According to the book "Vietnamese Altar Placement Methods" (Hong Duc Publishing House, 2022), the ancient concept holds that the Kitchen God is in charge of the kitchen. The main job of the Kitchen God is to represent heaven in supervising good and evil deeds in each family.
Every year, on the 23rd of December, the Kitchen God returns to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor everything. In addition, the Kitchen God is also the guardian of the house, preventing evil spirits from entering the house and causing trouble for the family.
The altar of Tao Quan is usually placed above the stove (called the altar page). Some families solemnly set up an altar. Books say that because Tao Quan belongs to “Fire”, he should be placed in the South direction for “Fire” to flourish.
On the altar wall there is a parallel sentence “Dinh Phuc Tao Quan”. For those who worship Tao Quan, people usually worship Tao at the end of the year. In the Tao worship ceremony, there is wine and sugar. Wine for Tao Quan to get drunk, to report the family’s mistakes in detail. Sugar for Tao to say many good things about the family. Some families worship banh troi and carp.
In Vietnam, on the 23rd of December, people worship carp to take the Kitchen God to heaven, because in our country there are many legends of carp turning into dragons. Arranging and arranging the kitchen neatly and in accordance with feng shui will improve the quality of life.
The Tao Quan altar should be placed in two basic directions, which are the good direction suitable for the homeowner or the South (100% Fire). If the Tao Quan altar faces the toilet, it should be avoided and moved to another suitable direction.
The altar and the tablet of the Kitchen God should be brought to the temple and asked the monk to make a seal to consecrate the statue so that it can appear in spirit. The altar of the Kitchen God includes: a tablet, 3 cups of water (wine cups), a vase of flowers, 2 light bulbs, a small plate of fruit, a bowl of rice and a bowl of red beans. Depending on the size of the altar, families can design and arrange it to look nice.
Note, regardless of whether the ceremony to worship Ong Cong Ong Tao is big or small, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, you should keep the kitchen clean and airy before placing the offering tray. The ancients have a saying "A clean house is cool, clean bowls make delicious rice", the cooking place needs to be clean and ensure food hygiene.
