The charming Mai Châu valley, the heart of traditional culture of the Thai people. Discovering the Mai Châu Thai, we were surprised to find that other than stilt houses, the xoè dance, brocade looms, they were also able to retain their one-of-a-kind culinary traditions, which is the use of fish in ancestral offerings and daily life.
Fish in the Thai faith
The Thai ethnic people residing in the Mai Châu valley today still maintain a unique custom, which is that the offering meals to ancestors on important holidays are never missing fish. However, not all know the origin of this custom. Introduced by the elders, we made our way to the home of Mr. Khà Tiến in the Nghẹ neighborhood, Vạn Mai ward, who spent many years researching the Thai culture, and were told the meaningful story of a mother’s love and the Thai practice of offering fish.
Legend says, a Thai couple had two daughters. After getting married, the family of the older sister struggled, while the younger was more well off.
According to the customs of the Thai and a number of ethnicities in the Tây Bắc region, the meal offering, especially for New Year's or to rid of bad luck, there usually needs to be many “heads" (in a few places: “7 chicken heads, 3 pig heads" - PV). As a result, in the Thai New Year's meal offering that year, the two married couples each discussed what animal they were going to offer to the ancestors when the family had just a hen and chicks left. After deliberation, they decided to do a chicken offering.
During that night, the older sister dreamed of the hen telling its children, “Tomorrow the owner will kill me for the ancestral offering. I really want to live to raise you, but that is not possible anymore, so you have to love and care for each other”. Waking up, the sister thought much about the previous night's dream, particularly as a mother, so she should understand and sympathize even more with the heart, pain, and sacrifice of a mother when separated from her child. So, she talked to her husband, “The offerings to our ancestors begin with the heart. We will go to the river, and whatever we catch, we will make an offering with that. The most important is the sincerity and gratefulness of the descendants' hearts”.
That morning, the couple went to the river to catch fish to then cook into different dishes for the offering meal. From that story, many other families followed. Over time, fish became an indispensable part of the Mai Châu Thai offering meals to ancestors.
Elderly women instruct children on how to make the traditional Thai fish
From then on, fish held a special meaning in offering and New Year's meals. The Thai people no longer prayed with chicken, but only with fish. The different fish chosen to be used in offering meals mainly include green pickled fish, tilapia, barbel chub, grass cup, … Note to never offer fish without scales like catfish, barbs, …
Mr. Khà Tiến added: Since lunar February, the people organized to hunt, bring boats to the rivers, streams, and fish as a group. Mackerel is put into jars, marinated until the new year when the meal is eaten around July-August and brought out to use as sticky cake filling. A whole fish also has to be offered. Large fish can be cut to cook but still have to be arranged as a complete fish during praying, with the head and tail. The preparation for offerings usually consists of cooked food, including fish with vegetables from the forest or in the family garden. To make “đồ" fish, the Thai wash the fish, leave the scales, separate into pieces, stuff with lemongrass, wrap in papaya leaves to get rid of the fishy smell, and cook for 1-2 hours. Additionally, the other “đồ" fish dish essential to the ancestral offering meal is the carp. After cutting open the carp, the Thai dry the fish and cook it like any other fish. In particular, the fish used for ancestral offering has to be big in size and still have both the head and tail. In the 1960s, there was a period of time where the Tet meal of the Thai became lost, and as a consequence, the fish offering tradition faltered. However, in recent years, when cultural preservation has been taken more seriously, the New Years' meal and “Xên bản, Xên mường" festival is restored, the Thai people's traditional practice of worship and offerings has been revived. Thanks to this, the custom of preparing the offering meal with fish is gradually being renewed by families again.
Fish in the life of Thai people today
Not just appearing in the offering meal, fish is also a particularly familiar dish adored by the Mai Chau Thai. In a chat with us, Mr. Khà Văn Sảnh, President of the People's Committee in Vạn Mai ward, says: 75% of Vạn Mai ward’s current population is of the Thai ethnicity. The customs and culture of the Thai people are being maintained, preserved, developed. In particular, although the structure of the village does not contain a tradition of gardening, the Thai value the act of digging a fish pond to open up the home atmosphere to be more lively, as well as act as a source of water in case of a fire. For that reason, with the exception of houses situated on hills and mountains, the majority of Thai stilt houses around rice fields reserve a small area for a fish pond. For example, in the Nghẹ neighborhood, more than approximately 80% of families have a small-scale fish pond next to their homes. Moreover, families also take advantage of rice plantations to raise fish in order to boost their income or improve their meals according to the “rice above, fish below" motto.
Many tourist villages in Mai Châu such as Lác, Pom Coọng, bản Bước... have created the scenery of stilt houses built next to fish ponds or stilt houses above ponds to create a peaceful landscape appealing to tourists. Since fish ponds are closely tied to the daily life of the people so fish are simultaneously the most familiar food for the Thai people.
In sharing about the cooking methods of fish in daily meals or for guests, Mr. Hà Văn Hùng (Lác village, Chiềng Châu ward, Mai Châu district) told us: You cannot remove the scales in making ‘đồ' fish. Other than this traditional way of cooking the Thai people also grill, stew, fry, etc. fish. Some families also cut open the fish, steam, and then dry to eat gradually. With specialty fish like the green pickled fish, they can be stir-fried or made into hotpot. Fish raised by the Thai or wild fish in the rivers have aromatic taste, are sweet, meaty, so they are easy to cook and delicious.
Not only adored by the people, tourists visiting Mai Châu also love fish dishes such as papaya leaf-steamed fish, leaf-wrapped fried fish, grilled fish, fish cooked with bamboo shoots and guava seeds, fish braised with fillet fruit, braised fish with bamboo shoots, fish insides cooked with wild vegetables, fish cooked in small leaves, etc. In particular, dried carp and green pickled fish are also popular souvenirs frequently purchased by tourists to gift people of all ages. With time, the fish has become an indispensable feature in the people's life, characterizing the Mai Chau Thai ethnic people.
Ha Hoai Le
Source: www.baohoabinh.com.vn