On this day, families across Vietnam bid farewell to the Kitchen Gods for watching over their house for another year. Let’s take a look at the atmosphere of Kitchen Gods’ Day in Hanoi yesterday.
Hàng Mã Street, Hanoi. Since early in the morning, Binh has started shopping for offerings to the kitchen gods. Beside flowers and incense, each plate of offerings also has paper hats for the three kitchen gods who watch over family affairs during the whole year.
"In Vietnamese tradition, the kitchen plays an important role in a Vietnamese family. It represents the happiness and prosperity of the family. Therefore, worshipping the Kitchen Gods is to show the family’s hope for good fortune during the coming year." - Nguyen Thi Binh, Hang Dong Street, Hanoi.
The Kitchen Gods celebration is a reflection of the link between the mundane and the heavenly, or the human and the godly. The Kitchen Gods know everything in the household, including the deepest secrets. Everything we do, how we lived in last year is supposedly reported to the Emperor of the Heaven. According to cultural experts, this tradition shows folk lessons on moral values, cause and effect and karma.
The day the gods return to the heavens is considered the start of the Lunar New Year activities. Through the preparation for Kitchen Gods Day, Vietnamese people throughout the country pray for a happy and prosperous year.
