Old season bamboo boat

VHXQ - In addition to farming, my father is a skilled weaver. Every night, the small house resounds with clanking sounds, sometimes the crackling sound of split bamboo stalks, sometimes the sound of hammers being knocked, the sound of bamboo slats creaking...

Flood zone. Photo: Cong Tu

On a moonlit night, my father spread out bamboo strips and sat weaving in the middle of the yard. On a rainy day, the small lamp burned alone. The familiar clattering sound and the scent of soaked bamboo… mingled with the sleepy mumbling of my sisters and I.

Taste of the countryside

My hometown is the flood plain of the lower Thu Bon River. Almost every year there are several floods. Every monsoon season, heavy rains flood the fields, making bamboo boats an indispensable item.

For weavers like my father, the family usually has two boats, one small enough for a few people, used for swimming, casting nets, cutting grass, and herding ducks when the water is high, and the other is larger, with a capacity of about 10 people. These are special boats, carefully woven and cared for.

In the dry season, they are kept upside down in a dry place. When there is a big flood, my father has to ask the neighbors to help him launch the boat. He said that a beautiful boat that sails well is not about its size, but about its balance, its steering is steady but it can move the bow and overcome the waves.

From the first step of choosing the type of bamboo, to the time of soaking and drying the bamboo, then to the official steps of splitting the bamboo strips, weaving the bamboo, bending the bamboo, and finishing the process of applying bamboo oil… always requires a skilled craftsman who is meticulous and careful in every detail.

In those days, my village had a lot of bamboo. Right in my garden, there were several green bamboo clumps. The bamboo used for weaving were large, strong, solid, straight male bamboos, with no termites in the nodes. Most of them had been taken care of by my father when they were still young, with the date marked on the base.

After being cut down, the bamboo was tied into large bundles and soaked in muddy water in the pond behind the house. After a month or so, my father would take them out and dry them.

The smell of soaked bamboo is very strong, it is probably unpleasant for strangers to smell, but for the people of my hometown, it is also a strong, nostalgic taste of the homeland in the luggage of children far from home. From those strong, flexible bamboo stalks, my father carefully split them into regular strips, then continued to dry them in the sun, and lightly charred them over a straw fire. When the estimated number of strips was enough for a boat as planned, he started weaving the body, also known as the boat mat.

In this country, there are many things made of bamboo, from the old rice mill to things that are always replaced and renewed every year such as water scoops, winnowing baskets, winnowing trays, baskets, sieves, baskets, carrying poles...

Elderly people sit weaving bamboo in front of their porch. Photo: Nguyen Dien Ngoc

Follow the tide

The technique of weaving bamboo boats is the same, but depending on the tide and the purpose, there are different ways to build the boat. Large boats in the delta are mainly used to transport people and goods during the flood season, so the boat has a wide hull, large capacity, and a stable ride, different from boats specialized in carrying passengers across rivers or ferries, and even more different from boats in other areas with fast-flowing waters.

The final step is to apply the oil. During the dry season, I still see people carrying or transporting barrels of oil to sell on the village roads.

But whenever my father was ready to seal the boat, he would cycle all the way to Ben Dau market on the Vu Gia river in the old Dai Loc area. He would leave early in the morning and return home late in the evening. On both sides of the back seat of his rickety bicycle were two huge barrels of rattan oil, and on top was a bunch of rattan rolls.

My father said that the rattan and rattan fibers from Ben Dau in this area are the best. He has to go all the way there and choose them himself before he can feel secure about covering the boat with rattan, because it is also an important factor that determines the lives and property of people in the flood area.

Oh my father and the bamboo boats! My father sat hunched over and his hands were nimble and diligent with the bamboo weaving. Every flood season, he would anxiously keep watch over the water, the cigarette on his lips constantly inhaling, the silver water in the yard seemed to leave deep ripples on his forehead…

As I write these lines, my hometown has just faced fierce floods. My house, and my whole countryside, no longer have any bamboo boats, only a few families have bought small aluminum boats. The floods are getting more fierce than before, but the bamboo boats have followed my father and his friends back to the old season!

Source: https://baodanang.vn/ghe-nan-mua-cu-3313838.html