Whenver the Lunar New Year is coming, the mother of Ngo Dinh Uy, a native of the capital city Hanoi (Vietnam) living in Taiwan (China), often cooks xoi che, a mixture of glutinous rice cooked with split bean and sweetened porridge made of mung bean and kudzu starch.

Uy’s mother selects xoi che to replace steamed momordica glutinous rice because Taiwan has no momordica cochinchinensis.

Some Vietnamese families in Taiwan still keep the traditional culture on the Lunar New Year. In this photo: Lien Huong, a lecturer at the Faculty of Vietnamese language of the University of Taiwan, and her children welcome Tet

Uy was born in a family in which the father is a Taiwanese and the mother is a Vietnamese. She and her 9 siblings grew up in Taiwan and were taught how to make Vietnamese dishes by her mother. One of Uy’s younger brothers has owned famous Minh Ky restaurant serving Vietnamese food.

As a Hanoian, Uy’s mother often soaks phrynium leaves (which she bought on the occasion of the Double Five Festival) some days before Tet (Lunar New Year) to wrap Chung cakes and cooks xoi che as offerings to the ancestors during the traditional Vietnamese Tet.

Uy said that on the New Year’s Eve, her mother prepares xoi che and a tray of five fruits to offer to God, Buddha and the ancestors. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, all members of the family, including children and grandchildren, gather at her parents’ house and exchange li xi (lucky money).

Though in the Taiwanese tradition, married daughter is allowed to inquire after and extend Tet greetings to her biological parents on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Uy’s parents prefer the first day as the tradition of Vietnam.  Besides, many Taiwanese husbands love enjoying the traditional Tet in Vietnam.  

Source: TP

Translated by Mai Huong