Travel

The Heart of Saigon Beats to a Different Drum: A Monthly End-of-Year Market Selling a Century-Old Tradition

The Ong Ta three-way intersection in Ho Chi Minh City is home to a bustling dong leaf market, a longstanding tradition of over half a century. This market comes alive in the lead-up to Tet, as locals flock to purchase the leaves needed for making traditional banh chung cakes.

Administrator

2 December, 2024

The Ngã Ba Ông Tạ leaf market, located in the heart of Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, is a unique and vibrant place that comes alive only once a year during the Tet holiday season. This year marks its over-half-a-century existence, a testament to its significance in the local community.

For about 500 meters along the road, starting from Tan Binh Secondary School to the People’s Committee of Ward 7, the street is transformed into a bustling marketplace filled with the vibrant green colors of dong leaves and the lively atmosphere of buyers and sellers, all preparing for the upcoming Tet celebrations.

Despite being called a market, this gathering is extraordinary as it convenes only once a year, right before the Lunar New Year. From the 21st to the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, the market springs to life from as early as 5 am until late at night. Along the pavement at the Ngã Ba Ông Tạ intersection and stretching for hundreds of meters, buyers and sellers converge. The vendors have prepared a variety of goods, including dong leaves, banana leaves, strings, cake molds, and other utensils needed for making traditional cakes like bánh chưng and bánh tét.

Most of the dong leaves, strings, and molds sold here are sourced from nearby provinces such as Dong Nai and Lam Dong, as well as Hoc Mon district in Ho Chi Minh City, and even some northern provinces. These leaves are carefully selected from gardens and farms, ensuring they are of the best quality, with a vibrant green color, durability, and large, round shape—all desirable traits for wrapping the perfect bánh chưng.

The price of dong leaves varies depending on their size, with a bundle of 50 leaves ranging from 30,000 VND to 120,000 VND. Strings are sold at 10,000 VND per bundle or 3 bundles for 20,000 VND, while cake molds start from 20,000 VND and can go up to 40,000 VND, depending on their size. Banana leaves, used for wrapping bánh tét and other traditional cakes, are also available for around 20,000 to 25,000 VND per kilogram.

Moving along to the Pham Van Hai Street area, near Pham Van Hai Market in Ward 5, the prices of dong leaves are slightly higher, ranging from 60,000 to 120,000 VND per bundle of 50 leaves, with cake molds priced between 30,000 and 40,000 VND each. This area also offers gac fruit, an essential ingredient for making colorful and delicious sticky rice, for approximately 50,000 to 60,000 VND per kilogram. In addition to dong leaves, the market also provides banana leaves, strings, and cake-wrapping necessities.

Most of the stall owners are elderly locals who have been running their businesses here for years. The market itself has a long history, dating back to before the liberation of Vietnam, but it used to be much smaller, serving only the nearby community, particularly those from the northern and central regions of Vietnam who had resettled in the south. Over time, the market has grown and become an integral part of the Tet holiday preparations for many residents in Ho Chi Minh City.

Although it convenes only once a year, the Ngã Ba Ông Tạ leaf market is well-known among the citizens of Ho Chi Minh City. For many, it represents a unique and rustic cultural feature of the city, as it is conveniently located along a major thoroughfare.