The Tết Doan Ngo, The Hunt For Worms Is On!

The story begins when a genie advised farmers to make offerings and prayers to their ancestors to fight against the insects that were destroying crops during the summer. Once the ceremonies were completed, all the pests would fall away. Since then, Tết Doan Ngo has remained deeply rooted in Vietnamese culture. Farmers continue these customs to drive away insects and ensure a good harvest season.

Tết Doan Ngo in Vietnamese customs and traditions

Tết Doan Ngo, the festival where "we kill the insects," is an opportunity to honor ancestors with typical culinary dishes. It is about "purging" oneself, preventing diseases, and warding off the bad influences caused by the spirits of death. This festival is a beautiful tradition of unification and plays an important role in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. This custom, shared by other Asian countries such as China, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, and Singapore, is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month (Double Fifth Festival), which falls on June 25th this year.

In the past, there were many rituals: bathing in water scented with coriander, taking medicinal herbs to prevent illness, and most importantly: the hunt for worms! Today, families gather around the symbolic dishes of this celebration. We eat Ruou Nep ("white glutinous rice") and Ruou Nep Cam ("purple glutinous rice"), a dish that, according to legend, would cleanse all impurities from the body if eaten at breakfast. We also enjoy seasonal fruits such as peaches, plums, lychees, and Banh Tro, a cake made from glutinous rice with ashes from herbs and plants. We place these same dishes on the ancestor altar to honor them and continue the original values of Tết Doan Ngo.

Linguistic Information

Tết Doan Ngo, or Doan Duong, also called Tết Giết Sâu Bo (festival to kill the worms and insects). In Sino-Vietnamese, "Doan" means "Opening" and "Ngo" means "Midday." “Duong" means "Sun" or "Yang," so Doan Duong means "begin the blossoming of Yang."

Vietnamese traditions include many "Tết" celebrations: Tết Nguyên Đán (Lunar New Year), Tết Thanh Minh (Day of the Dead - similar to All Saints’ Day in France), Tết Hàn Thực (Cold Food Festival), Tết Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival), Tết Doan Ngo... It’s always a pleasure to share these celebrations with you through writing or, even better, on the ground, as they allow us to familiarize you with our customs and traditions.

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