The children living in YWAM Mercy’s three community-based Children’s Homes made traditional Chung Cakes and received gifts to welcome the Lunar New Year with their extended-families. These are a savory cake made of sticky rice, pork, and mung beans wrapped in banana leaves. In the north of Vietnam, these are square-shaped, and the pork and mung beans are placed in the middle of the rice. No Lunar New Year feast would be complete without Chung Cakes! The cakes the children made were taken home as gifts for their extended families.
Part of the joy of making the cakes is that everyone works together to wrap them. There is time to talk while tending the fire together during the long process of boiling the cakes (the cakes must be boiled at least 8 hours). A year-end feast was cooked by the children themselves to say goodbye the old year and welcome the new year with wishes for happiness and good things.
The children were excited to receive gifts prepared by the Homes Board of Management and Home Mothers. Gifts for each person included: Chung Cakes, pork, candies, cookies and a box of traditional dried fruits, all indispensable items for this holiday.
This is the biggest holiday in Vietnam, so this year all schools were closed from February 1-11 in celebration.