Vietnamese folk beliefs, “Tao Quan” is derived from three gods: the God of Soil, the God of House and the God of Kitchen.  However, instead of calling the name of 3 Gods, Vietnamese people generally call them as “Tao Quan” (understood commonly as The God of Kitchen). In Vietnam, the legend of “The God of Kitchen” has been orally transmitted and recorded as follows:

Once for a while, there was a very poor family. The husband’s name was Trong Cao and the wife’s name was Thi Nhi. Despite getting married to each other for such a long time, they had no children, which led to their frequent quarrels every day.

One day, Trong Cao was so angry with his wife that he hit her. Being so angry, Thi Nhi left her house and met a man called “Pham Lang” who soon attracted Thi Nhi by his honeyed words. Then, Pham Lang and Thi Nhi set up house together. When Trong Cao was no longer angry with Thi Nhi, he immediately looked for his wife everywhere. However, his wife was found nowhere. Being so disappointed, he gave up his job and went everywhere as a mendicant to seek for his wife.

One day, Trong Cao went to a prosperous household and begged for food, and the mistress of the house brought some cooked rice to the door to give him. Accidentally, two people recognized each other. Thi Nhi regretted getting married to Pham Lang. While they were having a heart-to-heart talk, the new husband “Pham Lang” suddenly came back home from the field.  Being so worried, Thi Nhi just told Trong Cao to hide in a stack of straw. Pham Lang went back home in order to get the ashes to fertilize fields, so he burned the stack of straw to ash. Trong Cao was sleeping deeply in the stack of straw due to his tiredness, so he was unexpectedly burnt to death. Afterwards, his ex-wife Thi Nhi also rushed into the fire to die together with his ex-husband. Pham Lang found his wife dead and also ended his life by the same way with his wife.

In every Vietnamese household, besides ancestral altar and fatherland altar, there is also the existence of another one called “The God of Kitchen” altar. In Vietnamese’s opinion, the “God of Kitchen” is a one who knows every nook and cranny of a place. On the 23rd of December (Lunar Calendar), families throughout Vietnam maintain the habit of preparing a farewell ceremony to see The God of Kitchen to heaven. This legend has the origin from ancient folk stories handed down from generation to generation.

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