Giáng Kiết Tường Translated to English  Read in Vietnamese

The flower belongs in the Genus Ochna integerrima of the family Ochnaceae, and is a small shrub or herbaceous plant readily found in the tropical and subtropical regions. Budding takes place all at the same time and in great quantity.  Its 5-petal flowers bearing a blatant yellow color with reddish thin stamens, usually blossom and bloom in abundance at the start of every spring. The leaves are of evergreen petiolate type, and the sturdy trunk is ideal for bonsai formation. There is no English name to this flower, though at times, some related genus is referred to as the Mickey Mouse flower (researched from wikipedia – GKT)

NOTE FROM THE TRANSLATOR: Below is a fairy tale of this beautiful flower that is so dear to the Vietnamese people during Tet celebration. For Tet to be essentially complete, along with Hoa Mai Vang (the yellow Mai), we have to have Banh Chung (a traditional square cake made of glutinous rice and mung bean and meat), Cau Doi do (red calligraphy banners with lucky sayings), Thit Kho Dua Hanh (pickled onions and caramelized braised pork), Cay Neu (bamboo pole to ward off evil), and Trang Phao (red firecrackers also to ward off spirits and welcome the new year). All of those items can be found in this common saying:

“Thịt mỡ Dưa hành Câu Đối đỏ - Cây nêu Tràng Pháo Bánh Chưng Xanh”

Once upon a time... long, long ago... there was a little girl with the most compassionate heart. She loved her parents and her big sister dearly of course; she also loved everyone around her, including the three Kitchen Gods residing in her house. They actually were just the three stone fixtures used as the cooking stoves but everyone knew them as Gods because they bear the hardship, the heat, the burning charcoal in order to do all the cooking and making dinner for the family. On one hot summer day, the weather was so unbearably hot, but the three Gods relentlessly stayed burned in the kitchen all day to prepare food, the 5-year-old girl felt so bad for them, so she took a bucket of cold water and douse all over them. The fire stopped, the ashes smoldered, the smoke billowed, and the oldest Kitchen-God appeared in the thick smoke and said to her:

– Honey, you love us, we know, but you don’t understand... the more burning the fire is, the happier we get. If you shower us with water, we will surely catch a cold.

Learning that, the little girl wouldn’t dare pour water to cool them down anymore. Often the oldest Kitchen-God appeared in the smoke to befriend the girl and her sister. One day she asked him:

– Do you only like fire? Do you care for anything else?

-- Oh yes my dear! The year is about to be over, I have to return to the Heavens for my year-end report. If I have a large Carp, it would make my trip a whole lot easier. 

– Dear Mr. Stove-God, we just brought you a fresh carp for your ride!

Immediately, the carp disappeared into the fire. On the 23^rd day of month 12 before Tet, the usual day when all the Kitchen Gods had to make their annual report in heavens, the girls saw their Stove-God riding his beautiful carp like a horse, right out of the kitchen door and ascending high into the heavens above...

The girls’ father was a hunter of wild and feral animals. He vowed:

– If there are still ferocious animals out there, I will forever be a hunter to capture them all!

He would not want his daughters to take up his trade because they were both girls. But the little girl, only 5 year old, already begged her father to teach her the use of bows and arrows, knifes, machetes, and swords. Small in age and size, but she was agile and fast, and her strong and powerful little hands amazed even the father. At nine years old, she already asked to accompany her father on hunting trips. The mother and sister really worried, but she reassured them:

– Dear Mother and Sister, don’t worry for me. If I can’t kill the animal by one single shot like Dad, I will surely do it with many. I’m not afraid.

Just as she said, the first time going into the deep forest with her father, she already single-handedly killed a wild and vicious boar... 

Suddenly there appeared a brutal animal-demon of half human, half leopard in the region where they lived. All the villagers were scared to death of this creature. Stories told that it only liked to feast on the flesh of little children. The villagers depended on the hunter to find this beast and capture it before it destroyed all. The father took it upon himself to save the people. He wanted to take the daughter with him to go search for the monster. Her mother and sister begged him not to take her along, but he responded:

– I only let her come and watch. The task is mine alone, you two don’t have to worry, okay!

