Heartwarming scent from the green reeds

"The revolutionary base bursts with joy, warming the hearts of the people of my homeland."

"The sound of someone pounding betel nuts rhythmically is like the rhythm of my heart"...

The lyrics above, from the famous song "The Green Canal," composed by the late musician Ngo Huynh (1931-1993) in 1949, recall the Duong Van Duong canal, dug in the early 20th century, flowing through Long An province . The song mentions the sedge grass planted near the canal, which is actually a type of grass about 2 meters tall, with a round, tubular stem like a chopstick and brown flowers at the top. Many tourists wonder what "pounding sedge grass" means. Bringing that question to My Hanh Bac commune, Duc Hoa district, Long An province, we had an interesting experience in this rural village with a traditional craft associated with sedge grass. Elderly people in My Hanh Bac recount that in the past, after harvesting sedge grass, people in Southern Vietnam would pound it with a pestle and dry it to weave mats (also known as sedge mats) for household use. Throughout the resistance war, sedge mats were used for soldiers to sleep on in the war zones. Our ancestors learned the craft of weaving sedge mats from their parents, a trade passed down from generation to generation and preserved to this day, as evidenced by the folk songs that still retain their value:

"Fair skin thanks to lovely cheeks"

His skin turned dark from wading through swamps and pulling up palm trees.

The flower is green, and the leaves are green too.

I'll go plant rice while you pull up the sedges.

(swamp – waterlogged swamp)...

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