Kitchen Gods Day, 23rd of the twelfth lunar month

The Kitchen Gods, also called the kings of the hearth, watch over the kitchen of every home. In folk belief the kitchen keeps the fire of the whole family, so the god of the hearth sees every joy and sorrow, every deal and every quarrel of the household throughout the year.

The worship of a hearth god came from China, where there is a single Kitchen God. In Vietnam it was reshaped into "two men and one woman" and tied to the three clay stove stones that held up the cooking pot in old wood-fired kitchens. That is why Vietnamese people still speak of the "three stove-stone gentlemen".

The story tells of a poor couple, Trọng Cao and Thị Nhi. They had no children and often quarrelled. One day, in a fit of anger, Trọng Cao struck his wife. Thị Nhi left home and later married Phạm Lang, a kind and hard-working man.

Full of regret, Trọng Cao searched everywhere for his wife until he had nothing left and had to beg. One day he happened to ask for food at Thị Nhi's house. Recognising him, she took pity and fed him. Afraid that Phạm Lang would come home and see, she hid Trọng Cao in the haystack behind the house.

Phạm Lang returned and set fire to the haystack to make ash for the fields, not knowing a man was inside. Thị Nhi ran into the flames to save her former husband, and Phạm Lang, out of love for his wife, leapt in after her. All three died in the fire. Moved by their hearts, the Jade Emperor made them the Kitchen Gods, keeping the hearth fire of every home together.

In the most common version, Phạm Lang became the god of the kitchen, Trọng Cao the god of the house and Thị Nhi the goddess of the market and trade. The roles vary from region to region, but the story is always about marital loyalty and forgiveness.

In this world it is one wife and one husband; not so the hearth kings, two men and one woman.

Vietnamese folk verse

On the 23rd of the last lunar month the Kitchen Gods go to heaven to report the household's good and not-so-good deeds to the Jade Emperor. Vietnamese people believe the carp can leap the Dragon Gate and become a dragon, so it is the chosen mount to carry the gods to heaven.

The offering therefore often includes a bowl of water with two or three live carp. After the rite, the family releases the fish into a pond, lake or river. Releasing them both sends off the gods and frees a living creature, praying for blessings in the new year. Many families use paper carp burned with the paper robes instead of live fish.

The offering includes three hats: two winged mandarin hats for the men and one without wings for the woman, plus paper robes and boots. Their colour usually follows the element of the coming year, white for a Metal year, red for a Fire year and so on.

There are no trousers in the set. Folk humour says the Kitchen Gods "wear no trousers" because they were burned away when the three ran into the fire, so families only offer hats, robes and boots. It is an oral explanation, often retold in literature and Tết television shows.

In the past the rite took place in the wood-fired kitchen, beside the three stove stones. Today many families cook on gas or induction and live in apartments, so the offering is usually placed on the ancestral altar or in a tidy corner of the kitchen. The spirit of the day is unchanged: clean up, look back on the year and get ready for Tết.

From 2003, the year-end show on VTV portraying the Kitchen Gods reporting to the Jade Emperor became a New Year's Eve favourite for many families for nearly two decades. In recent years cities have encouraged people to release carp responsibly: not from bridges, and without leaving plastic bags or paper offerings in rivers and lakes.

In the north the offering usually has live carp, paper hats and a savoury meal of sticky rice, boiled chicken, soup and pork roll. In the centre families make the offering in the kitchen with a home-cooked meal, often including vegetarian dishes. In many southern homes there are sweets, candied fruit and sweet soup, so the gods will "speak sweetly" to the Jade Emperor.

Whatever the offerings, all three regions value sincerity. A simple tray, a clean kitchen and the whole family sitting together after the rite is the most complete way to send the Kitchen Gods off. After the rite many families clean the kitchen, refresh the incense bowl and get ready for Tết shopping.