In just a few days after they left for the forest, news came back that the father already conquered the beast and killed it. When they came back to town, a big celebration was organized by the villagers to honor them. The girl didn’t forget to bring another carp to share with her Kitchen God. She prayed for his appearance:

– Dear Kitchen God, I have come back, I’m bringing you a carp for you to take vacation trips outside of the kitchen now and then.

The eldest God came out of the smoke and asked her:

– Were you afraid of the beast when you saw it?

– No sir, I wish my father would let me help him in killing it but he did not allow it.

After the victorious incidence, her father suddenly became seriously ill. With the care of the mother and the two little girls, he got slightly better but his strength weakened and his power zapped. 

After a while another village far away from them became threatened by a half-human-half-constrictor beasty animal with the strongest power. It could squeeze a large cow in seconds. It also loved the meaty flesh of little children, and can consumed half a dozen kids at a time. Hearing of their famed reputation, the villagers came and begged the hunter and his little girl to help. The sick father looked at his young daughter and asked:

- I am so very weak now, do you think you can take on the responsibility?

- Father, Mother, and Sister, I would like to try... responded the girl. 

The father then said: - I will go with you, but this time I can only watch. The task is entirely in your hands. With that, her mother and sister doubly worried.

 – Dear Husband, it is too dangerous, the humongous monster is brutal and mean, and our daughter is only 14. I am so afraid for her. Said the mother.

– Please don’t accept the job, Father! If something to happen to either of you, what would become of Mother and I, we would die. Begged her older sister.

The girl confidently assured them:

- Please Mother and Sister, though I am small but I know I am strong and smart enough to defeat the devil-creature. The neighboring villagers came all the way here to earnestly plead for help, we can’t deny them their safety. Don’t worry, Father and I will return in a jiffy after we finish tackling the beast.

There was no changing their mind, nor preventing their dutiful eagerness to help destroying the animal and once again bring peace back to the area. The mother and sister prepared and packed for their trip. This time it was closed to the Tet occasion. Mother already made new clothes for both girls, but she asked her brave daughter anyway:

– What color would you want your new blouse to be?

– Mother, I love yellow! Answered the little girl, looking far away into the forest.

Her mother found turmeric and dyed the shirt a bright yellow color. The day of the trip, the little girl wore her beautiful new yellow shirt that made her feel stronger because the color yellow represented strength and power. She said proudly:

– After taking care of the beast, on the way back home you can surely recognize me from very far away in this bright colored shirt.

Before leaving the house, the little girl went to the kitchen to bid farewell to the Kitchen Stove God and promised: 

- When I come back, I will tell you the story.

The eldest God appeared in the billowy smoke:

- Good luck to you and your father in the quest to destroy the beast, I am awaiting your safe return...

It took a whole lot longer this time to find the half-human-half-boa-constrictor creature. A whole month had passed before they arrive at the place where it hid. For two days they fought diligently with it but had not won. The strength of the father continued to decline. The little girl expressed her plan to him:

– Tomorrow, Father, let me go to its tail, I will try to pin it to the tree trunk with this large machete, and then pierce it through and get its body stuck to another tree with the sword. Once pinned down in both placed, we can easily work to cut off its head. The father knew the scheme was brilliant but very dangerous.

But trusting his daughter agile skills, he said:

- Yes! But be very careful because it is so strong, it could break away its tail from the tree.

– Don’t worry Father, I will be very cautious. The girl answered.

The next day, with the exact planned strategy, they were able to triumph over the human-beast creature. But unfortunately for the girl. With its last strength, the beast freed its bloody tail from the tree trunk to snatch the girl’s body. By the time she struck heavily down with her sword to cut off its head, the creature’s tail squeezed her and broke every bone in her little body and smashed her into pulp. With the beast dead, the father came to take his daughter’s demolished body, and together with the villagers who followed them into the forest, they buried her and built an altar in the village to worship her spirit – their hero.

But she wasn’t ready to leave her father, mother, sister, and all the village people that easily. She asked the Earth God to return her into a beautiful golden bird that no one had ever seen such beauty before. The bird flew to her parents’ house and asked to visit with the stone Kitchen Stove Gods:

- My dear Kitchen God, I was squeezed to death by the beast when I killed it. My mother and sister will be very sad if they know I died. Please, tonight is the 23^rd day of month 12, you are to go back to the heavens for your report. Please ask Heaven God to make me alive again, please, please...

