Green rice offerings preserve Tay ethnic people's harvest traditions

The flavour of a new harvest

From around the middle of the eighth lunar month, when glutinous rice grains are still soft and filled with milky starch, Tay families head to the fields to harvest only the finest panicles for making cốm. They believe this is when the rice contains the perfect balance of natural sweetness and fresh aroma, producing tender, fragrant green rice flakes.

Nghia Do has long been known for its indigenous sticky rice varieties, including Nep Mo, Nep Lang, Nep Nam Nha and Nep Cu. These traditional cultivars give Nghia Do's cốm its distinctive texture - soft, chewy and naturally sweet with the fragrance of freshly harvested rice.

Producing quality cốm requires patience and skill at every stage. The rice is carefully selected, roasted over moderate heat, pounded in wooden mortars and repeatedly winnowed to remove the husks. Even a slight mistake in roasting or pounding can diminish the flakes' delicate texture and characteristic aroma.

Beyond fresh cốm, Tay families also prepare a variety of traditional dishes, including green rice cakes, roasted cốm, bamboo-tube green rice and duck porridge with green rice. These seasonal specialties have long been part of everyday life and remain a highlight of the autumn harvest.

An offering to heaven, earth and ancestors

For the Tay people, cốm is not simply the season's first delicacy, it is a sacred offering in ceremonies celebrating the new rice harvest.

When the harvest begins, each household holds a new rice ceremony to thank heaven, the rice deity and their ancestors for blessing the fields with a successful crop. The first batch of freshly made cốm is placed in the most honoured position on the family altar as a symbol of filial respect and gratitude for the bounty of nature after months of hard work in the fields.

A distinctive tradition in Nghia Do is the annual green rice offering ceremony at Nghia Do Temple, which has been preserved by the Tay community for generations. During each harvest season, local families prepare ceremonial trays featuring newly made cốm alongside other local produce to honour the area's founding ancestors and pray for favourable weather, plentiful harvests and peaceful lives.

The ritual reflects the Tay people's long-standing agricultural beliefs, in which rice is regarded not only as sustenance but also as a precious gift from nature deserving respect and thanksgiving.

Preserving cultural identity through green rice

While Hanoi's famous cốm is traditionally wrapped in lotus leaves, Nghia Do's green rice is wrapped in fresh dong leaves. The simple wrapping helps preserve the flakes' moisture and softness while giving the local specialty its own distinctive identity.

Today, both the traditional craft of making cốm and the green rice offering ceremony at Nghia Do Temple continue to be practised each year. Beyond preserving indigenous knowledge, these traditions have become a unique cultural tourism attraction, drawing visitors eager to experience the harvest season, sample local cuisine and discover the rich heritage of the Tay people.

Amid modern life, the vibrant green flakes continue to carry the fragrance of newly harvested rice and the memories of Vietnam's long rice-growing civilisation. For the Tay people of Nghia Do, cốm is far more than an autumn delicacy, it symbolises gratitude to nature, reverence for ancestors and hopes for abundant harvests that will sustain future generations.

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