President joins oversea Vietnamese in traditional carp release ritual in HCMC

In Vietnamese tradition, the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods worshipping ritual is held on the 23rd day of the last lunar month, which falls on Feb. 2 this year. It is also considered the start of the Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival - the biggest and most important traditional holiday of Vietnamese.

As the legend goes, "Ong Cong" (Land Genie) is the one in charge of land while "Ong Tao" (Kitchen Gods), consisting of two males and one female, are those who keep a watch over kitchen affairs of a family. They take note of a family’s issues in a year and will ride carps back to the Heaven on the 23rd day of the last lunar month, one week before the new year, to report all the good and bad things of that family to the God of Heaven.

This year, the ritual drew 100 overseas Vietnamese who are participating in the annual "Xuan Que Huong" (Homeland Spring) program 2024.

Before conducting the carp release ritual, president Thuong, his spouse and the overseas Vietnamese offered incense and flowers in tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh and late President Ton Duc Thang.

Also on Friday, the State leader and his entourage spent a minute of silence in commemoration of President Ho Chi Minh at the President Ho Chi Minh statue park on Nguyen Hue Street in HCMC's District 1.