Tet Doan ngo
Tet Doan Ngo, or Tet Giet Sau Bo (Killing the Inner
Insect Festival) comes on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year.
The fermented sticky rice ‘Insect Killing Wine’ (ruou nep) the main treat of
the day, one that has some complex reference to an inner bug that needs
exterminating.
To make the wine, the sticky rice is boiled and,
after it cools, it is mixed with brewers yeast. Fermented for two or three
days, it becomes a sweet, thick liquid.
It is believed that ruou nep kills all off any
parasites in the body. Adults and kids alike eat ruou nep, but adults are more
inclined to take its curing effects with a grain of salt. Nobody knows exactly
why Vietnamese people have this habit, but it’s often said, “Old people think
it’s a good idea”.
The myth behind
Old ladies still tell a tale of two snakes Thanh Xa
(the Blue Snake) and Bach Xa (the White Snake) to trace back to the origin of
ruou nep.
A long time ago, there were two orphan brothers
living together in a small village. They were popular among the locals for
their intelligence and kindness.
Thanh Xa and Bach Xa were two snakes, which after
long lives, turned into spirits. The snakes fell in love with the brothers and
transformed themselves into beautiful ladies to charm the men.
The brothers soon were attracted to the snakes, and
they soon became an extended family. Thanh Xa got married the older brother and
Bach Xa the younger.
They live happily together, but the men grew unhealthy
with each passing day, they grew scared of daylight and lived in festering
darkness.
Locals suspected the presence of a bad spirit, and
luckily one day, a Taoist hermit passed through the village. The locals told
him of the men’s affliction, and he conducted some spirit type tests and
confirmed that the men’s house had a case of the evils.
The hermit brewed a wine potion, and told the locals
to feed it to the men. The brothers must eat the potion’s solids and liquids in
the early morning of the next fifth day of the fifth lunar calendar.
As soon as the men tucked into their special
breakfast, their wives were revealed as the snakes they were, before
disappearing in a puff of smoke, freeing the brothers.
Since that day, people have eaten ruou nep on Killing
the Insect Day, in the hope of driving away bad spirits.
Popular dish
Making ruou nep is not exactly difficult. But it is
a process that takes time and some elbow grease.
Rice picked from a paddy just reaped is the best. It
must be dried and pounded carefully to save the part of the rice richest in
nutrients.
The rice is steamed for about 30 minutes and washed
in cool water, before being steamed again to make it as soft as possible. It is
then left a long time to cool. The more it’s cool, the more it’s tasty because
it prevents any sour taste in the pudding.
The cooled rice is mixed with yeast, before being
left for two or three days to ferment, depending on the weather.
Ruou nep fermentation and flavor kits include 13
medicinal herbs and rice flour. The most popular mixes hail from Bac Ninh
Province, about 40km north of Hanoi.
Little to no research has been done on the potion’s
curative effects, but the habit and a long-held trust in such potions still
exist. People treat families and friends to the pudding at Tet Doan Ngo, as an
observance more than a cure.
