Mộ Chu Hạ Village Glutinous Rice Cake Festival – Bạch Hạc Ward, Việt Trì

On July 12, 2021, the Mộ Chu Hạ Village Glutinous Rice Cake Festival took place in the ancient village of Mộ Chu Hạ, located near the left bank of the Red River, not far from the convergence of three major rivers to the southeast. Formerly part of the Mộ Hạ region under Vĩnh Tường district, Vĩnh Yên province, it now belongs to Bạch Hạc Ward, Viet Tri City, Phú Thọ province. When Mộ Chu is mentioned, people immediately associate it with the folk cultural activity of making and offering glutinous rice cakes during the Death Anniversary of Hùng Kings, expressing reverence and remembrance for King Lê Đại Hành, who led the victorious resistance against the invading Tống army. As a result, the glutinous rice cake competition, held twice a year on the 10th day of the 1st and 3rd lunar months, has become a tradition of the people in Mộ Chu Hạ Village.

The legend of chưng cake and giầy cake dates back to the time of Lang Liêu, the 18th prince of the 6th Hùng King – Hùng Hoa Vương. Accepting their father king’s request, the brothers embarked on a quest to find a rare and precious item as an offering to celebrate the king’s longevity, wishing for a prosperous land and well-fed people. The one whose offering pleased the king would inherit the throne. While other princes sought rare and exotic items, Prince Lang Liêu was still pondering, unable to find a suitable gift. One bright night in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, he suddenly smelled a familiar fragrance in the air, recognizing it as the aroma of mature glutinous rice from the autumn harvest. Lang Liêu realized that this was the solution to his dilemma. On the day of the king’s offering ceremony, he presented a square green cake and a round, full-white cake as pure as the clear sky. The round cake symbolized the sky, while the square cake symbolized the earth, representing the origin of the balance between yin and yang. The king decided to pass the throne to Prince Lang Liêu, who ascended as Hùng Huy Vương (the 7th Hùng King). The festival in Mộ Chu Hạ Village is nothing more than a way to revisit the tradition of “remembering the source” and the teachings of the Hùng Kings on agriculture, livestock, and the blessings bestowed by heaven and earth.

Aside from its association with the Hùng Kings era, the Mộ Hạ Village glutinous rice cake also holds unique characteristics within the historical context of a royal figure, Emperor Lê Đại Hành (Lê Dynasty). When leading the army through this area, the sky darkened, and both men and horses were exhausted. The king allowed his soldiers to rest, and the next morning, the villagers made giầy cakes for the king and the soldiers to carry as rations (this happened on the 10th day of the first lunar month). Over many generations, the people of Mộ Chu Hạ have considered the tradition of making and offering giầy cakes as a cultural beauty of their homeland. The glutinous rice cake competition is a contest of wit and strength among the four major divisions: East, West, South, and North, corresponding to the four major clans in the village. Winning an award for the division not only brings great honor but also ensures prosperity for that clan throughout the year.

To prepare for the competition, each division must obtain stones from Đông Triều to make the pounding mortar. The mortar’s surface must be smooth and deep to ensure stability on the ground. The pestle for pounding rice cakes is made from single bamboo stalks, cut from the root to about 1.6 meters in length. The bottom three sections are shaved to remove knots, and the top part is rounded and smoothed. The upper part of the pestle is painted red or covered with colored paper. On the afternoon of the 9th day of the first lunar month, the ritual takes place at the Mộ Hạ Village communal house. An essential part of the ritual on the following day is fetching water from the Hạc River intersection. This pure water is placed in a ceramic pot on the altar, used for worship throughout the year. The yellow jasmine sticky rice is also soaked in this water from the night of the 9th. Before soaking the rice, careful selection is made using chopsticks; the grains must be even and without any cracks. The meticulousness in the preparation process reflects the significance of this large, sacred annual festival.

On the morning of the 10th day of the first lunar month, the main event takes place. The morning begins with a worship ceremony to report to the spirits and pray for the prosperity and well-being of the village. After the ceremony, the most exciting part of the festival unfolds. When the preparations of the four divisions are complete, at an auspicious hour, the festival leader strikes the ceremonial drum, signaling the start of the procession around the communal house. Afterward, the four teams gather in front of the courtyard, forming four rows for a pre-competition ceremony. The ritual master loudly proclaims commands, and according to the rhythm, the participants uniformly bow following orders: heavenly bow – bow to the sky, earthly bow – bow to the earth, sacred bow – bow to the one being worshiped. The competition then begins. When the sticky rice is cooked to a soft, sticky consistency with a rich aroma, it is poured into the mortar for pounding. This phase of the competition is the most lively and intense, as the hot sticky rice becomes more adhesive, demanding strength and skill from the pounders. The rhythmic sounds of pounding mix with the beat of the drum, encouraging and urging onlookers, and the village residents cheer enthusiastically, rooting for their division to quickly secure a win. The flexibility, skill, and technique of the team members turn the sticky rice dough into beautifully round cakes placed on banana leaf-lined plates—the final product of the traditional glutinous rice cake competition. Each division presents the three most beautiful cakes to the communal house for a ritual and then proceeds to an exhibition to determine the winners. In addition to the timing requirement, the awarded cakes must be pure white, round, and evenly sticky. The division that wins not only gains great honor but is also believed to have a year of luck, abundance, and prosperity.

In the annual Mộ Chu Hạ Village Glutinous Rice Cake Festival, the villagers select the most beautiful cakes from the four divisions and offer them to the Upper Temple in a ritual to seek blessings from the Hùng Kings for the people throughout the year. Over thousands of years of history, the Mộ Chu Hạ glutinous rice cake has been preserved in its original form, maintaining its appearance and flavor. The traditional glutinous rice cake competition in Mộ Chu Hạ Village has become a cultural and traditional beauty, reminding future generations to appreciate the principle of “remembering the source” and preserving the intangible cultural heritage of their homeland, the Ancestral Land.