Why do Vietnamese have three Tao' Qua^n or Gods of the Hearth?

In Vietnam, the hearth is the focal place where foods are prepared and consumed daily, family members share their feelings as well as their daily activities during meal times. It is the place where wives lovingly prepare meals for their husbands and children help their mothers get ready for dinner. The hearth is therefore the symbol of love, of caring and of self-sacrifice. The legend of the three Tao' Qua^n or the Gods of the Hearth was told to many Vietnamese children as a symbol of unselfish love..

The myth of Ta'o Qua^n is based on the tragic story of a woodcutter and his wife.

This modest couple lived happily until the war broke out. The husband very sadly had to leave his wife behind, to search for work in exchange for foods. After a few months, before the woodcutter was able to come home to get his wife, the village was burnt down and the two lost contact of each other.

Many years went by, after having looked in vain for her husband and was told that he had died during the war, the wife gave up all hopes and finally decided to get remarried to a hunter.

One day, there were a beggar who came to the village where the wife lived. He knocked on the door, asking for food. Moved with pity, the woman let the beggar in and to her shock, discovered that was her first husband. She gave him something to eat and the two were exchanging stories as to what had happened to them. At that moment, the hunter came home. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the young woman hid her first husband in a cowshed covered by a thatch roof, next to the kitchen where the hunter was smoking his game.

By misfortune, a spark burst out and the thatch roof caught fire. In panic, the young woman threw herself in the cowshed to save her ex-husband, who himself did not want to escape, so that he would not cause any problems to his ex-wife. Unaware of what was going on, the hunter jumped into the fire to save his wife but it was too late and he too perished in the fire.

The Emperor of Heaven and Earth, from the height of his celestial throne, was deeply touched by the three unfortunate beings, deified them and gave them the charge of looking after the well-being of people on earth and from that time on, the three became the Tao' Qua^n or Gods of the Hearth. Once a year , they had to report back to Heaven how people on earth were getting along.

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