Once a year, yellow sugarcane becomes a “hot” item that houses buy together to worship God on January 9.
A small section of Le Quang Sung, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City for decades, once a year, becomes a “cane market” within 2 days attracting a large number of customers. According to people here, every afternoon from the 7th to the noon of the 8th of the Lunar New Year, there will be many “seasonal” small businesses that appear briefly to trade in yellow sugarcane in less than 24 hours to pay the ground, clear the goods and close the shop. door.
Visited on the morning of the 8th of the Lunar New Year in 2023, Quy Mao, quite surprised when it was dawn, everyone got up very early, bustling the whole area. Some people choose beautiful straight sugarcane, some people hold two or three cane straight up to the sky to try to measure the equality, the seller quickly put the sugar cane on the shoulder for the customer, but the buyer is also happy to pay no price. because it is considered a sacred “offer”.
It was just 6 am that people gathered at the crowded Le Quang Sung street to choose yellow sugar cane
TRADITIONS OF PURCHASING SUGAR TO GOD
Many customs of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year revolve around the wish for prosperity and good fortune, but the custom of buying golden sugar cane for the festival of God on January 9 is one of them. The ceremony of the gods, also known as the ceremony of the Jade Emperor, originated from the Chinese who migrated to the South of Vietnam. Because the new year is the beginning of all things, the beginning of hope and the beginning of building and doing business for a better and more developed life. Therefore, the ritual of worshiping the gods before starting to work will be to pray for many blessings, health, smoothness, luck in work and life.
Offerings on the 9th day of the Lunar New Year will include incense, lamps, flowers, Sweet Soup (or water) accompanied by votive items and necessarily have “gold” for longevity, “gold” for god, a pair of cartons, and poured sugar. mold and indispensable yellow cane. An elderly customer said: “This ceremony is to pray for health, luck, convenience in work and prosperity and prosperity for the new year. Sugarcane must be in pairs, straight, smooth, beautiful yellow color and long lasting. Only the top is fine. Offer yellow sugar cane as a symbol of a ladder to heaven.”
Sugarcane for worship is chosen very carefully one by one, must buy straight sugarcane, two trees are equal, about 2 meters long is the most standard.
In the early morning of the 8th of the Lunar New Year, no family forgets to wake up early to choose yellow sugar cane, buy gifts to prepare for tomorrow’s ceremony. Some people want to choose beautiful sugarcane, colorful, full 2 meters tall and straight shape, they also go to buy sugarcane late at night on the 7th, just when the sugarcane trucks of small businesses open up.
Sold 6000 Sugarcane trees, a few tens of millions of profits in less than 1 day
Ms. Huong, from District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, said: “It’s impossible to forget about the Jade Emperor’s ceremony, forgetting about the first New Year’s events, forgetting any abstention customs and skipping it, but the Ngoc Hoang’s ritual is definitely not. This worshiping ceremony when I was born, I saw my parents worshiping, and now I have a grandchild who still makes an annual offering. Every time my husband and I go to buy, we will buy 4 pairs of sugarcane for the whole family, every year.”
People share that every year on the 8th morning, they also remember to get up early to buy sugar cane to worship the Jade Emperor
“Every year, I get up early to take my mother to the market to buy yellow sugar cane because I really like the atmosphere people choose on this day. The atmosphere is very different from going to the market with my mother on weekdays, because this “goods” is quite beautiful and stylish. Everyone’s selection is also quite interesting (he laughs) And because even though there are many people crowded together but no one is grumpy, everyone happily chooses sugar cane, talking to each other even though they are familiar, although they are very cute. Because everyone has just finished eating Tet, they are also happy in their hearts, but also because they buy sugar cane to worship the Jade Emperor for good luck, everything is more joyful.” – Mr. Hoang lives in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City.
Many people like to go to buy yellow sugar cane in addition to worshiping because of the cheerful and joyful morning atmosphere
The price of sugarcane this year has increased to 70,000 VND a pair, an increase of about 10,000 VND – 20,000 VND compared to the previous year, and even if you buy in bulk up to 5 pairs or more, the price is still not reduced. But because it is an item of worship to God to pray for good things, not an expensive million dollar item, so no one wants to bargain more or less.
A small trader said: “Every year late at night on the 7th, I only ship up, this year sold early, the evening of the 7th was already here. I imported about 3000-4000 pairs of sugarcane, I don’t know exactly, but have to carry many cars. Usually every year, it will be sold until noon around 12 o’clock on the 8th.
Thousands of sugarcane were sold out in less than 24 hours
The owners of the sugarcane granary only appear once a year
“This year, the business situation is not strong, so I do not import much, selling about 2000-3000 pairs of sugarcane, that is about 5000-6000 trees. I transport sugarcane from Tien Giang, the hardest thing is to keep the sugarcane plant. intact, not much scratched, sugarcane leaves are still green and not crushed, so the selling price still has to be calculated for shipping, and this is a beautiful selection of sugarcane to offer, so the price must be different from normal sugar cane. often.” – The owner of the sugarcane barn on Le Quang Sung street said.
There are about 5-6 sugarcane owners selling sugar cane in this “market”, and on average each row sells about 3000 pairs of yellow sugar cane to the people, each pair costs 70,000 VND. From 7 to noon on the 8th, it fell more than 200 million.($1=24,000 VND)
Everyone carefully chose for themselves each pair of beautiful sugarcane to show their sincere devotion to Ngoc Hoang.
With the retail price of yellow sugar cane on a normal day is only about 7000 VND – 10,000 VND a tree, but on this day it is 5 times more padded, not counting the amount of profit that is really terrible. Of course, there is also the difference in loss between the well-selected sugarcane with the top leaves and the yellow sugarcane grown in the garden. But must be reconsidered, the small traders here will get cheaper wholesale price of sugarcane or they are farmers who grow and sell directly to people without any intermediaries.
The beautiful practice of Vietnamese Tet in the early morning of the 8th
In a year of 365 days, only half a day from the evening of the 7th to the noon of the 8th of the Lunar New Year is a golden opportunity, if you know how to calculate your business, the profit from this golden sugarcane business falling to several tens of millions is easy – the number that Before they could make offerings to the Jade Emperor to pray for a prosperous business, the small merchants relied on the Jade Emperor to become rich.
Thanks to the custom of displaying yellow sugar cane to celebrate God, the cyclo drivers can earn a few more trips during Tet
Who can also make a lot of money in the gold cane business?
– People who are suitable for this job: Small traders, farmers, freelancers or office workers have time on the 6th – 8th of Tet.
– How to do business: Know where to buy gold cane wholesale, know how to coordinate shipping and retail.
– How to sell: Sell directly at Le Quang Sung street or places to buy and sell, market.
– Capital spent: Ranges from 20 million or more, excluding shipping costs.
– Demand: As an item that attracts customers in only 2 days on the 7th and 8th of Tet, it can be used to earn more on this occasion, on weekdays, it is not possible to earn high and long-term profits.
According Trí thức trẻ