Cultural characteristics of mat weaving in Ca Hom

Despite her age, every day Mrs. Diep Thi Som (on the left) and her daughter weave mats, earning an income while preserving the local traditional craft.

The advantage of Ca Hom mats is their long lifespan; they remain durable for 5-6 years without becoming brittle, breaking, or fading. Particularly, given the Theravada Buddhist beliefs of the Khmer people, Ca Hom mats with pagoda-shaped patterns (single, double, or triple pagodas) are highly favored by the Khmer community. They often purchase these mats to offer to temples during the Kathyna robe offering ceremony and for use in temple festivals.

To continue improving the preservation and promotion of the traditional cultural heritage values ​​of the nation, following the direction of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, since 2023 the Provincial General Museum has researched, collected, and compiled documents to build a scientific dossier on the Ca Hom mat weaving craft, which was submitted to the People's Committee of Tra Vinh province and then to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was subsequently recognized and included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage according to Decision No. 2321/QD-BVHTTDL dated August 29, 2024, of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to records, Ca Hom mat weaving originated in the late 19th century, starting with plain white mats. Over time, through research and innovation, the mat weavers learned to use plants like the dang tree and turmeric to create colors, dye the reeds, and weave them into cotton mats with increasingly attractive patterns that became popular as gifts and eventually became a marketable commodity from 1940 onwards. Over time, mat weaving gradually developed into a traditional craft of the Khmer people in Tra Vinh .

Despite facing numerous challenges and competition from other types of mats on the market, many people in Ham Tan commune, driven by their love for the craft, have persevered, preserving the core values ​​of the mat weaving tradition. Having been recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, the local authorities and mat weavers are delighted, hoping the craft village will continue to develop sustainably, improving the lives of the local people.

Artisan Diep Thi Som (76 years old), from Ben Ba hamlet, Ham Tan commune, shared: "My family has been weaving mats for generations. From the age of about 10, I started helping my family split and dry reeds to make mats. By the age of 16, I had mastered all the steps in mat making and have maintained this craft for decades. So when the Ca Hom mat weaving village was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage, I was very happy."

Drying the sedge is also a step that Ms. Diep Thi Som pays attention to in order to obtain beautiful sedge fibers, which are then used to weave durable, even, and shiny mats.

To produce durable and beautiful mats, mat makers in Ham Tan have a special technique for splitting and drying the reeds so that the stalks curl into a beautiful, round shape, ensuring the mats last a long time. Furthermore, they need a dyeing technique that ensures the colors are durable, beautiful, and bright. Weaving requires two workers: one to press the slats and trim the edges, and the other to feed the reeds into the loom. For Mrs. Diep Thi Som's family, daily mat weaving is done with diligence, meticulousness, and skill in every step, resulting in increasingly uniform, beautiful, and eye-catching mats. In particular, her family weaves mats with beautiful lettering and patterns, attracting many orders for gifts to offer to temples. For many years, her family has only woven mats to order, providing them with daily work and a stable income.

Ms. Diep Thi Som added: "Previously, my husband and I wove three regular mats or one custom-made mat (1.2m wide and 5m long) each day to offer to the temple, providing a stable income to support our six children. Now that our children are grown and know how to weave mats, only two of them continue this craft. Due to old age and poor health, it takes my youngest daughter and me an average of 4-5 days to weave one custom-made mat (5m long) at a price of 1.5 million VND per mat."

As for Mrs. Tri Thi Thieu's household in Ca Hom hamlet, although they don't receive many orders, she and her daughter still maintain their mat weaving business daily. Mrs. Tri Thi Thieu said: "I weave for about 15 days each month, earning 3.5-4 million VND. It's not much, but it suits my family's circumstances, balancing farming with mat weaving and having time to take my children and grandchildren to school. Moreover, what makes me happiest is maintaining my family's traditional mat weaving craft and creating unique local mat products that many people order as gifts, especially during Khmer festivals."

Ms. Tri Thi Thieu has just finished making a cotton mat as ordered.

According to Mr. Huynh Ngoc Cat, Head of the People's Committee of Ca Hom hamlet, about 50% of households in the hamlet know and have worked in mat weaving, but due to the lack of a market, only a few households still practice the craft, mainly maintaining and promoting the traditional cultural beauty of the village.

Comrade Tang Duy Thong, Vice Chairman of the Ham Tan Commune People's Committee, said: although not developing strongly due to market competition, the Ca Hom mat weaving craft has its own unique characteristics of the local Khmer people and is always given attention for preservation. In 2001, with the desire to develop the craft village to help many households have stable jobs and improve their lives, the Ham Tan Commune People's Committee provided funding to build weaving frames for 40 households in the craft village and invited artisan Ngo Thi Pho to teach the craft of weaving double-sided cotton mats.

Recently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the University of Tradition also collaborated to organize a mat weaving training course to preserve the traditional beauty of mat weaving. Being recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage helps to further instill confidence and motivation in the people of Ham Tan to maintain and promote this distinctive traditional craft.

Currently, only about 90 households in Ham Tan commune still maintain the mat weaving craft, of which 4 households use machines and 7 other machines, while the rest weave by hand. Each year, the village supplies the market with approximately 40,000 pairs of mats of various types. Cotton mats and mats with embossed designs, although not in large quantities, are very popular, not only sold within and outside the province but also exported to Cambodia in small quantities. Most people in Ham Tan want to preserve the traditional hand-weaving method using looms, determined to safeguard the core values ​​of the traditional Ca Hom mat weaving craft to pass on to their descendants, especially those households that weave cotton mats with embossed designs.

According to Mr. Duong Hoang Sum, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tra Vinh province, the Ca Hom mat weaving craft of the Khmer people is the 8th national intangible cultural heritage of Tra Vinh province and the first traditional craft type of the province to be included in this list. This is not only a source of pride for the local people but also an important milestone in the journey of preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values ​​of the Khmer community in Southern Vietnam, raising awareness of heritage preservation within the community. At the same time, it opens up many new opportunities for the craft village to develop, especially tourism.

In the coming period, the Department's tourism sector will develop a plan to turn Ca Hom mat weaving into an attractive cultural tourism destination, allowing visitors to directly experience the mat weaving process, learn about the culture of the villagers, and implement solutions to preserve the heritage of mat weaving.

Text and photos: NGOC XOAN

Source: https://www.baotravinh.vn/kinh-te/dac-trung-van-hoa-nghe-det-chieu-ca-hom-46456.html