20 years of traveling back and forth teaching the craft of brocade weaving.
We arrived at Hamlet 6, Khe Sanh Commune, while the morning mist hadn't yet dissipated. From afar, we could hear the clicking sounds of spinning wheels and looms used for weaving brocade. Stopping to ask the women there about brocade weaving, they all enthusiastically replied: "Almost all the women in the hamlet know how to weave brocade. Therefore, besides working in the fields, we take advantage of our free time to weave and embroider to earn extra income and preserve the traditional craft passed down from our ancestors." Following the directions of the locals, we went to the home of artisan Ho Van Hoi, one of the few men in the Truong Son mountain range who is passionate and dedicated to brocade weaving.
“Since childhood, I’ve been captivated by the exquisite beauty of brocade fabrics, and in my early twenties, I decided to follow my mothers and sisters to learn weaving and embroidery. Seeing me, a son, learning the craft, many villagers were apprehensive, believing this profession is only suitable for women who are skillful, patient, and hardworking. However, seeing my serious pursuit of the craft and my desire to preserve the fading traditional craft of our ancestors, my mothers and sisters patiently passed on all their valuable experience and knowledge from the past,” Hồi recounted.
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| Mr. Ho Van Hoi is very passionate about traditional brocade weaving - Photo: NB |
Being intelligent and diligent in learning and practicing, Mr. Hoi quickly absorbed the knowledge he learned and gradually perfected his embroidery and weaving skills. By the age of 30, he had become a renowned weaving and brocade design artisan in the region. He was invited by many localities and projects to teach brocade weaving to women in ethnic minority communities in many villages and communes of Dakrong district and Huong Hoa district (formerly).
“Initially, when I was invited to teach traditional brocade weaving to women, I was very happy but also worried because I didn't know how to compile the materials effectively, or how to convey the knowledge in a 1-2 month class. To live up to the trust of the organizations, projects, and localities, I made an effort to compile the content, learn teaching experience, and complete the job well. Over the past 20 years, I can't remember how many villages I've visited, how many classes I've taught, or how many students I've had, but what makes me happiest is that more and more women from the Van Kieu and Pa Ko ethnic groups are interested in, understand, and master the traditional brocade weaving craft passed down from their ancestors,” said Mr. Ho Van Hoi happily.
A dream of a tourism-oriented craft village.
The brocade fabrics of the Van Kieu and Pa Ko ethnic groups in the past were created through diligent labor, including cotton cultivation, mulberry farming, silkworm rearing, and the use of materials from tree bark (commonly known as Kờ đùn or A Mưng tree bark) to weave diverse brocade products rich in styles and colors.
In the past, to weave a piece of brocade, the local people had to spend more than half a year growing cotton and mulberry trees, and then go through many steps to spin the yarn to weave the traditional brocade. Creating a handcrafted brocade product is very time-consuming and requires highly skilled artisans to meet the increasingly demanding needs of customers: “I am a skilled craftsman, but weaving a traditional dress or shirt (plain weave without elaborate patterns) takes 4-5 days, weaving a scarf takes 3-4 days, and weaving a dress or shirt with intricate embroidery takes about 10 days to complete. The selling price of handcrafted brocade products is 3-5 times higher than that of modern industrial textile products. There was a time when the brocade products made by the villagers were very difficult to sell because the price was too high, but in recent years, customers have returned to using them because the quality of traditional brocade is very different from modern textile products. This is good news and also motivates those passionate about traditional brocade weaving to stick with the craft, preserve it, and pass it on to future generations,” Mr. Ho Van Hoi confided.
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| Le Thi Chung Nhi - A dynamic and confident Pa Ko girl promoting the brocade costumes she designed - Photo: NB |
Having taught traditional brocade weaving for many years, Mr. Hoi is delighted to see that many young people from the Van Kieu and Pa Ko ethnic groups are becoming increasingly aware of preserving their cultural identity. Many young people have boldly learned from Mr. Hoi to design dresses, shirts, and scarves from hand-woven brocade fabric to sell on the market.
“I learned a lot from Uncle Ho Van Hoi, so the brocade products I design all bear the distinctive characteristics of the Van Kieu and Pa Ko ethnic minorities. I am working in community tourism and promoting local cuisine and culture, including brocade costumes, to tourists inside and outside the province. I hope that my work and that of many other young people with the same passion will contribute to spreading, preserving, and developing the traditional brocade weaving craft of our ancestors,” shared Le Thi Chung Nhi, from Hamlet 6, Khe Sanh Commune.
Through his experience teaching the craft, earning a living from it, and participating in many festivals, Mr. Ho Van Hoi realized that there was a huge demand from customers who wanted to experience and learn about traditional brocade weaving. This always motivated him to establish a production group or a traditional craft village linked to community tourism in the future.
“I am very impressed with the brocade products made by Mr. Ho Van Hoi because they are very exquisite and not everyone can make them. We will have a specific meeting to discuss cooperation in restoring the traditional brocade weaving village so that tourists can experience it through tours in the near future,” revealed Mr. Tran Thai Thien, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam-Khe Sanh Agricultural Tourism Cooperative.
Tran Nhon Bon
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/202602/khat-vong-hoi-sinh-tho-cam-17e722b/
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