Cold Food Festival In Vietnamese Culture 2024

Cold Food Festival takes place on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month every year. This festival originates from China, but the Hanshi Festival of the Vietnamese people still has its own nuances, imbued with Vietnamese characteristics.

A little about Cold Food Festival in Vietnam

The Cold Food Festival (Hanshi Festival) takes place mainly in the Chinese provinces, the northern region of Vietnam, and in areas of the Chinese community. For the Chinese, when the Hanshi Festival takes place, people will abstain from using fire and cold food and participating in many traditional activities such as visiting graves, cockfighting, swinging, and boat racing,... for consecutive 3 days.

Although the actual Cold Food Festival of Vietnam originates from Chinese customs, it has been merged and changed almost completely when introduced into our country's folklore. This festival in Vietnam is known as The Troi - Chay Cake Festival (floating dessert wading in water). On this day, we still cook normally, without abstaining from using fire or just eating cold food like Chinese custom.

The Hanshi Festival will take place on Thursday, April 11, 2023

Cold Food Festival's significance in Vietnamese culture

The third lunar month's third-day festival in Vietnam clearly shows the cultural characteristics and unique lifestyle of Vietnamese people. Since ancient times, troi - chay cake has been used to worship ancestors and to show respect to superiors on Cold Food Festival. 

Family members will gather to prepare pure white floating cakes, carefully molded into a round shape. After offering to the ancestors, everyone will enjoy the round cakes with sweet flavors together, enjoying the perfect family atmosphere.

Cold Food Festival means a lot of things to Vietnamese people

Dishes at Hanshi Festival in Vietnam

The common point of the dishes on this festival is that they are all made from fragrant glutinous rice flour - the precious labor result of the long-standing wet rice civilization in Vietnam, thereby expressing respect and gratitude to ancestors.

Troi - chay cake

The first cake that is indispensable to bringing good luck to the Cold Food Festival is the troi - chay cake. Troi - chay cake not only honors the origin of wet rice civilization since ancient times. The image of round and white cakes stacked side by side brings the idea of ​​reminiscing the legend of "Au Co's mother and a hundred eggs" of the Vietnamese people.

The round, smooth, and pure cake represents fullness and abundance. When served with ginger sugar water is also very fragrant. Therefore, eating troi - chay cakes on the day of the third lunar month's third-day festival is both a way of remembering the deceased and a way to pray for good luck for yourself and your family.

Troi - Chay cake

Xuan Thai cake

Xuan Thai cake - a lovely-sounding name that encapsulates the quintessence of spring. In a more rustic way, Xuan Thai cake is a type of spring roll with meat and fresh spring vegetables inside. With an appearance similar to banh cuon, Xuan Thai cake is also considered the original version of today's banh cuon.

During the Tran and Ly dynasties, Vietnamese people had the custom of giving each other banh cuon at the Cold Food Festival. It can be said that the gifts of cakes given to each other on this festival will have special meaning and good luck.

Xuan Thai cake

Cold Food Festival in Vietnam contains many deep meanings about the religion, culture, and tradition of the nation. The dishes in the festival are a harmonious combination of cultural and spiritual factors, which is considered an indispensable part of the Vietnamese third lunar month's third-day festival. Travel to Vietnam and discover the unique qualities of Vietnamese festivals!