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Five-fruit tray in the South |
The five-fruit tray is an indispensable item on the ancestral altar of every Vietnamese family during Lunar New Year (Tet). However, in each region and each family there are different ways to offer a five-fruit tray, but little is known of its meaning.
To learn about the significance and tradition of the five-fruit tray, Tuoi Tre Online interviewed Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them, head of Culturology Department, HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
* Would you talk about where the tradition of offering a five-fruit tray derives from?
Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them: The five-fruit tray derives from the ancient cultural tradition in the delta of Red River and Ma River.
To understand its meaning, it must go from the yin-yang philosophy, deriving from the wet rice culture in Southeast Asia, a culture focuses on yin, focuses on synthetic thinking, which is interested in many issues and their relationships at the same time (this is odd thinking, linked thought). It is different from the nomadic original culture in the West, a culture focuses on yang and focuses on analytical thinking, which always concentrates on only one element, going deep into one problem (this is even thinking, opposite thinking)
In my opinion, in the area affected by the yin-yang philosophy in the East, there are two trends:
The first trend is the culture of the Han people in the North and the second trend is the culture in the South, which is completely wet rice culture, so thinking is about the general, attaching much importance to intermediate factors. From the yin-yang philosophy, it has been developed toward five basic elements (mental, wood, water, fire and earth). So the odd numbers, especially number five among the five elements, is very important in our country's cultural tradition. It not only affects the concepts of five colours, five directions, five tastes, five organs but also affects taboos (Vietnamese people often forbid 5th, 14th and 23rd of lunar calendar because 14th and 23rd are all variant of number five, their total is five).
Thus, the five-fruit tray here with five-basic-element spirit requires to offer five kinds of fruits. This is a very long-standing traditional culture of our nation.
* So what do people offering the five-fruit tray during Tet look forward to in the New Year?
Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them: The five-fruit tray is specific products of agricultural culture in a tropical country where fruits are produced all year round. The kinds of fruit are all available local products and they are very easy to offer. People’s aspirations in offering a five-fruit tray, like Lang Lieu's desire when using glutinous rice to make Chung and Day cakes to offer his King, who is also his father, is that praying for five fruits (it also means all kinds of fruit) are always abundant for their prosperous and peaceful life.
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Five-fruit tray in the North |
* What kinds of fruit are be offered in a five-fruit tray and how is each fruit related to each basic element?
Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them: The culture focusing on yin is flexible. So there is no rigid regulation on what kinds of fruit have to be offered on a five-fruit tray, provided that it must reflect the structure of five basic elements represented through five colours.
However, in the northern delta there is a fruit that is almost never absent in a five-fruit tray - a bunch of green bananas. Banana is a kind of tree widely planted everywhere, it fruits all year round so it is easy to find; secondly, bananas usually unfold so it is easy to arrange other fruits on them; thirdly, green bananas can keep a long time and the green colour symbolizes the wood among the five basic elements.
One other fruit that is also very common is called Buddha’s hand – it is spiritual because its bottom is shaped like Buddha's finger. It is often used as a medicinal herb and its yellow colour symbolizes the earth among the five basic elements. We can use a yellow grapefruit to replace the Buddha’s finger.
Red fruits such as pomegranates, tangerines and chili symbolize fire of the five basic elements, the white fruit such as peaches representing metal; dark fruits like plum symbolizing water.
* How much difference is there between five-fruit trays in different regions in Vietnam?
Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them: The difference between the five-fruit tray in regions is primarily due to differences in natural conditions: in Central and South regions, we will meet specific fruits that are uncommon in the North region such as coconut, blue dragon and mango.
On the other hand, while the five-fruit tray in the Northern region attaches much importance to the principle of five basic elements based on five colours, but the Central and Southern regions attach more importance to semantics of fruits’ names so they select fruits with good names.
In addition, the five-fruit tray in the Central region has the refinement of Hue people: they don’t use a big bunch of bananas like the five-fruit tray in the North but choose king bananas, which are smaller but sweet-smelling. The five-fruit tray in the South usually has five kinds of fruit: custard apple, fig, coconut, papaya and mango. When these five kinds of fruits are read adjoining each other, it is almost like: “Pray prosperous enough to enjoy”.
The five-fruit tray in the South presents the stuff of the local people there and also presents the advantageous nature in the region: abundant in fruits so their five-fruit tray maybe more than five fruits.
The ordering of fruits displayed on a tray is not important, providing that they are nice.
* What kinds of fruit are banned on a five-fruit tray?
Prof. Dr of Sc. Tran Ngoc Them: A five-fruit tray must be beautiful both in shape and significance so fruits with bad shapes have not been offered on the tray. The Central and South pay much attention to semantics of name of fruits so they avoid fruits called bad luck, for example, the Central don’t choose papaya to offer on a five-fruit tray because its name pronounced as the central voice heard almost "enemy enough".
* Thanks you very much!