Visit the "fragrant" craft village during Tet

(NLDO) - Through many ups and downs, incense makers in Le Minh Xuan commune still stick with their profession. The traditional Tet holiday is the busiest time for the craft village.

The incense making profession in Le Minh Xuan commune (Binh Chanh district), about 30 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, has existed for a long time. In 2012, joy came to the people when the incense making village in Le Minh Xuan commune was recognized as a traditional craft village.

Ghé làng nghề — People dry incense sticks on Mai Ba Huong street, Le Minh Xuan commune, Binh Chanh district.

Along Mai Ba Huong and Thich Thien Hoa streets, the bright "incense flowers" on both sides of the road signal the traditional New Year is approaching.

The craft village at one point supported more than a hundred families, many of whom escaped poverty and contributed to preserving Vietnamese culture through many generations.

Le Minh Xuan incense village

In the last days of the year, from Binh Loi apricot village (Binh Loi commune, Binh Chanh district), across the ferry is the "capital" of incense in Le Minh Xuan. Following the road along the canal, we went to Mai Ba Huong street and heard the sound of incense spinning machines.

The family of Mr. Phong and Ms. Thanh (Hamlet 2) are working hard to make incense sticks to deliver on time. Ms. Thanh has been making incense sticks for more than ten years. Mr. Phong has been helping his wife make incense sticks for 6-7 years now.

The couple bought two incense-making machines and received orders to manufacture for a nearby facility with a salary of 4,500 VND per incense stick (1,000 incense sticks).

According to Ms. Thanh, compared to before, the amount of goods has decreased a lot, the couple earns about 300,000 VND per day. However, not every month of the year has orders for processing. If before, it took 10 months to do it, now it only takes 6-7 months.

"Now people have a lot of vacations. Before, I saw people drying incense on both sides of the road. Back then, there were hundreds of households doing the job, now there are only about 20 households left," said Ms. Thanh.

Indeed, along Mai Ba Huong street now there are only 5-6 households drying incense on both sides of the road.

Coming to the nearby Minh Phuoc incense workshop, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut (from Ben Tre ) said that her daily job is to bundle incense, each bundle is 500 VND. Her income is also more than 200,000 VND per day. "I have been doing this for 4-5 years, with a stable income. I usually take my grandchildren to school, and the rest of the time I make incense. The work is also easy" - Ms. Ut shared.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoi (from Ca Mau ) came to Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, has been making incense sticks for more than 10 years and has only been working at Minh Phuoc workshop for 2 years. Making incense sticks has helped maintain her income for the past ten years.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh (61 years old, from Vinh Long ) has also been making incense in Le Minh Xuan commune for 6 years. This job is suitable for her age and helps maintain income, stabilizing her life with a salary of 200-300 thousand VND per day. Like many others, Ms. Ut lives in the workshop owner's boarding house.

Ms. Nguyen Cat Bui Thuy (48 years old), owner of Minh Phuoc incense production facility (Hamlet 3, Le Minh Xuan commune) said that this incense production facility has been established and developed for over 30 years.

"The incense factory used to have hundreds of workers. Some of them opened small, private businesses. Before, people used to roll incense by hand, but now there are machines so the work is less hard and more productive. This job doesn't pay much but it's stable. There's year-round work, and many families in the commune have escaped poverty thanks to this traditional job," Ms. Thuy shared.

According to Ms. Thuy, the supply of goods used to be stable, but after the pandemic, the supply of goods became irregular and unstable, and many workers quit their jobs. The price of input materials increased, but the selling price of incense did not increase. The factory now has only 40 workers and their families.

"Since the pandemic, business has been difficult. Every year, we prepare goods in January and July, and from October to December are the months when incense is not in season. Now the goods are very slow. Last year, I stocked up to sell for Tet but couldn't go out so I had to hold on. This year, at the end of December, there was an order so there was a shortage of goods and no delivery. It's very unpredictable and unstable now," said Ms. Thuy.

Le Minh Xuan traditional incense making village was announced by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism as one of the 10 most interesting check-in spots in the city during the 2024 New Year. According to Ms. Thuy, the incense workshop has many domestic and foreign tourist groups coming to visit, with 5-6 groups per day during Tet.

Because this is a large-scale incense factory in the South, the products are distributed throughout the provinces of the Southeast and Southwest. The factory currently has more than 30 incense rolling machines and more than 10 drying machines.

To maintain the incense factory and support workers, Ms. Thuy provides free accommodation for workers and only charges electricity and water at state prices.

"Currently, prices are not stable, we are trying to maintain production. We hope that local authorities and functional agencies will support us to maintain the craft village long-term, for our lives and our children's lives" - Ms. Thuy confided.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ghe-lang-nghe-toa-huong-dip-tet-196250125180030855.htm