- Okay dear! I will make my report and ask it for you. Replied the Kitchen God and he prepared to go off on his annual journey.

The beautiful yellow bird came over to where the mother and sister sit at the kitchen table, flapped its wings, sang a few sad tunes, then flew off. At the same time, the news of the little girl’s death reached them. The mother fell down onto the stove and passed away. The Kitchen God carried her out of the hot stove and using his magical hot hands, revived her and said to her:

- Don’t you worry ma’am. Tonight I will go to Heavens and ask for her return to life.

Both the mother and the sister were crying of joy when they heard that. They bowed down to thank the Kitchen God.

He went off to the Heavens on the night of the 23^rd, and returned on the 28^th. He sadly reported to the mother and sister:

– The Heaven God and all of us Gods love her dearly. But she was already dead for many days, too late for even Heaven God to make her alive again (Troi cung phai botay !!). But every year, we can make her come back to you for 9 days only.

The mother and daughter felt sad but also were comforted to have the little girl back for 9 days out of the year. Even just a few minutes with her was precious time enough already, having her for 9 days was more than they could possibly dream of. They questioned the Kitchen God:

– So when is she coming back alive to us?

– Oh whenever you want.

– Can you make her alive tonight?

– No, not tonight! The earliest is tomorrow night!

– Okay, tomorrow night then. Thank you! Thank you! They shouted.

The whole night, the mother and daughter cannot sleep. The next day they couldn’t do anything but awaiting the arrival of the night, when the little girl will return to them from death. Finally night came. They were so anxious and curious, not sure how their daughter/sister would come back. They were about to call upon the Kitchen God to inquire, when they heard the voice:

– Mother, Sister, here I am!

Both women ran outside to embrace the little girl in real bone and flesh, alive and healthy, in her bright yellow shirt, returning to them from being crushed to death by the brutal beast. They hugged each other and cried all the tears of joy and happiness.

The next day the father finally arrived home from the forest. He agonized over the death of his young daughter, and was so troubled as what and how to give the bad news to his wife and other daughter. But when he entered the house, he was taken aback seeing his little girl sleeping peacefully between his wife and daughter. For a moment he thought it must be someone else from the neighborhood. When they woke up and told him the story, he overcame with joy, hugged his little girl and cried the happiest tears of his life.

For nine days, the girl spent time at home celebrate Tet (an Tet) with the family. She tried to do everything to help her parents and sister, but they didn’t want her to, they wanted to cherish the full 9 days with her, for after that, she’d be gone from their life for almost a year before they would have her back again. On the last day, as the darkness fell upon the happy family who tried to hug her tightly, the girl started to fade away and disappear into nothingness. The family was so sad and missed her deeply. They comforted each other that they just have to patiently wait until next year when she would come back to them again... And when the 29^th day of the month 12 came, the little girl in the yellow dress arrived at the door, stayed and celebrated Tet with the family, and was gone again on the 7^th day of month 1. Every year she came back. The nearby village heard of the story; they remembered their hero who fought the man-snake beast and died because of it. When the father was much older, the villagers invited the family to move closer to them so they can be with their hero for nine days of the years. And every year thereafter, the girl in the yellow shirt came back to celebrate Tet with her family and the village people. Until when both father and mother and then her sister finally passed away, she no longer returned. She also died and was buried by the shrine erected for her by the villagers. There grew a tree with beautiful yellow flowers. The tree had green leaves all year round, but around spring, for about nine days during Tet, the tree gave exuberant yellow flowers – the exact color of the little girl’s shirt of many years before.

The tree with yellow flowers that bloomed only for about 9-10 days, every year during Tet was named Yellow Mai (or Mai Vang). Its petals all fell down almost together on the last day, gave way to evergreen leaves, until next spring, its budding blossoms once again announced the arrival of Tet. The Vietnamese traditions called for having either a Mai Vang tree or at least a blooming branch of Mai Vang to decorate the altars and the home during Tet. Its presence brought nostalgic happiness, displayed beauty and elegance, and warded off numerous evil spirits for the whole year.

Giáng Kiết Tường (The Buddhist Translation Group)

                                     
SOURCE: http://www.dulichtrongoi.com/modules.php/mod/news/CNid/19/NWid/346