ấm: (1) warm (2) kettle, pot;
tổ: nest;
tổ ấm: home
Home, its occupants, and the land it sits on are protected by Táo Quân (“the Kitchen God”), often believed to be Thổ Công, Thổ Kỳ, and Thổ Địa, respectively. A tale of the deities as a wife and her two husbands who perished in a fire because of love and loyalty may be rooted in the terracotta stove used in earlier times. Thổ Công also refers to a “deity of the earth” to whom offerings are made before any groundbreaking. Another embodiment of the earth deity is Ông Địa, who is worshiped with an altar placed directly on the ground.