Jubilant Chung, Day Cake Contest

This was the first content of the Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2016 and an activity of the province towards Hung Kings' Death Anniversary (lunar March 10).

The contest attracted 11 teams with 120 artisans from the province's districts and town and numerous people and visitors from everywhere.

In the morning, the teams competed in making chung cakes (square glutinous rice cakes). As a rule, each team assigned five artisans to pack 10 cakes (five vegetarian and five meaty) within a maximum period of 10 minutes. After form grading, the teams' cakes were boiled in seven hours before the last grading. This year, the organizers focused on the cakes' quality and form, so low grading the time part.

Artisans take part in chung cake packing



Putting cakes into a pot for boiling



Boiling cakes in seven hours

In the afternoon, the day cake (round glutinous rice cake) making part jubilantly took place with the rivalry among six units of Thanh Ha, Tu Ky, Kinh Mon, Gia Loc, Nam Sach, and Chi Linh. With 6.8 kg of rice, each team assigned six artisans to steam and pestle glutinous rice to complete five cakes within 45 minutes. Like the chung cake part, Nam Sach team completed the day cake part the fastest.

The contest was a show of glutinous rice steaming and day cake pestling techniques with unique features brought by artisans from various localities in the province.

Jubilant day pestling part



Domestic and foreign visitors like day pestling part. Photos: Thanh Chung

The organizers are holding a ceremony to offer the chung and day cakes at Con Son and Kiep Bac relics, summarizing the contest, and awarding prizes to the teams on the morning of February 22 (lunar January 15). The team winning first prize will represent the province to attend the National Chung and Day Cake Contest 2016 at Hung Temple Festival (Phu Tho).

NGOC HUNG